On Feb 21, 10:21 am, (Arch) wrote:
This is not to imply that turned wooden objects whether for use or for
appealing to the senses are not worthy of doing the best we can. Turning
a salad bowl to be as handsome as you can make it isn't the same as
trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear, nor is creating a lovely
turned work of art tantamount to gilding a corn stalk. How do we decide
when we've 'done good'? It's getting to be that the decision is not
ours to make. It's in the perception of others.

(clipped)
Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter

http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings


Hello Arch and others,

When I was doing craft shows a number of years ago, I came to the
conclusion that every piece we make has an owner, we just have to find
that person. At my first craft show in 1993, I had some nice pieces
for sale but my wife had insisted that I take my first bowl also. I
considered it to be awful and no one would consider purchasing it. It
was the only piece that sold at that event. The lady walked up and
grabbed that bowl and said I'll take it, without even asking the
price.

Another time I was at the Anacortes Arts and Crafts show in about 1995
with a rented booth and tent. I had a vase that I thought ugly, so it
was displayed in the very back of the exhibit. A lady walked in and
pushed her way right through the crowd looking at my work and said,
"That's mine." without looking at the price. That was the time when I
realized that every piece we make has an owner, we just have to find
them.

What is beauty to one person may be ugly to another, regardless of the
rules that we apply. That doesn't mean that we should not try to do
our very best work on every piece that we produce even if it is only
for ourselves.

Fred Holder
http://www.fholder.com