Sunday, September 17, 2017

Making a happy state.

The difference between these boxes and the veneered boxes I've made in the past is very subtle. The veneered top panel is recessed slightly below the sides, allowing it to be glued in a groove and for all the edges to be buried.

That makes fitting easier and less prone to error, as the panel needs not be cut quite as precise. Some may see the recessed panel as an interesting design feature (or not). Slightly less time will be required per box.

Other features will be the same as in some of the boxes I've made in the past. I'll install keys at the mitered corners to strengthen the joints, and use spring loaded barbed hinges to connect the lid to the base. The veneered top panels are some that I did as demonstrations and I'm attempting to make use of unfinished works.

We have witnessed a radical depersonalizing and unraveling of the fabric of human society. This is taking place in small communities, and in the world at large as people display greater anger and intolerance toward each other.

If we were living in an earlier time, I might be wearing the socks and mittens you made from the wool of your own sheep. You might be eating the wheat I raised and paid in exchange. We would think kindly of each other and be kind to each other. The web of human existence and the fabric of community life were carefully crafted from small repetitive acts of kindness and concern. The exercise of craftsmanship and the exchange of useful beauty is the antidote for a society in decline as ours seems to be.

A recent study proclaimed Minnesota as the happiest state based on a number of interrelated factors. My state of Arkansas was 46th as one of the very least happy. I will be teaching in Minnesota on the 10th, 11th and 12th of November so will have a chance to see that happy state first hand.

On Thursday at 6 PM at the Eureka Springs School of the Arts, a new documentary short film about 2016 Arkansas Living Treasure, Eleanor Lux will be shown in public for the first time. Larry Williams, Arkansas Living Treasure 2006 and I, Arkansas Living Treasure 2009 will also be on hand to talk about our work, as our documentary films will also be shown. You are invited to attend.

Make, fix, create. Make yours a happy state.

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