Ponderings #7: Boundaries

Booooorn Freeeeee! Go for it Tom (Just don’t pee into the wind).

-- -John "Do I have to keep typing a smiley? Just assume it's a joke." www.flickr.com/photos/gizmodyne

Great Tom. I’ve followed a few plans and designed my own. Most items have been requested items. So nothing made for Art’s sake.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

I saw your first line “I have been setting boundaries” and I thought “WHY?”

The only boundaries I follow are as you stated, the laws of physics. My other boundaries are the given space a piece goes in and style parameters by the clients. These are enough boundaries.

I encourage you to be free. Join me in the field of creativity with no boundaries, no barbed fences to contain and stifle the imagination!

WAHOOO!

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

I suppose we are currently obligated to follow the “laws” of physics but I’m still trying to find a way around them. Who wouldn’t want a floating coffee table or a piece of wood that was impossibly thin and strong? I’ll let you guys know if I get around any of these “laws” and how I did it.
I wouldn’t hold your breath though.

-- Kyle Shipp, http://battleshipp.blogspot.com

Go, Cat. Go!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

Thanks folks! I guess part of the reason I was setting boundaries was because it seems like people do it all the time. For example, someone just builds mission furniture. It seems like they’ve set a boundary that they’re not willing to cross.

What I have to keep in mind is that a) just because they set a boundary, doesn’t make it obligatory. B) Perhaps they just LIKE that style of furniture, or C) Perhaps they don’t have it in them to branch out!

I guess I like seeing rules and order in things. Perhaps “like” is the wrong word. Instead, I’m probably just comfortable seeing them there. However, I want to create. Nothing ventured is nothing gained, so why venture into shallow waters?

Thanks folks! Good to know folks here got my back ;)

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

Boundaries! We don’t need no stinkin’ boundaries. Make whatever strikes your fancy. Whatever style I use is not the result of a definition as much as it is a limit of my current skill set, and that will change. If I don’t have a place for it, then I follow my father’s advice and give it to somebody who does. Fortunately, this is not my livelihood.

-- Working at Woodworking http://www.VillageLaneFurniture.com

Russel,

That is EXACTLY what I’m planning on doing. I figured I could donate some to local charity auctions, church groups, friends, family, the list goes on and on. Maybe one day, I might see about selling a piece, just to test the waters.

The funny thing is, I don’t think I could take commissions. WAY to many boundaries!!! ;)

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!

sounds to me like you just past through sort of lumberjock puberty ! lol go for it man , boundaries are for convicted felons !

sometimes a boundary is the catalyst for change… knowing opens the doors to the unknown… the boundary gives you the place to put your feet as you stretch yourself and push yourself outside the box.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

Great idea. don’t forget common sense and good design and don’t squat with yer spurs on!

-- Thos. Angle

I swim in some pretty deep waters with the high-end commissions. The risk factor is incredibly high on them.

-- Todd A. Clippinger, Montana, http://amcraftsman.com

Honestly Todd, I had no idea there was a high risk factor on commissions like that. I’d have figured them as a much safer bet than building on spec like I’m talking about doing.

-- "Give me your poor tools, your tired steel, your huddled masses of rust." Yep, I ripped off the Statue of Liberty. That's how I roll!