New Carvings and Site on the Way

Four years! It’s hard to believe that’s how long it’s been since my last post here. I’m back, and taking my carvings and this site in a new direction. The focus is still trees, but going 3D in a different way. See what I’ve been up to for the last four years and what’s in store for the carvings.

Sidelined

In 2010 I was happily carving along and learning to play cello. I even had a book deal in the works with Fox Chapel Publishing. They’re the folks who own most of the carving magazines that featured me. 

And then a shoulder injury sidelined me. Seems I had a little too much bone in there and it was hitting in places it shouldn’t, causing injury. The surgery was pretty minor. The recovery took about two months.

New Business Launch

Well, not really a launch, more like a final push. In 2010 I was at the beginning of a serious three year push to make BlogAid my full-time work, and leave a 30 year career as an electronics engineer. (I now help non-geeks have successful sites with WordPress, SEO, content, conversion, security, and performance. I teach, train, consult, test, build, and document and I LOVE IT!!!!!)

During my shoulder recovery the business finally started catching fire and I had to drop all of my hobbies and social life to start working two full time jobs, seven days a week.

It worked!

I left my day job in the corporate world in March 2013.

Getting My Life Back

Part of the change meant switching the carving room and my office. I wanted the bigger room for the office so I could have comfy furniture for taking breaks.

But more importantly, I wanted a window with a view from my desk. It overlooks the back yard and woods. And the other window across the room is all tree!! I watched it bloom this past spring. What a joy.

My day is filled with trees and sky and critters any time I look up from the computer monitor. That’s just good for the soul.

And necessary.

For the last 15 years of that old day job I was on the road. I had an office with a view. The last thing I wanted was to feel cooped up working my new job.

New Desk Lead to New Carvings

I had my desk situated in the corner of my old office. It’s just not the right shape for the new office.

I also found that I grew weary of sitting all day. 

I wanted a sit/stand desk.

In my previous career, I was a bench tech for about 10 years. I already knew that I’d be happy with a standing desk.

Wow, they’re expensive!!

So, I decided to put my current desk up on stilts while designing and building a new desk.

Desk Plans

You can find just about anything online these days. Found plenty of DIY plans and videos for L shaped desks, which is what I want.

And then I found pipes. 

I probably stayed on that site for two hours – visiting all of the blogs of folks who had made their own desks using products from SimplifiedBuilding. 

 

And I have to say, as a content marketer, I was totally impressed with how they involved the community and made it so easy to get a custom design. Heck, they even have all of their supplies available for free CAD programs too.

Carved Panels

The backside of my new desk will face out into the room. All of those cables and the PC and other office equipment and stuff under the desk is going to look messy. We can’t have that in my nice new office.

I was inspired by one example I saw where a partial wood panel was hanging from the top of the desk. It was clipped from behind to the horizontal stabilizer pipes.

That was it!!

Carved wood panels!! 

Some nice colored cloth behind them and no one would ever see the underside of the desk. 

Brilliant!!

Going Bigger Meant No Carving

Design ideas were floating through my head every day. 

But working big means working in plywood. And that means no carving.

These would be cutouts only.

Okay, stencils can be very complex and interesting. But they leave me flat. (haha)

I craved dimension.

Panel Stack

It took a while, but I finally found a way to have my cutout and dimension too.

The new carvings will be a serious of stacked panels. Each is a carving by itself. And then spacers will be added between each layer, to give it added dimension.

I’ve already got the first draft of the drawings finished. Working out the details now.

More on the Way

It’s good to be back, both with carving and on the blog.

A new website is on the way too. Much has changed in the four years I’ve been absent from this site. 

A new design and full integration is already in the works.

Can’t wait to share it all with you!!!

This is just the blog part. Click here to see the site and my previous carvings.