Meet the Real Craftsman

I want to show you what my youngest daughter, Suzanne can do...and how resourceful she can be. When Suzanne & Ray were building their home, she wanted these beautiful custom made kitchen cabinets...she knew that she couldn't afford them...so she worked out a plan to get them.

Suzanne applied for a job at the local, custom cabinet shop...which she got. The cabinet maker (a master craftsman), and owner of the shop, taught her how to make cabinets and, she worked many late hours hanging cabinets in other people's homes. They would go take measurements, come back to the shop, get the right materials, design & build the cabinets and when they were finished...they would go and install them. The process took a couple of weeks...depending on the style, wood and amount of cabinets needed.

The cabinet maker knew that she wanted a set of custom made cabinets for her new home...and that this was the reason she had applied for this job...So when she had gained enough skill, he told her she could go ahead and start working on her cabinets at night...all she had to do was pay for the wood. She assumed that the cabinet maker would build the cabinets, and she would help...but he told her that she had the skills now, and she could do it on her own.

When she finished her cabinets, he helped her install them and they are beautiful. They're exactly what she wanted and she even made herself an Island, with drawers and a table top to match, later.

Now...this isn't what I was going to show you when I started my post...I got a little side-tracked. What I was going to show you were her painted gourds. She gave some away as gifts to others...some were beautiful bowls. I ended up with the three pictured below.
You can see how she tried to keep them as natural looking as possible. Using stain, instead of paint...and wood-burning her designs into the gourds. At first glance they look like they're ceramic/pottery.

Another thing she made was a little "wisdom bird." The reason she called it her wisdom bird was because she had just had one of her wisdom teeth surgically removed. This tooth had caused her so much pain, that she wasn't about to give it up to the tooth fairy...so she made this little bird. The beak is the tooth...And the roots of the tooth, are what you can see. As you can see...it's a very smart little bird. *VBG* Oh, and wise too!

The third item is a small wooden rocking horse. This is Suzanne's second rocking horse. The very first one that she made was a child-sized one for her son Matt...which is now in storage, waiting for that future grandchild, that she hopes to have someday.


And lastly...On a kayaking outing with Matt, she found a piece of driftwood. She thought, "Hmm...I can make something with this!" So she tied it to her kayak and brought it home. And you can see by the picture below, what she did with that... and a couple of little porcelain birds. Suzanne is the creative one in the family.
The things that I have shown you, are only the precious things that I have in my possession. She is always working on something or helping someone...that's just how she is.