Woodworking Resolutions Part 2: My Inspirations

Yesterday, I talked about setting a resolution to get over my carving avoidance behavior and my new carving book that was going to help me with that. I made mention of a second gift that was prompting me to go down this road.

Harbor & Home is one of those museum style tomes about furniture styles and history that is like inspiration crack for the woodworker. It is full of images of beautiful furniture, but in this instance it contains a lot of back story and history that influenced the growth of the style in Southeastern Massachusetts. Normally American furniture has rather subdued ornamentation, but the regions that embraced the most Baroque stylings were Philadelphia and Boston. Understandably so seeing as there both were major ports receiving goods direct from England. I have several books on Chippendale style but Harbor & Home fills in a lot of the blanks about the specific craftsmen who built some of these high society pieces as well as furniture for the more common Joe.

So it was as I was leafing through the book that I began the typical woodworker inner monologue, “ooh, I want to build that”. Examining high quality photos of these pieces can get your juices flowing, but for me, establishing a connection with the period and understanding what the carvings meant to the original craftsman and why their customers were requesting them adds a deeper element for me.

I feel very fortunate to have easy access to some amazing museums full of period furniture very nearby. Heck this ball and claw foot is on a piece of furniture across the hall from my office.Getting out to them is a different story and generally the security guards think you are up to something when you linger and drool on a piece. Books like this allow you to examine all you want and even pull drawings for mocking up your own plans for a recreation.

There are many more options than just this particular book, but this one spoke to me particularly because it accompanies an exhibition that I attended at the Winterthur museum last year. Spend some time browsing on Amazon and you will come up with more titles than anyone could afford, but I think your source of inspiration for project that will challenge and push your skills will never be wanting for more.

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