Gourd Person
I grow gourds, dry them, and then decorate them. This is my own project, basically experimental. I call the little man on the left Burt, for no good reason. Just improvised, painted and repainted. I thought it ended up kind of cute. I used a hole saw to make a hole (what else?) in a small block of wood to serve as a base for the rounded bottom of the gourd. The wizard on the right was painted on the top of a gourd I had cut off to make a vase with the lower portion. Again, just a little experiment that turned pretty well. I surprised myself by how well the wizard's face and beard turned out.. I have other people "in progress:" a king and queen and a family (mom, dad, 2 kids). I'm just waiting for the right inspiration to finish them.
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Great service
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About Me
I'm a 70 year old guy, retired in 2007, after 30 years of college teaching. I wanted to a good teacher, certainly better than most of the schmucks who taught me. I did OK but wasn't the "great" teacher I wanted to be. Then health issues forced an early retirement. I had always been interested in woodworking of the carpentry type, which I still do for personal projects. But I also discovered "creative" woodworking of a more artistic kind that I describe below and that's what I've been doing for the past 8 years.
My "Business"
I don't really have a company nor am I really in business. I'm a one-man hobby operation. I just use "The Old Man's Woodshop" on my non-business cards. I do rustic, simple wood projects: walking sticks and canes, small signs (house numbers, welcome, business, etc.), artistic wood carvings (can be hand-painted), small furniture, among other things. I also grow and decorate gourds as bowls, vases, birdhouses, animals, little people, creatures). What I do is not my livelihood and I'm not trying to make a lot of money. Mostly, I just want to make things that will please my customers. So far, so good. People seem pleased with the results of the 5 CustomMade projects I have completed. Similarly, that holds true for other people I done things for, e.g., several small business signs.
(To be continued)
- CJ
Cheryl Jones
For Gourd Person5.0I named him Delbert. Awesome gentleman to work with
EMEdward Miggins
For Celtic Knot Carvings5.0- ML
Mike Lovett
For House Number Signs5.0Michael was excellent from start to finish - couldn't be happier with the end result.
- AV
Alexander Van Berg
For House Number Signs5.0Can't really think of any negatives. It was very easy to work with Michael. He was interested in getting the product done the way I envisioned it, and he was eager to hammer out all the fine details. I was even able to provide a custom font for use in my project. This definitely exceeded my expectations. The amount of time he spent on the project was very reasonable. Last but not least, the final product I received in the mail is great.
- KM
Kevin M
For Wood Carving4.7 - J
john
For corner shelves3.8Very difficult describing the exact dimensions that we needed; Mr. Olson did a fine job with the workmanship and choice of wood and stain
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