Beauty is in the eye of the beholder - and I’m the beholder

This afternoon’s weather seemed a bit too risky for a motorcycle ride (threats of rains, too much wind) so instead I applied stain to white cedar destined to become Rietveld chairs.

(A glitch at blogger.com prevents me from loading a photo of the lovely Rietveld crate chairs I’m making; try http://www.treadwaygallery.com/ONLINECATALOGS/Sept2005/salecatalog/images/0879.jpg)

While staining (often a mind-numbing experience, similar to writing comments about spelling on children’s report cards) my mind drifted to what I might do with a piece of mulberry purchased this morning from Phillmore Enterprises, a small lumber yard a few miles from my house.

[I’m a retired teacher. I stand by what I said above about spelling comments. For example, how many times can you write “Johnny’s scores will improve with further practice” before you blurt out the truth, i.e., “Johnny needs to take his books home once in awhile and if I see him flick his erasure at Susie one more time I’m going to ram it up his nose!” Sorry, I digress].

Though I instantly thought the mulberry was an unusual piece of wood and belonged in my shop the cheerful proprietor of the yard said, “It’s just garbage, you know that.”

I looked at the $8 price tag. I let my mind play with a few thoughts. A framed piece of art entitled ‘A Slice of Life’? A few birdhouse faces? One small box for do-dads?

I said, “Will you take $4 for garbage?”

“No. Eight.”

I paid him and loaded it into my friend’s Civic, along with a round piece of soft maple for my lathe and a strip of aromatic cedar for a few art pieces.

The mulberry now hangs on a wall in my workshop. My friend and wife both like my initial idea to leave it alone and simply frame it. They felt it was an unusual object to behold.

I’ll live with it for a few weeks, and see what other ideas pop into my little round head.

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Until blogger.com shapes up you’ll just have to imagine a lovely scrap of wood costing 8 bucks.

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