Month: September 2014

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Wands at the ready!

IMG_20140917_213715_424Rob has been busy at the lathe creating some extra enchantment for our Etsy shop. These beautiful wands are crafted from Adirondack woods gathered locally, including cherry, maple, oak and red cedar. The cedar wands are a favorite here because their aroma is so lovely. It is reminiscent of the woods and old cedar trunks – incredibly grounding.

These wands have a secret that gives each its own unique energy. What is it? We’re not saying yet.

The collection is going along with us to the Central New York Pagan Pride Day Festival in Syracuse, New York on Saturday. If you are in the area, come to Long Branch Park in Onondaga County between 9:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. for great workshops and performances, and be sure to visit the Adirondack Earth Lore booth. You can see the wands, as well as turned bowls, pens, scent applicators, and elemental altar sets.

When we get home, we’ll be adding the wands to our Etsy shop. Be sure to check back early next week, because we’ll be revealing the secret in the wands then.

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Dream catcher “Elemental” hand-made twig wreath with bright colors of the elements

DSC_1465This bohemian dream catcher art started as twigs from the woods behind our Adirondack home. The twigs were soaked, bent and woven into a wreath which takes on it’s own unique shape. Wooden beads in the four colors of the elements were woven into the dream catcher and the center was finished with a pentacle charm.

The green, yellow, red and blue to represent earth, air, fire and water are in the cheerful fabric strips Strings of wooden and silver beads also hang from the wreath. It was finished with some smile-inducing silk flowers and has a loop to hang it. Only the happiest of dreams will come through this dream catcher!

See this and other dream catchers in our Etsy shop.

 

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Incense Burner, Reclaimed Wine Bottle and Turned Wood

You won't see wine bottle incense burners like this anywhere else.

You won’t see wine bottle incense burners like this anywhere else.

There are many wine bottle incense burners out there, but ours are unique!

Rob removes the bottom from a wine bottle and fits it with a wood bottom plate and a hand-turned top to make these unique incense burners. The removable bottom plate makes it easy to clean out the ash. The top knob has a wire spiral to hold an incense stick and a number of holes which release the smoke in a fascinating array of curls. It’s hard not to watch it! Our wine bottle incense burners are easy to clean – just put the glass bottle in the dishwasher – so it won’t darken with use.

Find this listing in our Etsy shop!

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Hand-turned tulip-shaped segmented bowl, maple

See the shine? It picks up light just like a disco ball.

See the shine? It picks up light just like a disco ball.

Rob created this beautiful bowl from an iridescent piece of maple he salvaged. Each of the four rings is made of twelve individually cut and glued segments. The project is then hand-turned into the bowl’s beautiful tulip shape. The bowl is finished with food-safe polyurethane and polished to bring out the wood’s natural sparkle. It would be a lovely bowl for fresh fruit or salad and would look stunning on your table. It would make a great wedding or anniversary gift.

Head over to our Etsy shop to see this bowl.

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Turning a Segmented Bowl

FHNYIN2HVVKK3OW.MEDIUMRob created an Instructable for turning a segmented wooden bowl. You can see it here to learn more about the lengthy process of creating beautiful segmented bowls.

The bowl featured in the Instructable was made with salvaged wood from old projects and furniture. It uses cherry and maple for the contrast, but you can use almost any hardwoods. It helps to pick woods of similar hardness, so when you sand them, one won’t wear down faster than the other.

The bowl blank is built from segments of cherry and maple glued together. This provides two benefits over turning a bowl from a solid blank. First, there’s less waste because the blank will already be hollow, and roughly the dimensions of the final bowl. Second, when turning, you’re nearly always cutting with the grain of the wood, rather than across it. (The exception is the disk at the bottom.) This reduces tearing, wear on the tools, and makes mounds of those shaving ribbons that are so satisfying to watch fountain off the work-piece and pile up on the floor.

This bowl has been sold, but there is a lovely maple segmented bowl here.

Visit our Etsy shop for more of Rob’s woodworking.