I make stuff pt. 1

A while back I thought I’d try my hand at wood carving. It looked like a fun, easy way to spend my time. With practice, I’m sure I could crank out some basic carvings in a few minutes. The first thing I made was a little wooden bookmark with an owl at the top. I made it from a piece of grape vine, and at first I was proud of it. How clever was I! It had a tiny groove cut at the base of the claws that kept the owl from sliding into the book.

I didn’t even cut myself once while I whittled away. This owl would be a gift for my wife. I don’t know why but I thought she’d see how amazing it was, how cool it was, how … nothing. Maybe I was hoping for encouragement. It didn’t happen. She accepted the gift and kept quiet about it. It sits in a slot for the remote controls, never having been used once.

Luckily, I was too oblivious to notice her reaction, and I moved onto another project. It’s how you get better at stuff you’re already good at. Not that I was making another owl. Oh no. Having done that, I thought it was time to move on to something more challenging. The second one was a garden marker – a long thin stick from our pomegranate plant. This marker was shaved to point to stab it firmly into the ground, and it was going to be topped with a little bearded wizard.

It wasn’t very good, worse than the owl. I didn’t know this right away, though. I made it and planted it firmly in front of an runt olive tree, and I grinned happily. I was making stuff with my hands and my knife. What could be better?

Lots. The truth is I need to keep making these little objects until I get good at them. I shouldn’t show them to anyone. They’re terrible right now. Just terrible. Oh, I don’t intend to make art of them, but no one should see these things until they are acceptable. That’s the truth.