The Light Shines Through the Cracks
The Japanese have a philosophy called wabi sabi, or the art of finding beauty in imperfection. Early on in my quest to master the woodworking craft I was obsessed with perfection. Perfect cuts, perfect joints, perfect finishes. I, of course, never obtained that level of skill so I stopped trying. Not stopped trying to find perfection but stopped working in wood. Just walked away from it as something that I couldn't do. It was some time later and a lot of maturity later that I wandered back to the craft. Somewhere along the way I began to appreciate the imperfections. On my trips I always look for local woodworking stores where I can find something unique. On our recent visit to Phoenix after finding the same old stuff in chain woodworking stores one helpful woodworker turned me on to the urban mills that are popping up in Phoenix. This led me to Ironwood Mills. Ironwood Mills, and others like them, obtain all their wood from trees planted years ago in the Phoenix area. Usually the homeowner just needs the tree removed and what used to just get burned goes to places like this now. I picked up several amazing pieces at Ironwood Mills but when I saw this warped and cracked piece of eucalyptus in their scrap pile I was drawn to it. Yes, it came home with me. I'm sure they thought I was crazy.
The Japanese have another art called Kintsugi where broken pottery is mended with gold. In this philosophy breakage and repair are part of the character of the object. In our disposable culture surely this piece of wood is destined for the burn pile right? Or maybe it's destined to be something special after all. It's not gold, I used crushed Malachite instead. I think the green and red really complement each other. I don't usually use gold pen kits but in this case I think it's a pretty amazing combination. I was smiling the whole time this twisted, cracked piece of amazing potential spun away on the lathe knowing it could break into a dozen pieces at any moment. Patience. Light hand on the chisel. No thoughts of work or drama to trouble me. Just the craft. The imperfections being the point, not the problem. I'm pretty sure there is a lesson in this.