ANA Discussion Forum
AN Community => AN Community => Topic started by: stoneaxe on April 29, 2009, 10:49:56 pm
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Some days I find it helps to bury myself in things that require my complete focus. I've found that creative things seem to capture me the most. These are the things I do to take my mind off things.
I have a hard time tearing myself away from the water these days, especially when we get warm weather but i still enjoy my previous hobbies. I did get some paddling in on these last few warm days but I also cleaned out my workshop in preparation for some summer projects. I enjoy landscaping and woodworking and particularly woodworking that involves landscaping. I have a few things on the drawing board. One actually involves all 3 hobbies...a storage shed for my standup boards. Here are a few previous projects.
Some gates I built for my brothers home on Maui a couple years ago.
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/3228-438x.jpg)
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/3229-438x.jpg)
Lots of these little guys running around so i carved one and added it to the gate.
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/3249-438x.jpg)
Mom's deck...11/5 stairs for easy access.
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/7221-438x.jpg)
The entrance to the asian inspired water garden my daughter and i built 10 years ago. It's covered with wisteria and yellow trumpet vine.
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/4387-438x.jpg)
From inside under the cherry tree
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/4389-438x.jpg)
Inside looking out in summer.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/summer-garden008.jpg)
Morris inspired chair...no landscaping involved...this is for my large chair killing backside. No more recliners falling apart under me!... ;D
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/7151-438x.jpg)
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/7152-438x.jpg)
Gecko fence I made last year....I enjoy carving....many of the outdoor items I have made have small carvings in them. Particularly those using rough logs.
(http://lumberjocks.com/assets/pictures/projects/4764-438x.jpg)
My next project...a storage shed for 6 standup paddleboards up to 16' long. To be integrated into a fence.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/newenglandsup/SUP-storage.jpg)
I used to be fanatical about my landscaping. To look at it now you can tell i have some other hobbies and such taking up time. I feel like I never have enough time to get it the way i used to keep it. I guess so long as its not completely taken over by weeds i'll be happy
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Bob, OH - what gorgeous woodwork!
The gates are so beautiful and with the added touch of the carvings, very unique!
[Caution: you may start getting requests from all of the country to build such items with carvings!]
I love the little creature carvings - is the gecko actually part of the log, or added on?
You mom also looks very happy with the new steps - that is so wonderful for her!
My creative training was mostly sewing and music (piano and organ). I still have a piano in my house, but it has been quiet for a while.
Perhaps i should take up this challenge again...
Enjoy your next project(s) and thank you, so much for sharing these 8) pics!
Sincerely,
Sue
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Well, Bob, as an architect who actually would have preferred landscape architecture (if I could have made a living at it), I can appreciate your talent. However, I think I need to make a site visit to inspect your workmanship up close and personal, especially your brother's gates. ;)
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Amazing work, Stone. You are very talented.
If you ever get to my neck of the woods, I have many projects I could give you ;D
Jan
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Yet another amazing talent from Bob - Tattoos and Woodworking - who knew?? Steve, he might be giving you a run for your money??? ??? ;D
K
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Beautiful pieces! I'm jealous of your garden, it's stunning. It is good to keep busy with projects isn't it? I'm sewing a quilt at the moment for a baby - it's great therapy! Hope to get out on the water next week though... complete with wetsuit - it was -1 last night and I go paddling at about 7am! eek!
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Bob:
Your woodworking is beautiful, functional and certainly a great outlet for your creative energies. Thanks for sharing it with us via the photos. Nice work! :)
Jim
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Well, now, really! Amazing, Bob! Suppose we shouldn't be surprised to see yet another talent you have :D I really, really love the gates/doors you did - can't wait to show these to my husband - he dabbles a bit in woodworking and such, and he loves Japanese gardens - we have numerous Japanese maples in our yard and a little pond area...nothing so grand as you've done, though! What a great way to "meditate" for sure! My "therapy" is reading - love it, but it doesn't produce anything spectacular or useful in anyway ::)
Keep it up - and thanks for sharing with us!
Cindy
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Bob,
Oh I need to show these pics to my husband! He would be green with envy.
Those projects are absolutely wonderful.
I'm having problem with doing "hobbies" except for rest, relaxation, and exercise/balance/sauna/face massage therapy. That's about it. Oh yea, and gardening. (I guess these ARE my hobbies!) :D
I also enjoy artsy/crafty hobbies, but with everything else, just can't get to them because I get fatigued with the tinnitus. :(
Ah someday.........
Thanks for reminding me to try anyway. I know-I do play the piano, and should just go do it :)
Maureen
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Bob,
If you are bored and looking for something to do.......I live in Southern Ont underneath the Niagara Escarpment. Since I live with five men I will not notice another one in their midst ;)
BEAUTIFUL work!! You are HIRED!!
Anne Marie
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Bob,
Was it you who said you needed a new career? ::)
I think you have found it!
Trouble is, you will have to travel all over the place, US and Canada, stay with friends and build things you love to build.
Gee - that could be a tough job!
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I think you should go for it!
And plan your jobs so every so often you are near water. :D
Sue
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Sue -
that's a really great idea. Why didn't I think of that!
She's got a great point, Bob.
This might turn out to be a very lucrative job - and one that you enjoy, too.
Jan
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Hi Bob,
Your work is absolutely beautiful!
Scarlett
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You've got talent!!! I love how you integrate the details with the item such as the little creatures:-)
Thanks for sharing your creative products...
Kate
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Wow!! :o :o :o You are such an artist! Your work is truly beautiful and I wish I had some of your work in my yard!
Priscilla
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I love that your subject line is "working meditation". Your work is very inspiring, and I could really use some inspiration today. Wood working is one of the things I would love to learn about--I have always fascinated by trees, living or not. And find myself meditating using visualization of trees and various forms of wood. One of my favorite things to do when I am forced to go to the hardware store with my husband is look at the wood working tools. I even get a wood working magazine but have never actually done any projects. My husband is planning on building a guitar so I am hoping when he does that, he can teach me a few carving or cutting techniques.
It sounds like you have found the "art of living"! Your work is lovely! Thanks for sharing it with this group--do you have a website of it somewhere? I am sure you could market those lizard carvings and the rest of your work too if you wanted.
K.
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Bob,
I love your work! When the weather's nice we practically live in our backyard (we back up to parkland) and I would love to have some of your creations. Great idea about the storage for you boards as well.
Now you can compete with Steve... he sends hats, you can send lizards (or geccos?) !
Keri
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Hi Bob,
WOW :o :o what amazing work! You are one talented dude ;D Absolutely beautiful!
Rich
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Fabulous work, I'm impressed. Also, the garden is beautiful. (I can almost imagine being there.) Thanks for posting.
Marci
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Very,very nice.I love the lizards!the chair looks very comfy.
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Thank you so much for the very kind words all. Landscaping/gardening was my 1st hobby and I still love the design side of it. I just can't move stone and dirt like I used to though. I'm glad I did all the heavy stuff when I was younger. I look at some of the boulders I moved by hand back then and cringe....I'm lucky i didn't seriously hurt myself.
I actually only started taking woodworking seriously a few years ago. I decided when I saw what they wanted for a garden gate (the moon gate in our garden) that for that kind of money i could buy the wood and the tools to make it and still save some cash. The chair was the 1st piece of fine furniture that i've made. I have thought of building for others but then think that the best way to ruin a hobby you love is to turn it into work. It's also amazing to see all the very talented woodworkers (much more talented than I) that are out there struggling to make a living.
I've considered starting a landscape design and construction company. But that will have to wait until i know what the docs say. Tough times to be doing that but I think I would enjoy that more as work than woodworking. I get a LOT of compliments on my yard even though I've done all the work on a very tight budget. We spent less than $1,200 building this complete garden 10 years ago. With a broader range of materials and a bigger budget it would be fun...especially with a crew to do all the heavy lifting. I've moved enough stone with my bare hands for one lifetime... ;).
Speaking of chairs and stone...this is the chair i put in the corner of the garden for my daughter. Cindy...this garden started as an idea of my daughter as a place to read.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/inspiration006.jpg)
It gets warmed in the sun and is actually very comfortable. She used to spend a lot of time reading there. She actually designed most of the garden....when she was 13. She was pretty specific...3 waterfalls, 2 ponds, moongate, firepit (we compromised on that with a purchased one since we already had a big one elsewhere in the yard.), scattered seating. The two of us spent probably 200 hours each building it over the course of about 5 months. She still comes home to help me clean and prune in it the spring and we'll find her out there studying sometimes when we come home even though she has left the nest.
A few more pics.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/Picture047.jpg)
The moss garden in the bog area at the edge of the lower pond. The cherry tree is just starting to lose its blossoms in the pic. It looks like it snowed pink in there after a couple days.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/inspiration003.jpg)
Water lily...we have pink, white, yellow, and red. I had to thin them out shortly after this picture. They were covering too much of the pond....tough to feed the fish.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/Picture007.jpg)
I really like the moss garden. Very easy to do. I have a lot of moss in my woods so any that doesn't do well gets replaced each spring. One of my favorite gardens to work in....like building in miniature. The bog also has carnivorous pitcher plants in it, ferns and iris that keep threatening to take over. Here's one of the iris. We also have purple ones.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/inspiration002.jpg)
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/hummingbird005.jpg)
The hummingbirds love the trumpet vines on the moon gate. Drives the cats crazy though.
Had a very funny encounter with a hummingbird last summer...actually AN related. Was having a particularly bad day, couldn't drive or work. Went outside and was watering the garden and a hummingbird flew down into the spray of the hose where it was splashing onto one of the flat stones we use for seats. For 5 minutes he splashed and fluttered his wings, did a little dance on top of that rock while i sprayed the hose on him. Made the day a little sunnier... ;D
Last couple...my Mom found the plans to a bird feeder that my dad had made her 30 years ago and asked if I could make another. I made it so that she could easily fill it from the window and watch the birds as they feed. I like mixing raw woods and dimensioned lumber. This cedar has a chickadee carved from a branch stump. I usually carve straight from an existing feature in the wood. I have a large, 10' long x 14" dia. cedar log with lots of branch stumps that I'm thinking of making into a carving of climbing geckos....hey...maybe I could sell it to Geico.... ;D
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/moms001.jpg)
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/moms003.jpg)
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So you mean moss in the garden is a good thing? Wow, I am a better gardener than I thought! :D
Actually it looks great, and there is a lot of hard work been done there. Thanks for all the great pictures.
Steve
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I've considered starting a landscape design and construction company. But that will have to wait until i know what the docs say.
Hi Bob! More great pics, i am so glad you are able to experience the joys of gardening.
Perhaps one day you can start the landscape design & construction company. You be the 'brains' and let the crew do the hard work!
We often get the hummingbirds buzzing us around the back deck saying 'put out the feeder, put out the feeder!' Haven't seen any yet this year, and it is a little late for Virginia - but we have had mostly cooler weather and rain here too, so maybe the hummers are waiting for the warmer weather as well.
So on a side note - when do you see the docs again?
In the meantime, enjoy the warmer weather as it comes, the returning birds, your working meditation, and that paddleboard!
Sincerely,
Sue
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I'm at a loss for words. I wish I was half as talented in working with wood. I can cut wood, and nail a few pieces together, but they never look like anything you've done! Nice Job!
Ernie
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Holy smokes, you are so talented!! I especially LOVE the gates in Maui! Very cool!
Adrienne
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Bob,
sorry I'm late chiming in... but, I have to say... FAB work! VERY impressive! :)
Phyl
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Best thing about the gates on Maui...i have visitation rights.... ;D
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Came home from a fun day on the water with Sue and Jacqui and was in the garden with my wide angle Go Pro camera. The pictures are a little distorted but show a large portion of the garden together.
That's Guinness on the bridge. Our cats love this garden. Very protected, dark stone paths get warmed in the sun, when they were kittens it was here they were first introduced to the outdoors under supervision. The fence is kitten tight until they can climb it... ;D. Our oldest cat pre-dates the garden but I think she thinks we built it for her.
The original bridge looked better with more arch but this one is much better to walk on. I just hope it fades soon...looks too new.
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/PICT0001.jpg)
(http://i197.photobucket.com/albums/aa317/stoneaxe/PICT0011.jpg)
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Your garden is so peaceful and inviting. What an eye you have for putting together a beautiful space.
My guess is by next year, the wood will look weathered and all will be well again:-)
Thanks for sharing,
Kate