furniture design

Does the World Really Need Your Furniture? Pt.2

by Adam

In part one, a series of questions were presented to you that you have probably pondered at one time or another.

These questions can really bring you to a point of wondering if anyone cares or even wants you to make your furniture. It’s easy to succumb to the self-doubt and fear that can arise from asking these questions. It can often lead to you wondering if there is any value to you making furniture in the first place.

It can get lonely sometimes with all that wondering going on inside your head.

But, I’m here to let you know that getting discouraged is not an option. Instead it’s time to realize exactly what you offer the world through your woodworking.

What if I were to tell you that people really do want you to make your furniture? In fact, what if I said that the entire world needs you to make furniture? How’s that for a sense of purpose!

The World Needs You to be Passionate

If you’re here reading this, then chances are, you are passionate about woodworking. The sound of the hand plane creating delicate shavings is music to your ears. You are always dreaming of the next piece, the next project. You build furniture in your sleep. You have absolute passion for this craft and everything connected to it. In fact, that’s what you’re known for, isn’t it? People cannot think of you without thinking about your unending love of woodworking.

How many people walk around every day without any evident passion?

Think of all the folks you come in contact with on a daily basis. How many of them are passionate about something? I mean really passionate.

I bet that most aren’t, or if they are, they keep it hidden. They don’t feel as though their passions can be released on the world so they keep it bottled up afraid of people’s reactions to it.

The world needs passionate people living in it. Society needs to see that living with passion is a good thing, regardless of whether other people understand that passion. When you live openly with a passion for something, that spills over into other aspects of life.

People see this and take note. It scares some, and it inspires even more. It inspires people to find their passion. It inspires people to live that passion openly.

The World Needs You to Create

Creative people make the world go round. We do!

At the heart of every movement, every product, and every big idea is a creative person or group of people who flesh out their creativity and inspiration.

When you go to the shop and begin to turn your inspiration into woodworking reality, you’re adding to the creative flow that exists in the world. The lessons you learn and the discoveries you make as you create, add value to your existence and to the existence of everyone around you.

We live these lessons and discoveries, and thereby teach them through that living. The very act of creating your pieces, creates lasting value for all to experience through you and your work.

The World Needs You to Succeed

What is your definition of success in your woodworking?

I know this can be a topic all by itself, but take a minute and really define this for yourself. What does success look like for you in your furniture making endeavors? Is it earning a living through selling your pieces? Is it having the freedom to express yourself though furniture making? What about having opportunities to share your experiences and inspire others?

Each woodworker is going to have a different definition of success because each one will have different reasons for taking up the craft and different goals to achieve within it. Whatever true success looks like for you, the world needs you to achieve that.

When you are working toward your defined success, you become an example of determination, clarity, and dedication. You become what most people wish they were – a person with goals and a very clear purpose. Most individuals walk around wondering what their true purpose in life could be. You, however, have found a purpose in woodworking, and striving for that purpose is part of striving for your success.

Notice, I haven’t said anything about achieving this success.

Your goals of success are certainly achievable, but a person can put too much stock in the final achievement rather than on the lessons that come from the journey towards that success. As we move towards our vision of success, the lessons we learn along the way can change that vision, so we change our course. Be open and flexible enough to change course and you’ll find this success coming sooner than later.

The world needs to see that success on your own terms is certainly obtainable and worthy of striving for. Fear, doubt, self-sabotage, and following convention all need to be obliterated by you and your path to success. Show the world that your core values trump all conventional wisdom, and that your definition of success is a most worthy and courageous pursuit.

The World Needs You

When it all seems pointless, when you’re wondering if you and your furniture even matter, remember that the world desperately needs you to work, live, and be your woodworking.

Let your core message and values shine through each piece you create and each day as you live with the passion for a most worthy and noble craft. Let your authenticity shine through each plane stroke, and saw cut. Make each finished piece a message about you and your mission. Let the world know that without you and your furniture, it would be a lot worse off.

Have you struggled with this in your woodworking pursuits? If you have, why? If you haven’t, why not?

Learn how to make your work matter to the right people by getting your copy of the Woodworking Can Pay The Bills Ecourse.

How Do You Go From Inspiration to Sketchbook?

by Adam

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Woodworkers have a mixed blessing.

Ideas can come from anywhere and at anytime, but sometimes there seems no end to the inspiration that fills your mind. It can be a bit overwhelming at times.

So, how do you capture these bursts of woodworking illumination? The best way to flesh out your ideas is to simply sketch them.

A lot of woodworkers are intimidated at the idea of keeping a sketchbook.

What we’re talking about here are simple quick sketches to just get the basic idea down on paper, not a masterpiece of illustration.

The good news is you don’t have to be an artist or have gone through years of technical drawing and drafting courses to have a sketchbook full of your brilliant masterpieces.

Here’s a few quick and easy tips for improving your skills and gain the confidence to fill volumes of sketchbooks!

Can’t draw? Get over it.

This is the crucial first step. It doesn’t matter whether you have “drawing abilities” or not. These sketches are for you and you alone if you choose. Do you have ideas? Do you have the desire to make these ideas a reality? Do you have a pencil and paper? If you answered yes to all of these then you have the ability to draw your furniture concepts.

Sketch Everything

Think of sketching as simple furniture brainstorming. In other words, you simply put out any and every idea that comes to mind. Instead of doing this verbally, however, you are putting it down on paper in the form of a simple drawing. When an idea hits you, sketch it! Don’t contemplate whether it’s a good idea or not. Remember, this is furniture brainstorming. If you stop to analyze each idea, you’ll be second guessing yourself all day long. Wait until after you’ve drawn these ideas to evaluate whether they will work. It doesn’t matter how outlandish your ideas might seem, put it on paper first. You might be surprised in the end.

Make Your Sketchbook a Project File

It’s a good idea to save all of your past sketches, whether in a sketchbook or some type of file. First of all, this allows you to go back and see how far you’ve come in your designs and drawing abilities. Second, this becomes and instant reference for project ideas. I know in my case, I’ve rediscovered ideas and used elements that I had long forgotten about.

Keep Sketching

The last tip is most important. No matter what, don’t ever stop sketching your inspirations. Make it a regular practice to sit quietly and flesh out your ideas into your sketchbook.  This simple act alone will do more for your design ability than you could ever imagine, plus you’ll really come to enjoy this precious time. Keep sketching. You’ll be glad you did.

The process of turning your ideas into 2D reality doesn’t have to be complicated or intimating. If you follow these simple tips and make it a regular practice you’ll turn sketch work into one of your most treasured activities.

Do you struggle with putting inspiration to sketchbook? What’s the biggest problem you face?

How would you like to design furniture that sells? Find out how in the Woodworking Can Pay The Bills E-course.

3 Design Tools That You Have Had All Along

by Adam

It’s easy to get caught up in the world of jigs, fixtures, templates, etc. Basically, we have a tool for every little process we can imagine. While these do serve a purpose, sometimes the best tools to move us from good to amazing are right in front of us.

This is true when it comes to designing your furniture. There are tools to help automate the process and make it easier, but when it comes to the quality of your designs there exists no greater tools than these three below.

Function

That’s right, function. The intended function of a piece will help determine it’s size, shape, features, and even what materials to make it from.

Standard sets of measurements exist for just about every furniture type out there. These are set by, you guessed it, the function of the piece. Are you making an end table? Is this a cabinet to display a precious collection?

Whatever the anticipated function, your designs can be guided by understanding what you want this piece to accomplish.

Proportion

This is, by far, one of the greatest tools a designer can have at their disposal. The Greeks and Romans had this tool, and Nature displays it prevalently. Proportion is essential in achieving a balance  and harmony between the overall piece and the parts that comprise it. Whole articles have been authored on this one subject, so forgive me if I’m too brief in my attempted explanation.

So, how does one figure the proportion of something? Well, leave it to those genius Greeks to solve that for you. The Golden Ratio (sometimes called the Golden Mean or Golden Rectangle) is a simple formula that allows you to take one known measurement and then find all the remaining measurements of the relating sides or parts.

It may sound complicated, but it’s actually very simple. The numerical value of the The Golden Ratio is 1.618.

Let’s say you are making a table, and you know that the top has to be 28″ in width. What would be a pleasing length for the top? Simply take 28″ and multiply it by 1.618. You get 45.304.

Now you know that the top would be proportioned if you make it around 45″ long. If you know the longer measurement, then simply divide by 1.618 to get the shorter measurement.

Realize that this isn’t a concrete rule to follow. This formula simply gives us guidelines to help suggest measurements that are pleasing to the eye and are in proper relation to each other.

I use this to figure table top sizes, dimensions for doors, the panels within the doors, even the frame parts of the doors can all be calculated. Drawers, legs, cabinet depths, these all can be found using the Golden Ratio. Get familiar with this tool and discover what golden opportunities it affords.

Intuition

“The best tool is the eye. Train the eye. The eye guides your hands to achieve the form. If the eye says it’s right, it is right.”

- Tage Frid

Tage Frid taught my teacher back in the late forties and early fifties. He instilled this principal of intuition in each of his students. As a result, my teacher passed this on to me.

In fact, I would hear him say almost this exact phrase to all of us at one point or another. His purpose was to help us develop that sense of balance and proportion to the point that it became almost like a second nature. This intuition affords a sense of liberation and freedom as you work. It allows the eye to guide the whole process.

Sometimes, even when all the numbers add up, and everything seems to scale on paper, things still don’t seem quit right. Your intuition can quietly and accurately inform you when something seems balanced and when something seems terribly out of proportion to another part.

In the end, after it’s all said and done, does the piece seem right? Does it seem balanced? If not, then what is it that is unbalanced? Go ahead. Change the drawing. Alter the design based on this intuition. Now, step back and look at it again.

As you’re shaping that compound curved table leg, put aside the templates and just begin to shape it by eye. Carefully take in all the angles visually and let the eye guide the process. Now, hold it up to one of the finished legs. All it takes is a little time and trust. Train the eye. It’s the best tool we have. It guides the intuition.

These tools have always been at your disposal. They’ve worked for humanity for centuries. Yet, even today people can be reluctant to rely on them. Maybe it’s the fact that they require more trust of your own abilities.

However, once you begin to take these tools and implement them for yourself, you’ll find greater freedom within your woodworking than you had before.

Have you had success using these three resources? What tools do you employ in the design process?

How would you like to design furniture that sells? Find out how in the Woodworking Can Pay The Bills E-course.

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