In a way this links to my post yesterday……
Over the years I have realised that with any practical task , and the breadth of my materials experience is very ‘broad’, that mistakes or accidents happens. The skill of a competent crafts person is shown by the decisions made on how to overcome the situation you have been dealt .
Sometime there is no alternative to getting your head around the ‘fact’ that you have to start again.
But often ingenuity is what you have to resort to . The Hubble telescopes first images were of very poor quality which proved to be the result of a mistake made in the polishing the mirror to the correct profile . Engineers had to design correction optics that were installed by space walk astronauts .
That really was a ‘big time’ mistake!!
With formal carpentry and cabinet making there may not be a lot of latitude to modify or amend a design.
In the 70s as a student my workshop tutor was Ian Kirby, many of you will know of him from his books and videos. A brilliant craftsman and designer who instilled in us the importance of achieving high standards whatever happens along the way, and that includes the inevitable mishaps.
With less formal woodwork such as wood turning I feel that often the wood and it’s features are ‘ in charge’ and it’s up to us to work with them. Wood doesn’t have ‘flaws’ it’s what it is. It’s what we do with it that makes us feel a project worked out well or not. I’ve turned a bowl absolutely full of woodworm holes rather than rejecting it, it ended up quite an acceptable piece and ‘talking point’ .
Another bowl I caught an edge and it flew into two halves, it seemed wrong to just bin it , so I glued it back together, then with a Dremel made a shallow groove across the glue line , filled it with bronze powder and CA glue, continued, and finished the bowl .
A year or so later a fried saw it and said “ oh you are into Japanese Kintsugi are ?” I had never heard of it but the similarly to their attitude to something that breaks should ‘live on’ was a bit mind blowing. A quick Google will show what I mean.
It’s probably quite interesting for others to post pics of their ‘work arounds’ when something has gone wrong.
But the main thing is that you are not alone when ‘it’ happens ; take a breath, it’s what you do next that counts . Good luck and may all your mistakes be little ones
Over the years I have realised that with any practical task , and the breadth of my materials experience is very ‘broad’, that mistakes or accidents happens. The skill of a competent crafts person is shown by the decisions made on how to overcome the situation you have been dealt .
Sometime there is no alternative to getting your head around the ‘fact’ that you have to start again.
But often ingenuity is what you have to resort to . The Hubble telescopes first images were of very poor quality which proved to be the result of a mistake made in the polishing the mirror to the correct profile . Engineers had to design correction optics that were installed by space walk astronauts .
That really was a ‘big time’ mistake!!
With formal carpentry and cabinet making there may not be a lot of latitude to modify or amend a design.
In the 70s as a student my workshop tutor was Ian Kirby, many of you will know of him from his books and videos. A brilliant craftsman and designer who instilled in us the importance of achieving high standards whatever happens along the way, and that includes the inevitable mishaps.
With less formal woodwork such as wood turning I feel that often the wood and it’s features are ‘ in charge’ and it’s up to us to work with them. Wood doesn’t have ‘flaws’ it’s what it is. It’s what we do with it that makes us feel a project worked out well or not. I’ve turned a bowl absolutely full of woodworm holes rather than rejecting it, it ended up quite an acceptable piece and ‘talking point’ .
Another bowl I caught an edge and it flew into two halves, it seemed wrong to just bin it , so I glued it back together, then with a Dremel made a shallow groove across the glue line , filled it with bronze powder and CA glue, continued, and finished the bowl .
A year or so later a fried saw it and said “ oh you are into Japanese Kintsugi are ?” I had never heard of it but the similarly to their attitude to something that breaks should ‘live on’ was a bit mind blowing. A quick Google will show what I mean.
It’s probably quite interesting for others to post pics of their ‘work arounds’ when something has gone wrong.
But the main thing is that you are not alone when ‘it’ happens ; take a breath, it’s what you do next that counts . Good luck and may all your mistakes be little ones
