Sierra Woodcraft

Carefully, carefully super gluing every piece together…

Desert cardinals sit perched, waiting to be turned into boxes and wall hangs.

Check out my labor of love! This closeup of an agave cost me much time and energy, but I think the end result was worth it.

New marquetry images are in the works: the desert cardinal. Can you imagine how that rippling walnut background is going to look once it’s finished?

We were in Portland just in time to catch the full flower of spring. Chili and I took a jog on Mount Tabor to unwind after the Saturday Market, and look what we found! All the trees were flowering, and thousands of people walked up and down the Columbia River staring at the cherry blossoms. A magical time.

The rhino beetle box is made of beautiful spalted alder that my husband collected from a stream at the foot of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. It has a gorgeous rosy quality to it, highlighted by blacks and shades of white and brown. It’s going to be one of our best yet!

Rippling, unfinished walnut is just magic.

Here’s a close look at our rhino beetle before he was glued up and made into a box lid. I painstakingly cut out each of his little legs and wings while enjoying a truly delightful audio book to pass the time. Isn’t he fantastic looking? I’d love to see one of these in real life.

We also welcome other new serving boards to our collection (though they’re still only rough cut in this photo). I chose organic, homey shapes for all of them. It is, possibly, over romantic, but I kept picturing the perfect little hobbit kitchen with these guys hung up on pegs next to the stove. A nice image, right?