Partly, she wants to tell that story due to the influence of growing up in the Canadian Rockies, “so that feeling of the natural world being very close and very present, sacred, was a big part of my childhood.” Sculpture, she feels, is the best way for her to tell that story — incorporating some woodworking furniture making techniques along the way.

Melissa started out studying art as an undergraduate when she realized that a) she had a preference for making three-dimensional objects, b) she wanted to study this area further by delving into furniture making and c) the college she was attending didn’t have a furniture program.After switching to a community college for a few years to complete a professional craft program which focused on both hands-on and business instruction, Melissa returned to the original college to finish her degree by putting on her graduate show (the only requirement left for her).

“I was going to do a series of cabinets kind of based on the natural world and all my concerns about the natural world and wildness and extinction and things like this, and I was showing [advisor Brent Skidmore] these little sculpted handles that I was making for the cabinets, and Brent said, ‘What are you enjoying more, making the cabinets of making the little sculptural objects like the pulls and the handles?’ And I said, ‘Oh, the sculptural bit, of course.’”

Her study of furniture making does continue to have an impact on her work, though, including both how she makes her pieces and her choice of materials. For her multi-piece assemblages, “There’s a real emphasis on making sure they’re put together well. It’s more of an additive process than a subtractive process: I don’t take a big chunk of wood and then carve it away until it’s what I want it to be; I take many small pieces, shape them, and then add them to each other to get a larger sculpture. I think that’s definitely more from a furniture making background than a sculpture background.”

As for her joinery choices, “I do a fair amount of pinning,” she said. Having started out with dowels, she now employs tiny metal rods for the same effect. “My concern for the cleanliness of the joins and all that goes back to the idea of craftsmanship that I got from being in a furniture program and understanding the way that things go together and when they’re properly together and when they’re not.”
And, of course, “Furniture making got me into wood.” Not only does she love wood as a material, Melissa said, but, I think it makes sense as far as the themes that I’m exploring to be using wood. I’m trying to keep the thesis going through the materials that I’m working with, not just the ideas.”

As she sources materials, “As best I can, I try to use things literally from my own backyard,” she said. When that’s not possible, Melissa still stays away from exotics and tries to stick to hardwoods easily found in North Carolina, where she lives.She also extends her eco-consciousness to her finish choices, which are essentially milk paint and acrylic paints, sometimes used in combination and sometimes separately, depending on the project. Sometimes, for instance, she might apply a layer of acrylic paint, with milk paint on top, and then wipe back the milk paint for an effect. “The acrylics are really pretty non-nasty in the scheme of things; the milk paints are really natural paint sources.”

In addition to paint, the surface embellishments she applies to a piece might include carving or adding textures with a woodburning tool. That’s an aspect of the work that her husband, woodturner Graeme Priddle, also contributes to. “We work collaboratively a lot, and we teach collaboratively, so he handles the woodturning and then we both do the surface embellishing and stuff like that.” (The two will be teaching a class together on woodturning and surface embellishment at the Florida School of Woodwork in February 2019.)

The two of them do work on collaborative pieces, as well, plus both continuing to pursue their individual artistic paths. “He may take a form off the lathe, but then we manipulate it and do lots of stuff to it afterwards so it ends up not looking as much like a lathe-turned form, and we both kind of play with that.” Or, “Sometimes I’ll request something, ‘Could you just turn me a quick sphere?’ and then I’ll do everything from that.” Or, for a lot of her individual work, Melissa said, “I create most of my forms off of my band saw and kind of refine them with sanding machines and rotary carvers and stuff like that.”

For her, as she continues to pursue her work, it’s about nonfunctional objects with an emphasis on form, texture and color “and scenes about the natural world and wanting to protect wild places and wild creatures.”

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The 6-in. Combination Square (model e255) sells for $8.99. A 12-in. version (model e250) is priced at $10.99, and the 16-in. square (model e280) sells for $14.99. Empire Level’s measuring products, including these TRUE BLUE Combination Squares, are made in the USA.

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Backed by RYOBI’s 3-year manufacturer’s warranty, the 18-Volt ONE+ Cordless Brushless Jig Saw (model P524) is priced at $119 and comes with one T-shank wood cutting blade and an operator’s manual. Batteries and charger are sold separately.

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Chris Marshall: A 1/2-in. flush trim bit has a 1/4-in. radius. A 3/8-in. flush-trim bit has a 3/16-in. radius, and a 1/4-in. flush trim bit has a 1/8-in. radius. Forgive me for sounding pedantic here, but I’ll bet you’re beginning to see one reason why flush-trim bits come in different diameters: their varying radii can be an advantage. Sometimes you need a tight radius to trim into corners, slots or small inside cutouts where a larger bit just wouldn’t fit or would leave too much material behind in the corners. I’ve also encountered situations where the bit’s radius creates the exact inside corner curve I want. In other situations, strength is the bigger virtue: I’d rather template-rout a thick piece of white oak or maple with a 1/2-in.-shank flush-trim bit than a 1/4-in. shank bit, because it’s a stiffer piece of steel that can handle heavy-duty cuts like this. Some tasks call for a long, hefty bit, while other times a slender, more delicate cutter is the right choice.

All this said, my 1/2-in.-dia. flush-trimmer with a 1/2-in. shank is the one I use most often. If you intend to buy only one flush-trim bit, this is a really good one to have. Longer bits offer more versatility, because you’ll be able to use it on both thick and thin stock. And if you can find a bit with a shear angle to the cutting edges, such as Rockler’s flush-trim bit in the photo below, choose that over a bit with no shear angle: the angle helps to reduce burning, splintering and tearout.

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I didn’t mind going through the design phase, since it helped me focus on the details and the building processes. Building the jigs for the tapered legs and the groves for the splines were new challenges for me.

The chair is made solely of white oak and the seat top is attached with screws for seasonal movement. All the apron joints are Mortise and Tenon joinery and the wedges and front curved piece is joined with a spline at the front and back of the wedges. I tried to keep with the “Handcrafted By” idea by using hand tools as much as possible.

Everyone who watched this project being developed couldn’t wait to see it finished. I am so pleased how it turned out and am hopeful this idea gives other woodworkers a new challenging project to try.

– Martin J. Heuer
St. Petersburg, Florida

See the Gallery Below:

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“You are so right!  I’m trying to be better about that, but it is difficult because, I think, we want everything perfect.  When I read your article, I busted out laughing because what you said is so very true.” – Walter Hayes

“I just had to say it must be true. I make something, possibly something I worked on for weeks, and my wife looks and says how nice it is! Me? ‘Oh no, Sugar,  just look here, see that spot?’ Yeah, that’s me. I have lots of nice things I’ve made in my home, and I get lots of compliments, but all I ever see are the mistakes, regardless of how small. It’s crazy! I have no idea what’s the matter with me! I’m my own worst critic. But, I think you’re right: it might be universal!” – Steve Kendall

“I have trained myself to just say ‘thank you.’” – Jeff Kelly

“I can’t stand when I do it. I look for the Clydesdales to help me pull the words back into my pie tray (mouth)! Once you release them, they’re gone. Then all I can do is hope you’re right about them just being polite.You’ve got to stop being right so much, Rob.” – Dennis Young

“Oh how true, Rob.   I’ve made it a personal rule not to remodel my own house (outside of painting) nor create more than utilitarian furniture for myself.  If you made it, you will see the flaws for the rest of its life. However, one has the ability to overlook the flaws of others’ work, and folks that receive gifts will overlook the little stuff so long as it’s functional and not a pain to use. We are definitely much more accepting of others’ imperfections. In fact, craftsmen and tradesmen have been deliberately adding imperfections to their work for a long time. I like to take tours of old buildings where I look for those imperfections. Sometimes I’ll see them and sometimes I have to ask. Navajo weavers added in these imperfections to their rugs. The belief is that these imperfections trap part of the weaver’s spirit in the rug.  My mistakes, of course, are not planned and are not deliberate but, heh, why not tell that fib if it’s ever brought up? Thanks for the much-needed reminder.” – Randy Gleason

“I have forced myself to adopt something I learned from working with roofers:  ‘They’ll never see it from the road.’” – Ralph Lombardo

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