Last minute gift projects

The Christmas projects keep rolling in. You still have a whole weekend left to make last-minute gifts, too. Then things can begin to get back to normal!
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When people ask for gift project ideas, I always mention candle holders. They make great gifts and you can make on in a couple hours! Heres a beauty from Bill Wilson. Made with paduik and okume, its scalloped edges make it unique.

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Train whistles! If you havent made any these yet, give them a shot. All you need is a scrap of 2x4 and a dowel. Here are two from John Schutz. He used a fine-point Sharpie to draw the design, then finished with polyurethane.

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But  Robert Mclennan took the whistle to a different level of creativity with this train train whistle! 

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Stocking hangers! Still time to get these made before Christmas Eve. Hey, Santa doesnt even mind if you dont have a mantel. Pantelis Beglis (???????? ????????) made these two on the balcony of his apartment in Thessaloniki, Greece. (His second woodworking project!) He donated them to his sons  kindergartens  Christmas Bazaar where they fetched 10€ each.

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High School art teacher Kevin Babcock, up in Maine, got very creative by making five stocking holders.

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Quarto! Its all the rage this year. Mike Stone cranked out a bunch! I like the inlaid circles and the storage. Made with birch, oak, and walnut.

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Finally, Alain Vaillancourt (The Woodpecker) just made his own version. Heres his video. 

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2012 One year in a minute

Posted by chun | 0 comments | 8:52 PM

Since I wont have any new woodworking projects until January, I thought Id post this video today. Ive been working on it for almost a year.
I thought it would be interesting to shoot a photo of myself in my shop every day and make a time-lapse video. The main thing I learned is that it is very difficult to stay dedicated to taking a picture every day. It might have been easier if I had a dedicated camera set-up. Instead, I marked off three circles on the floor where my tripod would go each day.
Another problem was maintaining a consistent exposure each day with my Sony Cybershot camera. I shot each picture at different times of the day and used the flash on all of them. It didnt take me long to decide I wasnt going to worry about it and let the exposures vary. I didnt want to spend more than a few seconds each day on this.
Shortly into the year I decided to make reference to each weekly woodworking project I was building. Again, I didnt always remember to do that, but you should be able to see some of them. I also tried to use an expression that reflected how I was feeling on each day.
What I find the most interesting about this video is watching my tools move around on the pegboard behind me. I find it hypnotic!

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