Fall Tablescape

My appreciation for wood began in the early '70s when selling fire wood.  A housing boom was taking place, and many trees were being taken down to make way for new homes.  On most jobsites, the trees were either buried or burned in large pits.  Seldom were the trees harvested for lumber.  At the time, seeing the trees not being utilized and going to waste did not set well.  Cutting the logs and larger limbs for firewood was putting mother natures effort to at least some use.  Occasionally, a log or two would be available that even to my untrained eye was exceptional.  Those logs would not be cut for firewood, but instead loaded and taken to a sawmill to be made into lumber.  Most of that lumber ended up being donated to and used by the various school shop classes in the area. Cutting, splitting and selling firewood is hard work, and after a few years that enterprise ran it's course, but the love for the beauty inside the logs remained. In the mid to late '70s, I became a self taught potter.  I built my own kick wheel and three different gas fired kilns.  I think it is during this period that the importance of form was learned.   Form is the one thing that can capture the eye from across the room.  A pleasing form will invite a closer inspection, and that is when experiencing the beauty of the wood or the interest of the glaze takes place.  The best glazes or most exquisite burl can not overcome a form that doesn't hold one's interest. Job, family, and life have higher priorities than hobbies, and potting slowly faded away.  Years later a chance encounter with woodturning stirred the need to create that potting started.  I am now, and for a long time will be, an aggressive student of woodturning. Inquiries about any of my turnings can be made at DaleM@daleminerwoodturning.com. Additional items can be seen at www.daleminerwoodturning.com

- Dale Miner