Shameless self promotion

All of your crafted items are lovely. Thanks for sharing the pictures.

John, your work is amazing. You are quite the multi-talented guy!!!

Oh my, John! Your needlepoint is exquisite, but I'm in love with your furniture -- especially the secretary! Gorgeous!

John you are amazing. Your talents cut a broad swath across the creativity spectrum. Such gorgeous work in three very different crafts. I really admire your talent.

Sunny

Some of the carpentry shots seem not to be there....very nice!

--pig

Just beautiful work, John. What an achievement, to be able to work so well in several skills. Your pieces of all types are admirable, wonderful. Can I just ask - do you finish your furniture with traditional French polishing? . In message , John writes

No. I use Varnish over stain. The French polish I have used does not stand up well to every day use. It is less durable than brushed varnish. It is probably more applicable to finishing wooden musical instruments as the finish is laid on rather thinly, with multiple rubbing layers, to seal the wood from the environment and not detract from the sound transmission. On furniture you have to be worried about water staining and heat rings and such things and French polish does not stand up in the comparison, for practical reasons. That said, it is a beautiful finish if you want to take the care of it that is necessary.

John

I originally uploaded multiple shots of some of the pieces and after the first viewing chose to eliminate some of the less desirable duplicates. The numbers listed are not the final number of prints available for viewing and that probably led to you thinking some of the pictures weren't loading.

John

In an aside about future plans, I have made a number of Weaving Looms over the course of time and I am thinking that I would like to do a larger one as we now have the space to house and use it. I don't know if any of you have ever attempted weaving on a loom, but it is a wonderful and tactile craft. Much akin to quilting, which involves the same creative choices of color and texture and design. There are so many types of items that are able to be made by weaving. Cloth for clothes, rugs, scarves wall hangings, ect. The only thing is, you need the space to do it. That is what keeps most people from giving it a try. I don't know when I will get busy on this project as bicycling season is fast approaching and that cuts into the craft time around here.

John

I asked because I used to do marquetry (when I was single and had a lot more time!). I always used French polish for that; but, of course, pictures do not have to withstand 'usage' and the perils you described. I didn't mind the polishing - found it peaceful - but the gradual sanding, from fine grade to finer and still finer used to be cut short sometimes! . In message , John writes

How talented can one person be? All your work is amazing!

Nancy in NS

Wish you lived closer. I have a plank and four posts of walnut that need to be made into a table. My father was a contractor in western Illinois and occasionally cut good trees to make room for a house. He would have the trees cut into planks and air dry them for use in his woodshop during the slower winter months. Close to retirement he cut several virgin growth walnut trees. By the time they were dry his health was not up to any large project. He made several small boxes and shelves but there was a lot of walnut left when he died. I took

You do wonderful work John. You are a multi-talented man.

Charlotte

I have an interesting story to tell. When we bought our last house in California the person living there was a rental tenant who had gone through a divorce, and somewhere along the line had acquired 6 large slabs of black walnut cut into 12-16 inch wide planks about 1-1/2" thick,and 8-10 feet long, from a tree taken down from her former residence. She mentioned to me that she did not know what to do with them and I offered to buy them from her. She counter offered that she would like to have the Refrigerator that was in the house and would trade me for the wood. I said Ok. done as we already had our own larger refrigerator and were planing on selling the one in the house for probably not much money. I made a lot of stuff out of that wood and loved the cost and she got something she needed.

John

All of it gorgeous!

M> I thought you might like to see some of my other handiwork of a non

There are two more needlepoint projects completed that are up on the website, that i had forgotten about. One is a glass framed needlepoint of a Renoir painting called Lady at her Bath. it was done to finish off the remodeling job on my wife's private bathroom. The other one is called Bookrest and was made as a birthday gift to her for use supporting the book while sitting reading in her favorite chair. I didn't let her see it while I was doing it and she was surprised upon receipt. She had used an old pillow and I thought this would be a special gift as she loves to read. It even has her initial iIluminated, in red, on the open page.

John

And the URL is...? ;)

obvious)

John