Tree Craft E-Book

Chris Lubkemann

• Herausgeber: Fox Chapel Publishing
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 101

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2010

Beschreibung

Invite Mother Nature into your home with 35 rustic projects that are both unique and functional. Using found wood and the easy-to-follow instructions, reusing what nature has provided is a simple way to add natural warmth to your decor. More than 35 eco-chic projects such as a coat rack, curtain rods, candle holders, desk sets, picture frames, a table, chess set, and more.

Leseprobe

tree craft

35 rustic wood projectsthat bring the outdoors in

tree craft

35 rustic wood projectsthat bring the outdoors in

by Chris Lubkemann

Peg Couch, Style Editor

foreword

I live in an old home and have several even older trees in the backyard. While these trees provide much enjoyment, they also provide a lot of opportunities for work. Each spring, when the mid-Atlantic ground begins to thaw and my gardener’s hands have been idle for the winter, I head to the yard to clear it of the twigs, sticks, and branches that these massive trees have dropped over the winter months. As I pile them atop my wheelbarrow, I find myself admiring the rustic bounty and thinking, “I really should make something with all of this wood.” But what to make and how to make it are the questions that usually put an end to my creative daydreaming and pull me back to the task at hand. This book, however, provides the answers.

As I pile the twigs, sticks, and branches atop my wheelbarrow, I find myself admiring the rustic bounty and thinking, “I really should make something with all of this wood.”

The desire to make things by hand, and more specifically, to make things from found objects, is at the heart of the handmade craft movement. While many crafters were not thinking about sustainability ten years ago, today’s crafter has become conscientious—and we want our homes to reflect that. Rather than purchase mass-produced items, we want to decorate our living spaces with handmade items that add beauty and reflect our personality. Wood is the perfect medium to do so.

Decorating with rustic wooden accents typically stirs up images of wilderness lodges and country cabins. And, while the objects in this book would certainly be right at home in those settings, we’ve chosen to showcase the projects in this book in a more eclectic fashion. You’ll see polished silver, glass, and linen paired with items made from twigs, sticks, and branches to create a modern look that is both elegant and earthy.

The wood you find in your yard or out in nature can be transformed into beautiful and purposeful items in a variety of ways. As you will see in the following pages, a small twig can become a key chain, a branch can be sliced to make a set of chunky coasters, and a downed limb can become a hardworking coat rack. Many ideas are shared inside this book and many more ideas will most likely come to you on your own. No two pieces of wood are the same. Let the wood speak to you and see what creative ideas you can develop.

Working with found wood is not difficult but does require some basic skills, which are covered in this book. Most of the projects can be made with a simple hand saw and/or drill. If you don’t know how to use these tools, I encourage you to get familiar with them. A power drill should be no more intimidating than a sewing machine. After a bit of practice with these basic tools, you’ll be able to create every project in this book.

Many thanks to author and craftsman Chris Lubkemann for so thoroughly answering the question of “what can I make with all of this wood?” Chris has been honing his woodworking and whittling skills for a lifetime and has a tremendous talent in seeing the hidden potential in each and every piece of wood. The artful choices he makes in where to cut the wood, whether or not to remove the bark, and when to round the edges take his work from simple to spectacular and will help yours do the same.

I hope these projects will inspire you to get outdoors, pick up some sticks, and make something beautiful!

—Peg Couch, Style Editor

contents

introduction

how to use this book

getting started

CHAPTER 1:decorating

Bud vase

Candlestick holders

Centerpiece ring

Necklace

Pendant

Photo frames

Planter

Table art

Thanksgiving tree

CHAPTER 2:dining

Coasters

Kitchen utensil tree

Name logs

Napkin rings

Salt and pepper shakers

Wooden spoon holder

CHAPTER 3:living

Clock

Coat rack

Coat tree

Coffee table

Curtain rod

Hooks

Jewelry tree

Lamps

Magnets

Umbrella stand

CHAPTER 4:playing

Checker set

Croquet

Tightrope walker

CHAPTER 5:working

Business card holder

Letter opener

Desk set

dedication and acknowledgments

index

introduction

Most of the carving and whittling projects described in my previous Fox Chapel books have been on the smallish side, rarely using branches more than 1" (25mm) in diameter. Also, the majority of the work has been done with a knife...in my own case, with a two-bladed pocketknife.

Many of the projects in this book are quite different in several respects. While there is a decent amount of cutting and trimming with a knife blade, much of the shaping here is done with other tools: a saw, hammer, chisel, drill, sander, draw knife, and possibly a few more.

This book is aimed not particularly at woodcarvers, but rather at folks in general who appreciate wood, have an active imagination, are creative, and like to work with a few basic tools. Of course, I’m hoping that quite a few woodcarvers, too, will find some of the ideas in this book interesting, not because there is a lot of actual carving involved in a given project, but simply because it involves a natural piece of wood that, with some creative tweaking, can be transformed into something that is unique and useful.

Have fun!

—Chris Lubkemann

how to use this book

This book is organized into six parts. Getting Started focuses on finding the wood you need, as well as covering some of the techniques you’ll be using to create the projects in the following pages.

CHAPTER 1: DECORATING(page 18) is all about projects to fill your home with eco-chic elegance. These beauties can show up anywhere: knothole photo frames in the hallway, branch candlestick holders on the mantelpiece, a stump planter on the front porch, a twig bead necklace around your daughter’s neck.

CHAPTER 2: DINING(page 48) is chock-full of tree craft pieces to deck out your dining experience. Dazzle your dinner guests with natural salt and pepper shakers, coasters, napkin rings, and more. Bring a touch of the outdoors into your kitchen (in a good way!) with a unique utensil tree and wooden spoon holder.

CHAPTER 3: LIVING(page 68) is packed with utilitarian projects that are so simply beautiful you’ll forget they’re not just art. After looking through this chapter, you’ll be inspired to create your own coat trees, lamps, and curtain rods. Soon your refrigerator will be bedecked with twig magnets and your living room will be graced with the presence of a natural wood coffee table.

CHAPTER 4: PLAYING(page 102) features several fun projects and games that you’ll be excited to make yourself. I dare you to check out the checker set and not want to make it! Who can resist the weathered playing surface and chunky checkers over a flimsy cardboard and plastic set? The other toys and games are just as much fun!

CHAPTER 5: WORKING(page 114) is packed with projects to make your desk just a little more eco-chic. You’ll never go back to a plastic business card holder after you peek at the naturally elegant model you could craft yourself. And why use a harsh metal knife to slash open your mail when you could have a letter opener made from the same stuff as the envelopes? Visit this chapter to remodel your desk with kinder, gentler, and more unique office tools.

getting started

The first thing you have to do when preparing to make one-of-a-kind wooden items is find one-of-a-kind chunks of wood to work with! After that, you’ll need to know the basic tools and skills required for making the projects in this book. There are several steps or procedures common to many of the projects. Rather than repeat these in each step-by-step set of instructions, we’ll just make a general statement and then let you apply it to where it fits.

wood

Most of the whittling/carving/woodworking I’ve done over the past 40-plus years has been largely with hardwood species, whether I’ve been working with a twig or branch from a tree or bush or making something from a piece of milled wood. However, many of the projects illustrated in this book aren’t nearly as fussy in the kind of wood they call for. While I’ve used hardwoods for most of them, some could have just as easily be done with softer woods, even pine! The selection of wood for a given project will depend a lot on the nature of the project itself and what purpose it will serve. For instance, if you’re going to make a large coat rack that will hang on an entryway wall, use a strong species of wood, both for the branch that will serve as the rack itself and for the backerboard to which the branch will be attached. Coasters for drinking glasses, on the other hand, can be from slices of almost any kind of wood, hard or soft.

WOOD

COMMENTS

Birch

Excellent. Among my all-time favorite woods.

Maple

Any maple is worth trying. Swamp maple is one of my favorites.

Cherry

Both domesticated and wild are quite good.

Beech

Can be a bit brittle, but if you’re careful, it works fine.

oak

I’ve made some nice pieces from pin oak, live oak, and water oak. Red oak is not particularly good.

holly

A very hard, close-grained wood that produces beautiful pieces.

Citrus trees

Orange, lemon, tangerine, and grapefruit are good. Avoid the new, fast-growing shoots, which tend to be very pithy.

Cedar

One of the few evergreen trees I’ve used. There’s a bit of sap to contend with.

Myrtle

Wax myrtle is good. The other varieties are worth trying, too.

Bottlebrush, Indian Rosewood, Viburnum

Several Florida woods that work well. One of my all-time favorite slingshot forks is viburnum—very, very strong and beautifully symmetrical!

Flowering Crabapple, Flowering Plum

Ornamental trees that have good branches.

Other fruit trees

Apple, peach, quince, guava. Good branches to work with.

To be totally honest, I don’t even know the species of the wood I’ve used for some of the pieces illustrated in the following pages. Where it’s important or useful to know the kind of wood used for a given project, I’ve specified what I used. Many times the choice of wood is going to be a matter of common sense, what is available, or what happens to challenge your own imagination and creativity.

FINDING WOOD

I’m a saver. My wife’s a saver. When our children moved out we had to get more living space! Not that our house is huge, mind you. It’s just that between our closets, attic, basement storage rooms, backyard workshop, storage shed, space under the deck, and built-on “apartment,” we just about have enough room to keep what we’ve collected! My dear Sheri is the undisputed Queen of Shelves. If there’s any horizontal surface more than 5/16" wide, she can figure out a way to display or store something on it! (Perhaps I exaggerate a bit.) Of course, Sheri and I save different things. She saves material, construction paper, yarn, and all kinds of craft supplies, whether they come from after-Christmas deals, store closeouts, or garage sales. Our grandkids just know that if there’s something they want to make, Grandma has what it takes!

My saving consists of varied objects like old athletic shoes (good for painting, working in the mud, or wearing on a canoe trip—never mind that the last canoe trip I took was when my 39-year-old daughter was still in college, as I recall). And then there are boxes and piles and containers of wood: branches, blocks, strips, boards, drawer fronts, plywood sheets, bits of molding, stumps, logs...you probably get the idea. When I see a good piece of wood or an interesting branch or stump, I’ll pick it up, because I know that someday it will turn into