Thought For The Day: 'Heuristics'

Click photo above to read it ... "move forward on incomplete information" .. I love that ...

My son Sam pointed out this little gem of advice for the problemsolver (and what woodworker/artist isn't one?) from editor Brian Gilbert in the Spring issue of The Hammer's Blow, the ABANA quarterly. It's a summary of one of Robert Genn's letters to artists. The full text of Robert Genn's letter is here. Some of his other posts, like the 'The Zen of Art' and the one on 'Shibui' are also worth a read. The web is amazing for the connections you can make to other people's thoughts, and sometimes they are just the thoughts you need to move your own art and life along.

And, if you read The New Yorker and like articles on thinking and working and problem solving, try Jonah Lehner's "The Eureka Hunt" in this week's (July 28th) issue. It's along these same lines... Enjoy...

Cleaning Antique Metal

Along with our nonstop woodworking we like to also play with metal from time to time. Here is a pair of antique French urn planters that a customer brought to us to see if we could remove the rust. The foundry plaque reads "Corneau Alfred A Charleville" which dates them back to around 1880. Usually when someone sees a piece that has started to rust badly they would give up and get it out of the house or hide it behind the garage. With a little time and effort a piece like this can be transformed back to its original beauty.