Planes

About

My Hudson Valley Woodshop

SHOP
Steve, baby Mariska and Kali Dog walking away
Steve Heffernan and Minerva the Siberian kitty

Heartfelt & Handmade

I carve these wares from greenwood, with knife and hatchet, drawknife, and gouge. I aim to create a functional yet personal object that will be cherished, cared for, and passed down through generations.

I find there is a solitude in working with my hands, an inward reflection as my breath slows, and the thoughts settle. The idea is to become intimate with the material and create something meaningful. My focus is on the feel of the knife cutting the fibers and the flow of the grain. Between the heart, the hands, and the material, there is an exchange of information. There is reciprocity between the physical nature of the wood and the intent of the craftsman. The reality of grain and atmosphere, blade, and fiber temper my ideas about the work. It is, for the most part, quiet work, conducive to contemplation.

Trees are a natural resource that need to be respected and protected, regardless of one’s location. Whenever possible, my work is created using locally-sourced material, wood that I have found or pruned myself, and the waste — the chips I produce from carving — go back on the compost pile, completing the cycle. These utensils are not throw-away, single-use objects, but are made for a lifetime, and longer. Unlike mass-produced, smooth plastic disposables, they possess character and sustainability, making them heirloom objects to be handed down through generations.

Spoons

  • handcrafted chip-carved birch wooden spoon
  • hand-crafted ashram wooden Spoon

Split from a log, roughly shaped with an ax, hand finished with a knife, these wooden spoons are crafted one at a time following a tradition that goes back hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

Shrinkpots

  • Detain, shrinkbox with Snowy owl

A shrinkpot (or shrinkbox) is made out of fresh, green wood. The core of a branch or a log is hollowed out and a groove cut along the bottom edge. A dry piece of wood is shaped to fit for the bottom of the box and placed in this groove. As the cylinder of wood dries it shrinks around the dry wood base, forming a tight seal. Once dry, the box is then decorated and perhaps a lid is made to fit.

Sculpture

  • Detail, Wooden Figurative Sculpture of Elm and birch. With old subway tokens for eyes.
  • Whisper. Wooden mask and bird telling stories. Dyslexia series.
  • detail, wood carving

On occasion, I have a thought or image in my mind, an image that will not go away, and there is a compelling need to work that thought out. These tend to gestate, and they take a long time to make.

Often driven by shape or form that is somehow evocative emotionally or vaguely reminiscent of something from long ago, it gets me in its clutches, and it won’t let go. Sometimes it sits quietly in the corner amid the shop detritus, but I am unable to relegate it to the trash or recycle it into something new. It waits patiently until its time is right, then screams at me to be worked on again.

So here is a category for all the things I can’t categorize, the unresolved emotions, old memory fragments, the scary bits, the ideas that resurface.

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