Handmade Portraits: Wood Mosaics

Robin and Kathy Tucker of woodmosaics stopped working in town back in 1986. After Robin’s intricate wood-inlayed work was featured in The Best of Missouri Hands catalog and commissioned by Ralston Purina, they were on their way to full time crafting. Influenced by Amish quilt patterns, Robin’s excellent woodworking uses exotic natural woods that range from Satinwood from Sri Lanka to Purpleheart from Central and South America. All of the wood is completely natural, with only a clear finish added to punctuate the beauty of the wood’s innate color.

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(Music credit: Michael Chapman, Nathan Salsburg, J. Seger)

Choosing to live as off the grid as much as possible, Robin built a windmill so the family could hand pump their own water. Kathy made their clothes for years and they slaughter their own meat from the goats and chickens they raise. However, the one amenity they can’t live without is the internet. After a dozen years of craft shows across the country, Robin and Kathy prefer to stay at home, tend to the farm and sell their goods via laptop rather than mall shows. While the juxtaposition of an outhouse and high speed internet would seem strange to most folks, the Tuckers have chosen to make certain sacrifices to keep costs down while in pursuit of a self sustained lifestyle. Living in the middle the country in Spickard, Missouri, the Tuckers keep connected through the latest in social networking via their Myspace and flickr sites, with a solar powered back-up generator in case the electricity goes out.

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Check out Robin’s homemade videos from the farm on Youtube.