Deblois Street Dory

Now that Deer Isle Koster kits are shipping and and I have moved shop back to the home based-shop, I am enjoying some new found time to carry on with the newest, refined version of the Deblois Street Dory.

The changes are mainly in the lining off of the hull and the fact that the hull is now modeled in 3D CAD allowing for precut parts to be made and a lot of tweaking to get the lines "eye sweet".

The DSD was featured in the latest Maine Island Trail newsletter and there may be a follow up article this winter after I get started on this build.

I am very pleased with how she is coming out! What do you think?

Would you like a pleasant alternative to "Black Friday"?

 
You may not know about Chincoteague...

but, it's a place near and dear to our hearts. If you are trying to avoid the mass hysteria of "Black Friday", I recommend that you consider a trip to Chincoteague, Virginia instead.

Years ago, when we started to go to "carving" shows, many of our friends and colleagues, in particular, the late great Lee Scheely, told us: "You've got to go to Chincoteague!". The way it was put made the show a bit intimidating. We didn't know if we could even get in, especially where our subject is boats, rather than birds. There is, however, a good deal of carving that goes into our work and so we started "doing Chincoteague". It may have been one of the best things we've done.

There are actually three of the Chincoteague carving shows each year: Thanksgiving, Easter and Labor Day. We've never been able to do Labor Day for unrelated reasons. We've discussed the Easter show on our Facebook page. This weekend (Friday & Saturday Nov. 25th & 26th) is the Thanksgiving show. It's also a Christmas show.

Let me tell you about these shows. They are held at the Chincoteague Combined School in its gymnasium. No huge signs out front. You might think that you're looking at a Holiday Bazaar or other Craft Fair when you only look at the outside of the building. A school with a lot of vans and trailers parked outside. Sounds like a bunch of amateurs???

When I first came to these shows, I was blown away. The exhibitors represented the Master's Masters of carving, many that I knew from Havre de Grace and The Waterfowl Festival and other great nationally recognized shows. Among them were Bill Veasey and Shannon Dimmig, Vince Ciesielski (I probably spelled his name incorrectly), Bill Cowen, Jennifer Daisey, Russell Fish, Walt Schmitz, Bill Hickson, Rocky Detwiler and scores of other truly great carvers. The painters and sculptors were no less amazing. Other artists, such as Donnie Thornton and Don & Donna Drew really rounded the shows out nicely. There is no room to mention many of them, no less to describe their work.

What was also amazing was to find such a low key atmosphere, where you didn't just have the opportunity to see some amazing art and artistry, but the opportunity to spend time talking with the artists and getting to know them. Over the years, we've made a lot of friends and we've learned a lot of things from being in the Chincoteague carving shows. Unfortunately, we've lost more than a few of those friends over those years, such as Lee, Don Repsher and some others who we came to expect to see when we arrived and now really miss. We were lucky to have the opportunities to learn from them and to be able to call such great people our friends.

These shows have changed over the years. Everyone used to know about them - they were legendary. Word of mouth has been overcome by electronic media and low budget shows can't buy the advertising that the large retailers can. The Deborah Waterfowl Show and Auction is a truly great show with truly great carvers and artists of many kinds. It's an honest display of high quality things, in some cases among the best in the world of those things.  They are reasonably priced and made with precision and care. If you are looking for gifts, you will be amazed at what awaits you.

As you consider the idea of patronizing small businesses, I recommend that you consider this show, full of hard-working people, who, although they may not be immediately recognized as such, are small business owners. Proceeds from the show benefit the Deborah Heart & Lung Center in Brown's Mills, NJ. As with the eggs that we carve for the silent auction at the Easter show, we apply our talents to wooden balls such as the one below. Come to the live auction on Saturday night to get your hands on some very special things...

The show is only a small reason to come to the island of Chincoteague. It's a beautiful town with shops, restaurants, hotels, B&Bs and beautiful views. The Wildlife Refuge opens up miles of road that are only open for Thanksgiving weekend. You can see the famous ponies (don't tell me that you've never heard of "Misty of Chincoteague"), Snow Geese, deer, beaches and... I've told you enough.

Again... Avoid the Malls! Come to The Deborah Waterfowl Show and Auction, Friday and Saturday, November 25th & 26th, 2011 at the Chincoteague Combined School in Chincoteague, Virginia. For more information call (757) 336-6161

Blast from the past!

"Where did you find that???" Nancy was doing some re-arranging and came across some old "stuff"...

I had almost forgotten the era of the "WinkieMobile". It's not such a bad name when you know that it was in honor of my old shop supervisor, Winston, an aging, but wonderful, Springer Spaniel, who was around for the building of all fourteen of them.

I know that I have many better shots of them somewhere, but these are available now and bring back some memories of the little car that we used to make, that we thought was a bit special. Unfortunately, it had over 300 parts to each one and we were unable to get back anywhere near what we put into them. Still, they hold a special place in my memory.

There was an evolution that came from the basic idea of it. A little car that was made of fine woods, with all sorts of features that kids might like. The hood opened and inside was a brightly colored engine with removeable spark plugs, air filter and the engine block came out too. Beneath that was the sophisticated steering system, operated using spindles and nylon rope to absorb shock. The trunk opened and contained a wrench made from maple, as well as a threaded jackstand so that the tires could be changed, or exchanged, with the spare which was held to the trunk lid by a maple "bolt" large enough to easily be turned by small hands. The wrench could also be used to extend the length of the car by unscrewing some maple nuts under the frame and sliding the the rear portion  of the car either forward or back.

That evolution started with visiting a friend's toy store and finding out that there was much more involved than looks. The next step was to have it kid-tested and they virtually destroyed the first designs in minutes. We still have those cars. Finally, the, much more solid, WM3 design was adopted and everyone loved it, but...

What was special about the cars was that they were made from very fine hardwoods. They were all painted with a lacquer-like feel to their painted surfaces, but all finishes were done with water-based paints.With all of the parts involved, we had to create a lot of special templates and jigs. It took from four to eight months to build one.

Although "Fire Engine Red" was the most popular color, we also made them in White, Dark Blue, Yellow, and Teal. The seats were usually "book-matched" as in the white one above. The lighter wood is Tiger Oak and the darker wood is Black Walnut. We made their seats from Birds-Eye Maple, Black Walnut Burl, Koa and some other very interesting woods. The steering wheels were made from Purpleheart, Mahogany, Maple, and others. The bumpers of the white car above were made from Purpleheart. The bumpers went through an interesting evolution of shapes, the first being made as assemblies to form springs from Ash, changing to solid shapes that had "fiddle heads" carved into their ends. That was some interesting carving.

The last WinkieMobile was a custom order. You can see the "fiddleheads" on the ends of the bumpers. The seats were book-matched Black Walnut Burl with Ash trim. It had a gold-lettered license plate. The hinges of the trunk lid were made from Koa.

Every now and then someone remembers that we used to make "those little cars". They were probably doomed from the start. We charged about $500, which didn't come close to covering costs. We were faced with people saying: "Why would my kid want that? They have a battey powered jeep and I didn't pay that much." We even had offers to have them made overseas for us. Our answer then was no and it would be the same now. To make them properly, you have to love them and nobody else would do that.

It's a moot point now. Hurricane Isabel flooded our shop in 2003 and we lost many of the necessary templates and jigs required to make "those little cars".  We had pretty much moved over to making only boat models by that time anyway, because they were in high demand.

Still, I have some good memories of "those little cars". Perhaps I'll find some of those other photos, so you can see the engines, the steering mechanisms and the chassis...

Need to find something special for the Holidays??

If you are looking for serious Holiday gifts, for others (or even for yourself), I hope you’ll hang around long enough to read this...

As authors of a book that includes much common sense, but also some pretty specialized information, we've been particularly pleased, not just at the number of favorable reviews that we've gotten, but about where some of those reviews have come from.

When I used to play music for a living, the older and wiser musicians would remind me "Don't listen to the hecklers; they're probably drunk." They also followed that statement with "Don't get too high on the compliments; they're probably drunk. These are good words of wisdom for anyone trying to keep their assessment of the opinions of others in check. The same guys would also point someone out in the audience and say "If that guy says you did well, it means something", referring to someone that had been in the business for many years. Of course, "that guy" might put you in your place just as quickly; maybe more often.

We wrote our book for all levels of model makers. That is to say that it provides fundamental information that can teach anyone to learn the art of model making and it also has a significant amount of information that can add to any master model makers skill set. There are a number of areas of focus including; learning the art of "scratch building"; concepts and techniques for improving your ability to "see" your subject in order to better represent it in your model; understanding shapes, spatial concepts, drawings and how to measure boats accurately; different ways to build and display models; tools; materials; construction theories and much more.

It's got 160 pages, 264 photos, and 94 drawings and it took 4 years to write. Those photos were culled from thousands; the drawings from hundreds and the fifty some odd original chapters were focused down to twenty. It was quite a bit of work and, as with the playing of music, when you put your work out in public for others to judge, you want to know what they think... ...what they really think.

At shows and book signings, we’ve received positive compliments from all sorts of people and it's been very gratifying. We don't always know who among them knows what, but we certainly know, from some of the serious conversations that we've had, that among them have been some very knowledgeable model makers. Unfortunately, those conversations are gone to the wind...

With our book, as when I was a musician, we wait for “that guy”, who is known for their expertise, and whose words can be relied upon to “mean something”. Because we believe in the quality of our book and want confirmation that we succeeded at doing what we intended, it means a great deal to us when “that guy” speaks up. It also helps us as we write our next book.

When you know who “that guy” is, you know that what they say can help guide you, especially if the subject is one that you don’t yet know much about or in the case where you are looking for a gift for someone else. We have now heard from a number of “those guys” and it is probable, if you happen to be reading this, that you are well aware of one and likely more of those we’ve chosen to list here:

As you read note not only what is said, but who is saying it. They are people who know what they are talking about:

From the November 2011 issue of The Waterman’s Gazette, a trade publication of the Maryland Watermen’s Association. The Watermen that work on deadrise and other types of workboats in the Maryland waters of the Chesapeake Bay rely on the “Gazette“. Watermen have no problem telling you what they think; good or bad. The review says some very nice things, referring to how model boat builders and enthusiasts“, both “professional” and “hobbyist” will benefit and “can apply the principles learned for design techniques and theories to other models they want to build” and concluding with “it’s well worth the price”. Believe me, Watermen know value.

Tom Holmes, noted expert and restorer of classic Century boats and President of The Century Boat Club, wrote in The Thoroughbred, a magazine published by The Century Boat Club, “their attention to detail is awesome” and “their chapters on Understanding Lines Drawings and How to Measure a Boat are very instructive for club members tackling a restoration job, especially a basket case. Their approach to problem solving is fundamental to a boat restorer especially if you are not simply copying , but need to scratch build boat parts. You will learn many skills and approaches to boat building from reading this book.”

Good Old Boat Magazine, well read by many for years said among many nice things: “My learning curve would have been much less steep if Fundamentals of Model Boat Building had been available.” and “I looked at this book from the perspective of a fellow model boat builder and found the explanations and terminology easy to follow. With that in mind, I asked my husband, who is a sailor, but not a model builder, to look it over and he told me it’s a fascinating read.”

Fine Woodworking Magazine, respected by woodworkers the world over; in addition to awarding our book as a prize, included this in their assessment: “This seems like a pretty intense book, but if you want to build model boats, this book will show you how to do it all.”
 

As of this time, all of the reviews that we have seen have been very positive and we are very pleased and proud to recommend our book to you, or your loved ones. There are many others and I will be happy to give you the sources so you can read their complete reviews. Just email me at johninto@intothings.com

That said, I want to know all opinions, whether you are a novice or a master, whether your opinion is full of praise or full of criticisms. We have yet to see a negative review, not that we would look forward to it, but we really want to know of all honest opinions. We really want to know what you think. Take a look for yourself!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!

The 41st Waterfowl Festival, Easton, Maryland, November 11th - 13th, 2011.

We do a lot of shows during the year, generally around a dozen, or so. Shows that we've done cover many parts of the U.S: East to West, from the Chesapeake Bay to Lake Tahoe and North to South from Upstate New York to Florida and many places in between. We've even been invited to shows in Scandinavia, Germany, England and Australia. Such invitations make us go "Wow!", but doing them has not been feasible, as of yet.

We've learned a lot of things on the "show circuit". Such trivia as that there are more boats registered in the state of Michigan than in any other state. Which state did you think it was? We've also learned where Thousand Islands Dressing was invented and a lot of places where excellent Barbecue can be found. One of the things that we like to do, whenever we're a ways from home, is to take a visit to the local supermarket. We like to eat and every place has its own specialties. Moon Pies in the South; River Rat Cheese in the North, etc..

Being in the "Boating Industry", we are particularly aware of seafood centers. We came from Boston, home of the best seafood in the world, to, The Chesapeake Bay, home of the best seafood in the world. We like to visit San Francisco, home of the best seafood in the world, The Gulf Coast, home of the best seafood in the world, Callabash, N.C., certainly home of the best seafood in the world and The Pacific Northwest Coast, home of the best seafood in the world, especially smoked sturgeon... Every one of these places has the best seafood. They really do, period.

Best, but different. Each one has its array of signature dishes and I love them all. The shows that we go to are different and "the best" in a similar way. Our next show "The Waterfowl Festival" is in Easton, Maryland. My understanding is that it started strictly as a "decoy show", with just bird carvers. It's grown in its forty one year lifespan into one of the most respected wildlife art shows in the country and, indeed, it draws artists from all over the globe. Among the arts are paintings, bronze sculptures and the highest forms of the art of carving birds. This is a vast under-representation of what you'll find.

In fact, this show has grown into many interesting venues throughout the city of Easton and also attracts spectators from around the world. As always, we will be at the show with our models in the Artist's Emporium (normally the Easton Middle School). There, you will also find several great bird carvers; metal sculpture wizard, Paul Lockhart; Courtney Design, creators of amazing wildlife jewelry; Donnie Thornton, famous Chincoteague feather painter and several other great artists and artisans, as well as some suppliers of special tools and supplies for carving and other related arts.

Although we've been doing this show for years, this is the first time that we will have our book "Fundamentals of Model Boat Building" with us. It was a four year project. You'll understand why when you get to see it.

We've really come to enjoy spending time with our friends from Schiffer Publishing Ltd. at recent book signings in Baltimore, Solomon's Island and Oxford and I think that we're going to miss them as we return to our traditional model display. It was certainly nice to have someone else set everything up and to be able to just "show up". We will have our full array of models, our photos, our mini workbench and our computer with us in Easton. Please be sure to come see us.

Even though we won't be sharing a booth, Schiffer Publishing will also be at The Waterfowl Festival at a different location. We can't tell you exactly where yet, but we will keep you posted. If you are a connoisseur of the carving arts, you may be familiar with books by William Veasey, Tom Wolfe or Steve Rogers. They are all Schiffer authors and just a small representation of a great publishing house. If you are a connoisseur of reading, you will find something that you'll love with over 4,500 interesting titles available on all kinds of subjects. http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/book_template.php?isbn=9780764331053

The 41st Waterfowl Festival is being held on Friday, November 11th, through Sunday, November 13th, in locations throughout the city of Easton, Maryland. Check their website for more information: http://waterfowlfestival.org

One Author's Opinion...

The conventional "minds-eye" image of the life of an author could be that of someone sitting on the porch of their Malibu beachfront cottage, jotting down words as they come to mind, avoiding calls from the late night talk shows, without a care about anything but the plot of their book and the daily glance at the New York Times ratings of the last book... ...the life-threatening intrusion of "writer's block"... ...the miraculous insight that leads to a night of furious typing to create a 400 page novel that immediately hits #1!... ...movie rights!... ...Broadway!...

Nice fiction...

Over the years, I've known a number of authors; some in my family, who've been "up there", so to speak. I can now say, with great pride, that I am an author, too. With that pride also comes a certain humility that I am among many, many, whose works are far more important in people's lives than mine. Still, I know that I worked honestly, carefully, and very hard to make something that I hope lasts longer than I do, understanding that once I let it go I have very little control over its future.

It hasn't taken long to learn that we live in a time that threatens the existence of authors and other artist's, especially musicians, because our technology is growing at a rate far greater than our ability to control, or even understand, what the effects of it can be. It's already been decades since musicians and music writers started losing livelihoods due to cassette and then CD reproductions of materials that were sold openly on the street.

More recently, almost every household has scanning and/or digital photography equipment. While it may not seem like the same thing as counterfeiting currency, the ease of which anything on paper can be copied has resulted in a world-wide market of pirated books. In an era of unprecedented material acqusition, as well as personal debt, the idea that you could acquire a book that you've always wanted to read for a very low price or even for free, is very compelling. It's sadly amazing to see what is offered.

That concept should be balanced with an understanding of what would never have been, if authors didn't get paid to do their jobs and if publishers tried to print books strictly out of their own pockets. I can't imagine and I am not sure if anyone else could.

You can counter this with the rationale that we are living in a new world. There are certainly benefits to the new technologies. I'm sure that I have a lot of advantages over my grandfather, who typed on manual typerwriters, due to word processing programs and spread-sheets. This new world type of thinking has also led to a new way of doing business that has been developing in recent years...

In more recent times, extremely large, multi-faceted corporations have developed with goal of marketing virtually anything that exists. This means that they have, within their corporations, companies that make product A, companies that make product B, companie that make product C, etc., etc.. This gives these large corporations unimaginable resources and leverage.

If such a corporation wants dominance in product B, for example, they can give product B away to customers for free, Company B operating at what, for other companies, would be a severe loss, the other various companies within the large corporation providing the capital to keep Company B going indefinitely. Other companies that make product B, starting with the smallest, go out of business until the large corporation largely, if not totally, dominates the market for product B and then can raise prices to whatever they want, now being "the only game in town". That "town" just happens to be known as the planet "Earth".

This same leverage can be used to force other companies, whose function they may not be so interested in replacing, to operate under unfair terms.

As an author, who relies on the fair selling of the books that I write, I would simply like to be paid for the years of research required, the writing that kept me up late many nights and as a token of the enjoyment that I hope that you are getting from the book that you reading. As someone with a small, but developing sense of what is involved in bringing a book to fruition after the author has submitted their manuscript, I would like to believe that my editors, book designers, marketing staff, warehouse workers and everyone else, that I've seen work very hard, get fairly treated for what they do.

It is not acceptable to simply copy someone else's work for free. Please look carefully at the "bargain" that is in front of you to be sure that it is a legitimate copy. If it's a good deal, I'm all for it. I want you to ready my book, after all. If it's not legitimate, please think about what's behind that "bargain".

I'd like to commend Peter Schiffer for his work in trying to help authors.
See this link: http://www.schifferbooks.com/newschiffer/press_release.php?id=48
I hope that others will follow suit...

One model-maker's opinion...

Model makers are one heck of a competitive group of people. It's a good thing - it makes the art better and better. Good model makers always want to get to that "next level". It's not unlike other arts or music. I love to see what others do and sometimes I'm blown away. Take for example, functioning miniature V-8 engines, or huge R/C 747s, or some of the Gibbs & Cox ship models from the 40's (let's not forget August Crabtree). I used to make more R/C boats professionally, but true R/C afficianados want to be able to claim credit for the performance of their model themselves.

Sometimes there are aspects to our competitiveness that have to be watched. Often a model-maker looks at what another model-maker has in front of them and unconsciously assumes that they are seeing that model-maker's best work. This is how we reassure ourselves of our abilities and is natural.

Unfortunately, such comparisons may be flawed...

You will never, ever, see our best works, unless you are our customer, or the work is on display in public. Why? We can't risk traveling with works that are either too fine, or at a stage of construction where the details are too delicate. Dealing with preparations for shipping is scary enough.

When you make models for a living, there is an "economics" to the work. Some models cost hundreds of dollars while others cost tens, even hundred, of thousands of dollars. It's self-explanatory; the amounts of time, effort and quality of materials differ at each end of the spectrum.

You may be familiar with intricate models made from pieces of bone or toothpicks by someone imprisoned for decades. With nothing else to do for 20 years, it was probably therapeutic and the only thing to do. I can't imagine... Occasionally we run into someone that has been working on a single model for over 20 years. It's not the same situation, but what they have is usually wonderful.

We've got to be careful about our comparisons. Often times between apples and oranges. We look at someone else's great work and become depresssed. Why?  Model-making is about learning and getting better. If it is that great, learn from it. Bear in mind that your own work may be better than you realize.

Much worse is to make an assumption of  another model-maker's capabilities in order to measure your own.

I will say it again, "you cannot know what you don't know". This means that while you've got your chest out about your great skills, someone will come along and "blow you away", because you weren't paying attention.

All model makers are different in some way, shape or form. I seriously  doubt that August Crabtree could have built a functional V-8 engine and the converse for the engine modeler. They are/were both great model-makers. I think that they would both have respected each other's work, knowing the differences.

Your most important competition is with yourself. Work on learning more. Judge yourself fairly. Make models that you like and in the way that you believe they should be made. You will probably change your beliefs every now and then, but if you keep growing, you'll be contributing to the world of model-making.

"Always sign your work. It's very sad to see a great model with no way of knowing who made it."