Photos: The 85% done project
Lamps | Are we there yet?
Hi there—we’re living in some wild times, which I imagine many people throughout history probably thought about the days they lived through. While I don’t write much about current events, they’re taking up quite a bit of mental real estate lately.
Three cheers for work and loved ones, a balm to the chaos. Below are photos of a few recent items I’ve made, from candle holders to coasters. I’ve been working with pearl, turquoise, and wood for inlay. Still not happy with my own drawings, so the leaf in that coaster is thanks to the artistry of another woodworker, Roshaan Ganief.
I hope the next couple of weeks give you opportunities to find enjoyment in your relationships and activities ❤️
The 85% done project
With any woodworking project, I think the last 10–20% of the work is the most difficult to get done. Sometimes that’s because it’s the most difficult part of the work (cutting material for the final part of the inlay, for example). But just as often it’s easy, straightforward tasks—sanding and finishing.
Like these lamps I have downstairs. They are cut and glued and inlaid. The wiring is threaded, though they still need to have the electrical hardware assembled. I’ve even annexed Josiah’s part of the basement workbench so I’ve got a great space for applying finish (how is it that Josiah, my generous partner who I hold in the highest esteem, always has the tidiest and thus most appealing spaces in the house to use?).
I just need to apply the finish. Three coats. It’s super simple. Yet those damn lamps have been sitting on Josiah’s workbench all week.
When I was a child, on any given day, some counter or table top usually had my mom’s mug of nearly finished coffee on it. The forlorn dregs, undrunk. I’d harass Mom about it and she’d just tell me she’d drink it when she was good and ready.
My current work is like that coffee—so easy to get started on and enjoy, theoretically enjoyable to the end, and yet that end stretches out like a paradox, taking an ungodly amount of time.
And what gets in the way of actually completing the project? One theory I have is that the universe contrives to make the end of any achievement harder, probably in response to cockiness or hope. The driver battery dies when you’ve made it to the last lag bolt or screw. You mistakenly final cut the last board in your pile 1/4” short and there are no backup boards. The bit is dropped and ends up in the black hole that you didn’t realize existed on the shop floor.
Life also gets in the way. Responsibilities at home, as well as the commission I’m working on, have been competing fiercely with the completion of the lamps. But there is something about that last sip of coffee . . . it simply doesn’t taste as good as the first, and so it sits there, waiting for me to be good and ready.
I spent today writing this newsletter and finishing the lamps. Thank you, dear reader, for helping me get it done.
Now, however, that I’m so close to the end, I’m thinking that 85% done is probably too generous an assessment of this project. Because I still need to make the lampshades. How did I forget to calculate those into the work? Maybe because making them is a relatively straightforward, easy-ish task and shouldn’t take me too long. Right?
