Making Ripples: post-corporate adventures in Floyd County Virginia

Artisans and Craftspeople of Floyd - first of a series

I keep discovering more people every day who make beautiful and functional things that enhance the quality of life. These people are all artists in their own way and they all have interesting stories on how they came to Floyd and became professional crafts people.

My long-term mission is to get all of these people blogging on their own so you will be kept up to date on what they are producing and how they view their life and their work. That may take a little time as they are not all Internet-enabled. Until that happens, I have an opportunity to present their work and their stories.

I have a bit of a backlog of artisans to present, but I will buckle down and try to produce a few posts every week on the people who make Floyd the arts and craft center of this region. I hope to let their work do most of the talking. This post introduces the work of Bill and Corinne Graefe.

The image at the top is a close-up of the top of a remarkable conference table that can be found at Phoenix Hardwoods on Rte 221 just north of Floyd, VA. The rest of the table is shown here.

If I ever need a conference table again, I will move heaven and earth to get this one or one like it. It has the feeling of a table where difficult projects get accomplished against all odds. It is also a table for the terminally insouciant who think outside the box most of the time. There is an aura about this table that seems to call for incredible results.

I expect that Bill and Corinne Graefe intended to create that effect. Their workshop/showroom is full of similar examples of the woodworking art and all have a unique character.

Gretchen and I were so impressed with their work that we have asked them to build us an end table for our new home. I will be showing more of their work in a future post and will be blogging the saga of our custom end table. I think you may find it interesting.

UPDATE: I forgot to mention that Phoenix Hardwoods is open by appointment only. You can call them at 540-745-6403 or email them at hardwoods@swva.net

Blogs to the left of me, blogs to the right of me...

The Floyd Open Forum on Blogging was interesting for all concerned. Here is the short version of the story:

We wedged 10 amusing and entertaining people into the Northeast corner of the Cafe Del Sol and everybody talked at once for almost two hours. Blogging cards were exchanged, advice was sought and exchanged, and two non-bloggers caught the blogging bug.

Local bloggers included: Linda Wright, Leslie Shelon, Jamie Reynolds, Doug Thompson, Fred First, and Colleen Redman.

Topics covered included: blogs for artists, how blogs change your life, blogging tips, and hands-on demonstration of useful blog features. We even got into technical bits like permalinks and trackbacks which were mysteries to many of the newer bloggers.

It was a high energy meeting all around. Questions were flying and three separate discussion groups were running, some with live demonstrations.

The non-bloggers were amazed at how generous the experienced bloggers were with suggestions and advice. They finally realized that bloggers want to see other people start blogging!

I explained that blogging is not a zero-sum game. There is infinite space on the internet and we all benefit when new people join us in the blogosphere.

We covered so much ground that we decided that we should wait at least two weeks before meeting again. By then, we expect that two of the non-bloggers will be blogging. We will announce them as soon as their blogs launch.

If you are an artist/businessperson interested in promoting yourself via a blog, why not plan on attending the next open forum. You may be pleasantly surprised at the help and encouragement you will receive.

Update: Linda Wright picked up a few new tips during the forum and is sharing them with her buddies at homesteadblogger.com.

Floyd Open Forum on Blogging

I will be hosting an "Open Forum on Blogging" session at the Cafe Del Sol
this morning from 11:00am to 1:00pm.

If you are an artist, an artisan, or a frustrated writer, you owe it to yourself to drop in and find out why blogging is considered citizen publishing on a grand scale. Discover what it takes to create a weblog and how it can transform your life and your business.

It is open to all bloggers and would-be bloggers and will be relatively unstructured. This is not a presentation. It will be an open question and answer session with some hands-on examples. Bring your laptop as there is free wi-fi available at the Cafe Del Sol.

The purpose of this open forum is to answer questions and promote the spread of blogging in the Floyd area.

Experienced bloggers from a variety of fields will be there to answer questions. They will be happy to share what they have learned during the years they have been blogging.

The time and place again:

Cafe Del Sol in Floyd, VA
this morning from 11:00am to 1:00pm

Cost: Zip, Nada, Nichts,  it's free!

But it would be a nice idea to buy lots of coffee and maybe lunch at the Cafe.
Be sure and leave something in the tip jar for the friendly staff!

If you cannot make it, you will be able to read the results on several local weblogs. We plan to repeat the forum on a weekly basis until the subject of blogging is thoroughly exhausted - or we are. :)

See you there!

Blogger emulates mass media and makes fool of himself

This post has been removed as it was based on faulty observation on my part.

Thanks to the bloggers who brought this to my attention.

I failed to do enough fact-checking.before posting.

The modified post title will be left standing as a reminder to do better in the future.

A treat for the eyes and ears at Oddfellas Cantina

Last Wednesday, Gretchen and I wandered into Oddfellas Cantina to hear Bernie Coveney and Chris Luster playing with Rob Neukirch. 

We never know what we are going to hear on Wednesday nights because that's the night the musicians try out new songs and invite musicians in the audience to participate.

We were sitting there enjoying the music when we were joined by photographer and blogger Doug Thompson and his wife Amy. The band kept jamming and were having so much fun that Doug and I started shooting pictures.

It was one of those nights where the music was so good and the songs were so entertaining that I began to lose track of time.

Sally Walker dropped by from the Cafe Del Sol about then and we persuaded her to join us.

We were having a great old time and it felt like the evening couldn't get any better, when Rob and Bernie persuaded Sally to take the stage and sing.

The fact they were playing something she had never sung didn't stop Sally. She took the mike and swung into action without missing a beat. She is an expressive and talented singer and her singing that night was just magic.

We had such a great time that we stayed until closing. I think we are making up for years of living in places which didn't have any local entertainment.

That seems to be one of the big differences between Floyd and other places we have lived. We can live, work, and play in Floyd. We don't have to drive miles into the big city to hear top rate musicians. Furthermore, there is live music in this town six nights a week.

The biggest problem we seem to run into is deciding which of our friends do we listen to on any given night. When you have good friends playing at several places, it makes for an interesting dilemma.

While the band was warming up, we noticed that one wall displayed watercolors by a new artist, Chris Bazeley.  Chris is an English illustrator with a touch of cartoonist in his makeup. According to the artist's brother, who lives in Floyd, the exhibit will hang on the wall for two months.

I would cheerfully hang any of these watercolors in my office, but this one, Reading Light, was one of my favorites.

You can see from the detail that his pictures have a subtle humor. I find it quite appealing.

Go to Chris Bazeley's website to see more of his fine art, including Flying School and Inflight Refueling.

We need more bloggers in Floyd and I have a suggestion...

This is the opportunity...

Twice last week I saw what happens when multiple bloggers attend and write about events. The results were quite unexpected and most interesting. I think that  needs to happen more often!

The reader is given multiple viewpoints and a much richer experience than is possible with even the best of local newspapers.

First of all, readers saw a detailed report on a Meet the Author event involving author Lee Smith the next morning as opposed to waiting for the next issue of the local paper. Secondly, there were three accounts of the event and all were different, but they complemented each other.

I wrote about Lee Smith, the person and the impression she created. Fred First wrote about her life and how her work inspired him. Leslie Shelor wrote about Lee's books and how they affected her.  Once we realized that all of us had written about Lee Smith, we referenced each other's posts so readers could go from one to the other and get all sides of this remarkable woman.

Later in the week, I live-blogged a performance of BrotherWind at Cafe Del Sol. Doug Thompson was there also and wrote his own version of the evening which provided much more information about the performers and some excellent close ups of them performing.

I started thinking what would happen if there were twenty bloggers in Floyd and they wrote at least one article a week about things that they found interesting or were concerned about in this county.

First of all, there would be much greater coverage of the musicians who perform five nights a week in this tiny community. What if bloggers were writing about the many artists and craftspeople who turn out beautiful work every week in this county? They would become visible, and visibility is life to an artist as it is to any business person.

Take good note here, that making an artist visible on a blog is not thrusting their promotional material at people or sending spam to everyone with email. People discover things on a blog when they are looking for them.

Here is are some examples:

You want to find out what's happening with BrotherWind or John Winnicki? Just Google them and you will find that the top items on almost every list consist of weblog posts about their most recent appearance. The same is true for artisans like Phoenix Hardwoods. You Google them and the first item that appears was written by Fred First, our premier local blogger.

More bloggers would mean more exposure for deserving local talent and businesses. It would also mean more exposure for situations that require attention. I could go on for pages in this vein, but I think you have the idea by now.

Here is my offer to get the ball rolling

I'm planning to host an "Open Forum on Blogging" session at Cafe Del Sol every Thursday morning from 11:00am to 1:00pm. The first session will be this Thursday, March 30th.

It will be open to all bloggers and would-be bloggers and will be relatively unstructured - and free! The purpose is to answer questions and promote the spread of blogging.

I will be doing some live-blogging, but other bloggers will be joining me to share their experiences and answer questions.

Some topics that have already been suggested are:

Why should artists blog?
Why blog when I have email?
How blogging affects your emotional health
How can blogging help the local economy?
What would happen if more people blogged?
How to find time to blog
How to avoid burnout
What about blogging obsessively?
Who shouldn't blog?
What is a trackback and why would anyone want to use them?
What affects traffic on a blog?

You are encouraged to bring up your own topics for discussion. Non-bloggers will be given priority whenever possible, but there will probably be several parallel discussions, if past experience is any guide.

If you get a moment, come on by and join in the discussion. It could open doors for you that you never considered possible.

This will repeat every Thursday from 11:00am to 1:00pm until blogging becomes pandemic in Floyd.

After all, blogging is contagious, you know.... 

You catch it from your friends. :)

My workshop is finished, and it's about time!

Our move to Floyd included the target of building a workshop large enough to produce hand crafted designs in a more efficient manner. My tools have been packed up for five months and I have been itching to get the shop set up and get working again.

I have been designing custom woodwork for almost three years under the Box-Carts label and it comes in as a close second to blogging as a source of personal satisfaction. Taking a client's description of a need and creating a real-world design that meets their requirements is a challenge  that always renews my spirits.

After weeks of preparation, I finally started producing designs for clients again. This is the first design out of the chute - dog steps to make life easier for a client's lame old dogs.

These photos show a series of enclosures made of oak that will allow her large, older dogs to climb onto a bed. The enclosures are constructed of 3/4 inch cabinet-grade oak plywood with solid oak bars framing all edges. The enclosures are completely finished inside and out and the tops are covered with beige carpet so the dogs will not lose their footing while climbing or descending the steps.

The enclosures provide auxiliary storage space if desired, but as you can see from the photos, they can be positioned with the opening to the front or to the rear. Mixing the orientation provides an easy way to change the appearance of the final installation.

Customization

The end result I look for is a clean and elegant design that is unique. It must provide years of trouble-free service and show the kind of craftmanship that makes it a delight to own.

I utilize a good deal of woodworking machinery to keep costs as low as possible, but every aspect of final assembly and finishing requires painstaking handwork.

My designs are based on using solid wood and natural finishes whenever possible. Every design is oriented toward using efficient limited production techniques and I leave room for future modifications whenever possible. I feel that a good design should be reusable in as many new forms as possible.

This dog step design produced an extremely strong box that can be positioned on any face and can be extensively modified to suit almost any requirement.

If another client wants doors on this type of  enclosures, it will be a simple matter to add them.

These units are separate, but they can easily be fastened together with furniture bolts to make them into one large, rigid structure. The design can be easily reproduced in a variety of woods.

Turn one of these boxes on its back and enlarge it, and you would have a sturdy toybox.

Put casters underneath it and you would have a smart, but rugged rolling cart for firewood. I have one like it and it saves a lot of time because I can roll it to the door, load it with logs, and roll it back to the stove without leaving the usual trail of debris.

If you are looking for something in wood and haven't been able to find it in a store, send me an email. Maybe together we can come up with a design that will fill the bill.

If you live on the other side of the country, I can generally propose a design that lets you do the final assembly yourself. To get a better idea of what can be done, check out my Affordable Design website.

The Box-Carts workshop is open again and I am ready to make up for lost time.

Tag: affordable design

Live-blogging from the Cafe Del Sol

It's Friday night, a mixture of snow and rain is falling and the temperature is dropping again. Spring has retreated for a few weeks and only the hardy venture out on to slippery country roads.

I thought it would be a good night to do my first-ever live-blogging session, so I drove on down to hear BrotherWind perform at Sally Walker's Cafe Del Sol.

The quartet features skillfully crafted harmonies backed up by solid instrumental capabilities. Their stage presence is relaxed and they enjoy themselves when they perform.

I thought I would be the only blogger here, but I was happily surprised to see our newest Floyd blogger Alina had arrived before me. While I was setting up my laptop, Doug Thompson strolled in and it quickly turned into old home week for bloggers.

At this point one of the band members called out, "Blogger Alert!" and the house erupted in laughter.

Its 8:30 and Kari Thomas Kovick is performing "the Aura Song" to enthusiastic applause and much laughter. It's a New Age way to end a relationship. What a wonderful voice!

Floyd's Friends of the Library are on a roll

Lee Smith, award winning Southern author, charmed a capacity crowd last night with stories of her life and how a college re-creation of Huck Finn's Mississippi raft trip led to the writing of her recent novel, The Last Girls.

With her warm and gracious personality, she is the kind of person who immediately feels like an old friend. When you meet her, the word that instantly comes to mind is "genuine". After hearing her speak for a few minutes, you also realize that she is dispensing pearls of writing wisdom with every anecdote she relates. If you are a writer or wannabe, you have this urge to follow her around making notes, so that you don't lose what she is passing out so freely.

Animated and funny, Lee is a wonderful story teller. Like her mother before her, she seems to be able to spin a story out of thin air. If you go to her website, you will see her describing herself in her own words.

I could have spent hours listening to her. The large audience hung on every word.

After her book reading, I bought a copy of The Last Girls and was well into it by the time I got to the head of the book-signing line. She asked if I was a writer and immediately engaged me in a discussion of a novel I have been working on.

This was typical of the discussions she had with people during the evening. I think I can characterize her best by saying that she is truly interested in others. It is a refreshing difference to encounter someone with this attitude in life.

Lee Smith is an inspiration to any writer. She celebrates the joy in life and also sets an example of how to deal with heartbreak and loss. Find out more about this remarkable woman by visiting her website and reading her story.

This was the second of five Meet the Author events put on by the Friends of the Library in Floyd. This series of reading and discussions by highly acclaimed authors is organized on the theme Celebrate the Past - Look to the Future in honor of Floyd County's 175th Anniversary.

UPDATE:

For different views of this marvelous evening, you should visit two local bloggers who have given their own perspectives of Lee and her work. Go visit Leslie at Top of Squirrel Ridge  and Fred First at Fragments from Floyd.

What's in a name...

I am sure there is a logical reason this picturesque old country store was left to decay, but Poor Farm Rd would not be my address of choice for a commercial venture.

The customers are long gone and the building is beyond renovation, but it provides a constant source of inspiration to those who muse about the ebb and flow of country businesses.

Cows graze contentedly on the lush grass, pausing occasionally to look at the daily cavalcade of vans carrying realtors and buyers in search of the perfect spot to erect a country mansion.

This country store may be history, but hordes of new settlers arrive every month, completely undaunted by the prospect of living near Poor Farm Road.

In a way, this street name typifies the spirit of Floyd. In some communities where growth is occurring, this road would have been renamed Windy Hill Way, or Vista Rd to give the neighborhood a better image for real estate ads.

I hope this building stands for a few more years. Like the old barns that dot the local countryside. it is a reminder of our rapidly receding past. Graceful, even in ruins, it is part of our local legacy.