"foggytown" wrote in news:1150624642.064242.16130
@c74g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:

Striving for perfection is one thing. Being dissapointed when you
don't attain it is quite another. But how do you curb your own
excessive fussiness?

I'm getting more and more into making little wood boxes for jewelery,
trinkets, etc. Average size 6" X 4", but can be as big/small as
required. Here are some examples of what I've done in utili, oak, ash,
purpleheart, yew.

http://foggytown.spaces.msn.com/photos/?_c02_owner=1

I'd like to turn this hobby into some kind of earner by doing
made-to-measure boxes to order. My big problem is that I'm rarely
satisfied with my work and I assume that a potential customer will be
even more critical than I am. Friends & relations I've shown my stuff
to think its very good but I just can't get past the little
imperfections I know are the a slightly loose joint requiring some
filler; a blemish on the oil finish where a spot of glue on the wood
wasn't noticed; couple of small "hard" spots on the velvet interior
where some glue dripped.

Question for the wreckers here who do pieces for customers. Are you
ever truly satisfied with your work to the point where you think it
will probably be rejected? Or am I overestimating the capacity of the
public to be critical of something they can't do to begin with?

FoggyTown


If you want perfection then it isn't handmade. It is CNC machined,
assembled in a factory with sprayed on glues, finishes, etc.

It it isn't perfect, then it is truly handmade and one of a kind.

Somewhere between the mechanics of woodworking and raw timber is art and
the artisan and only he can turn lumber into art.

FWIW