NEW WORK III

SCOTLAND

A few snaps from a recent journey to the second largest island in Scotland, the Isle of Skye.

NEW WORK II

In the process of making tables/benches for a new bar/restaurant in town.

VOLUME I

Trying to find some inspiration, taking photographs seems to help, I'll share some here.

Images below I've taken with Kodak disposable cameras:

PERSONAL HISTORY LESSON

When my father was in his mid-twenties he had a small line of various wood objects that he sold all over the region under the name Barnside Furniture. One of my favorite items that he used to produce were hand turned vases out of local fallen trees. 
I love the story of a large order he received for these handmade vases from the Drake Hotel in Chicago; they wanted 500 for display in their dining/lounge areas. He worked on his own, so he had to enlist all of his friends to help meet the deadline, which he met. I hope they didn't end up in a dumpster in the '90s. 
My then fiance, Hillary and I enjoyed them so much, my father created them for our wedding reception this past fall; Hillary's centerpiece dream and gift to our guests. I wanted some for our own home, so I set out to recreate a similar type of product. The first image here is a pair of photos from my father's first workshop where he created the large vase order. The next images document the hunt for the right wood for the vases. Following the wood search photos, are photos showing me working with the same lathe and exact hand tools that my father used decades ago to create those 500 vases for the Drake. The finished product is revealed at the end.

IRREGULAR SHAPES

New cheese boards in the shop.

WINTER IS HERE

Winter finally arrived in Northern Michigan. Our first significant snowfall means that we most likely won't see the grass for several long months. Winter means that the wood fire in the shop is working hard all day, and keeping it going is another job on the list. The winter season has grown on me over the years. I now look forward to getting outside and experiencing familiar trails and woods with their new, but temporary look.

We've got an exciting partnership coming up at the end of the month to share with you, and are excited to keep moving forward with new furniture and other goods as the new year approaches. I hope your winter is starting off nicely, keep warm.

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L to R; Stacks of cheese boards ready for paint, and inspecting some new rough sawn hard maple.

WEBSITE LAUNCH

The Milled Home Goods Co. site officially went live on November 29, 2012. The new home of Milled is www.milledco.com. The entire project has been a long time coming, and it feels really good to start sharing the work that we've been doing with other people. It's always a little nerve wracking introducing your work to new people, but the feedback thus far has been very encouraging. The positive response has us both more motivated than ever to push forward and continue developing new products to share with you.

To celebrate the launch of Milled we are offering 10% off your entire order from now until December 2 11:59pm EST, all you have to do is enter in code HELLOMILLED at checkout.

Above is the first order that went out earlier today to good friends in Washington DC. When I was a kid I had a strange obsession with collecting pencils, and still think they are one of the most underrated items in any wood shop. In all of our packages we include a nice Milled pencil for your enjoyment, as well as a hand written thank you note. It's really exciting to start sharing our products with you all.

LIFE UPDATE & SCHEMING

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Having a cup of tea and designing a new Credenza

Brief personal life update: It's been an extremely busy fall this year. Several massive life moments have since come and gone; my new wife Hillary and I bought our first home. Moving into our house, and getting married (photo below) all occurred in a two week period, things have slowed down a touch and my focus can return to finally launching this business.

Dealing with the less fun but just as important aspects of forming a business this week, it's crucial to get off on the right foot with things like having the right accounting system in place, and all of the proper paperwork filed (with the state and county in which you're doing business).

Below are a few links that I found helpful in putting everything together:

//  Small Business Administration, INC, Entrepreneur Magazine & Online Content, Michigan Business Help

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(L to R) Wedding Shot via the multi-talented Megan Gilger of The Fresh Exchange & The first wood fire of the season in the shop 

PHOTO SHOOT

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Images Above (T to B) styled Credenza, maple Cheese Boards from locally fallen trees, bedside table

Recently finished a very successful photo shoot of some of the coming goods with my superbly talented friend Mike Gilger. I'm really excited about how things came out, and I look forward to sharing more as things unfold with the website.

First draft of the website is done, meeting with the developer this weekend to tweak it a bit more, also need to finalize packaging of the items within the coming weeks, future post on that; things are happening.

NEW WORK I

The above piece went to a wonderful couple living nearby on Lake Leelanau in Michigan, and the lower black Credenza went south to a buyer in the great state of Illinois. It was hard seeing them go, but you can't keep everything you make if you want to make a living.

STARTING

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Images Above (L to R) my dad in his woodworking studio in his mid-twenties,  reclaimed wood coasters, small table recently finished, me and Hillary

Venturing into the unknown. I like to be prepared, but I understand that sometimes just starting is the best way to learn. I'm a fourth generation carpenter, I learned basically everything I know regarding woodworking from my dad.

I've put together a small line of furniture, and some small products that I myself enjoy using, and hope that other people can also find some joy in using. The products will be evolving over time, and new things will be introduced along the way.

I am not alone in this journey, my fiance Hillary has been oh so important and helpful in so many ways.  You will hear more from her soon. This blog will document the forming of our business, and I will try to portray that as best I can. My tendency to drift off in thought will most likely result in other random posts.