The Meta
The DEADCARD! The WARDSTONE! The PERFECT FLOW JUG! Oh, and ALIENS I think!
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get 'em while they're dead™
these sticks were made for walkin'™
the piece is about to be disturbed™
Death is not the end of a tree's story.
– Nature, "Woodpeckers: the Hole Story"
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Who would create canes out of wood like this?
Me, of course!
Made from long dead Eastern Red Cedar trees (Juniperus Virginiana) each stick is meticulously (and painstakingly) hand crafted. Source material is found by wandering old undeveloped land (New England) and coming across fallen trees.
Each tree is aged by many things: sun, wind, rain, snow, animals, insects, fungi... For a long while these fallen trees are an ecosystem of themselves...
When time has passed to a point in where the tree has become mostly tree; insects having ended their life cycle or moved on, leaving only traces of their lives in the wood, the bark drying and flaking away...
... and then someone like me happens by... with a little saw.
After hours of pleasant scraping, trimming, filing of edges, and rubbing and polishing...
I start to see actual canes and (walking) sticks. Each one is unique though they share traits, like the purple heartwood seeping out in places, or places where insects made a meal... All my canes are named. The one on the right is "Long Time Sally". She's really tall, smooth and colorful... (She took a long time to make, though she is tall, she's about time...)
As my momma used to always say, People are like a bundle of dead sticks. No two
are ever the same.
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Get the F*ck Away From Me
is the first cane I made and is my most eleborate
and the only one not (currently) from Eastern Red Cedar. That is real barbed wire at
the top. (I found a large bundle of barbed wire in the woods—I am always finding things
in the woods—about 100 years ago. Seriously.)
Cane Walk with this cane.
Dead Stick Walking
is a series... Though you can't tell from the photo the first is in the corner of a nice old building
nearby, dark and moist. The other is in a cafe not too far from me, bright and cheery...
Goats Head Visiting
is another series, this one is, um, "Visiting". The handle
was not made by me. (I make things out of wood!) It's a
Stainless Steel Goat Head
from
Treeline USA in Utah.
Long Time Sally
is quite beautiful. More about her later. (I'd rather be making canes than editing websites! Just wait 'till I fix my camera and do her a real photo-shoot! She's real colorful.)
I Have a Bad Hip and a Bad Knee
is because I do! The extra "leg" actually does help!
This one is tall like Sally too, though he has better legs... He's also very crooked
and bent, while Sally is quite straight (notice the shadow; photo taken about 11:00AM
in front of the Hyannis Firefighter's Memorial Park one sunny summer morning.)
Mr. Mosaic
is named for his many intrasic inlays made many bugs and other
little critters... I can't wait for to you see him up close! ("Cane Walk" to be here soon...)
My Condolences
is... well, I was going to say the oddest... but they're all odd!
(No offense canes!) There is a bit of a story here...
There are SIX MORE CANES to be here REAL SOON NOW™ (October, 2023)
Oh! Ah, I should probably say this soon: These canes sell for about $400.00. Each one comes with a dated, named and signed copper tag; wrist strap; carrying bag (handmade by me); and an accessory...
Maybe I am not the first one to do this. (Though maybe I am!) These canes and sticks have... accessories!
I refer to them as "Accessories After the Stick™", and I get them all over. Imported carvings (two seen there are from Africa), jewelry items, found shells, nuts, seeds and feathers.
There are many more to come...
I have two and a half (one not finished) really nice walking sticks. Eastern Red Cedar (which is not a "true cedar" of course as its a Juniperus) is excellent source wood for sticks as they are strong and light...
WILL BE HERE REAL SOON NOW™ (August, 2023)
I am designing and testing a... wooden business card!
Watch my the wooden business card work there!
The heartwood of cedar is insanely beautiful: HeartWood WardStone.
These heartwood pendants I make from a little slice of a dead stick that has a knot. That is, where a branch has a branch. That slice then (more pictures soon) is ground down, roughly at first, then, as the "image" inside the little piece of heartwood shows itself, I slow... Finer, softer, I gently rub the piece of aromatic wood until the shine smiles at me.
No oil, no finish, just a fine hand polish. A small cloth is actually all I use at the end.
This is Winston. He has a say on every DEADSTICK™ Cane and Stick I make...
These dogs... Wait! What are they doing here?
