I recently visited my Favorite Sellers section in my shop - there were so many, many blanks!!? Especially for the woodworkers that I've known - so when I noticed this fellow from Connecticut that I'd not seen before, I was pleased =D It's great to have more wood artists on here, we really need the help promoting this beautiful medium! Here's a little info on Smile Moon Woodworks...
He's married and as he puts it, "my wife and I are parents to way more children than anybody should reasonably be expected to deal with."... He creates some marvelous things and has already sold 11 pieces since he started in March! My hat is off to the guy for a beautiful shop, family devotion, devotion to the wood, and of course for making obviously very needful things for us all! Here's his first treasury - I know, I'm not in it! lol, but a lot of great folks are and I heartily invite you have a look at Smile Moon Woodworks creations as well as those he's featured. Truly a wonderful, up-and-coming talent!!
Shop update...
I finally finished the Green Jay frame and it's all starting to come together! yeah!! It's looking pretty nice and I'm ready to paint the frame and finish up on this piece - as usual, it's been fun, but I'll be glad to get it finally off the table!lol  I've learned so much on this project, and am always appreciative of the experience.
The castle is finally getting it's lights in - I'm still not sure it's a great idea, but it's fun to look at and really makes me reminisce of when I was a kid playing amongst the oaks and hills... the lights have definitely added a new dimension to an old favorite =>
The "Seascape" lighthouse intarsia project is almost done. Working on the final shaping and sanding. It's been fun and I think it will go well on the east coast. I think Lindsey will sell it quick, like she does the wine bottle holders. I haven't finished sanding those yet, my 'tennis elbow' has been acting up and putting that kind of pressure on it is agonizing - keeps me tough though!lol Aren't woodworkers supposed to have 'guns'?!
That's most of what's been going on here - hope you are enjoying the gorgeous weather =D  I know I am making the most of it!!
Thanks for "stopping by the shop!"
Freida

Well, well, well! Ever have a day you wished you could do over!!? Oh yeah, I'm sure you have!lol  Yesterday was one of those. I don't know how it happened? I was sitting out here on my laptop, trying to figure out how to add Etsy minis to my blogs and such to no avail... they just never came out? What I'm doing wrong probably had to do with the service I'm using or something... Annnyyyway, I was sitting here, like I do every morning, trying to catch up. learn. improve and check occassionally to see if I'd won a necklace from Timothy Adam Design's April Giveaway - I didn't notice the sun flying overhead, didn't notice the electricity had went off briefly (I'm on my laptop, right?) when the guys replaced the old meter with a digital one, didn't notice that it was creeping toward 2, then 3, then 4pm until it was time to pick up my boys from the bus stop! I wasted an entire day, goofing on this stupid machine!!! Aaagghhhh! It might've been alright, but I didn't even really get anything accomplished?
So, not today - going to put the ol' "nose to the grindstone" and get these projects done! {{{sigh}}} I hate losing out on a beautiful, quiet day - but I won't look back, just forward....
it's off to work - have a great day ya'll! and
Thanks! for "stopping by the shop!"
Freida

Everyone's gotta do their part - and I'm definitely no exception! All year I've been cultivating my stock of cool wood, especially this winter. I've come across many instances of such, to me, tragic waste where I was able to help alleviate the landfill overload. This always excites me!

I love wood, there's just no two ways about it and when I'm able to bump up my supply of a certain species that I use extensively, I always get really excited!

This year I was able to procure many black walnut trees that had fallen, or needed to be taken out - and this being my all-time fave wood it was quite a haul! There's one tree in particular that has so much feather and color - purples, blacks, golds - it almost looks like Claro! I can't wait to get it dry and on the saw => Then there were several homes this year re-doing their flooring and wowwee! You wouldn't believe some of the cherry, birch, and maple I was able to salvage from the landfill-destined bins! I still cannot believe that people throw this wood away - it's so totally usable once you plane it out!! The grains are amazing on some of this too - a lot of it being more than 75 years old... I also have some yellow pine coming from a doctor's office, that I again, can't believe I was able to get!

From these great untapped resources as well as old cedar fencing and oak and poplar pallets - it's all worth gleaming from to make beautiful pieces of art => and, most of all - it's NOT going into the burgeoning landfills and burn piles, forever being lost and wasted!

Also, my dear friend, who's entire 80 acre mountain was once full of beautiful Ponderosa pine, Red Cedar, Juniper, and Pinon pine that was wiped out in the Iron Mountain fire here, has benefited from my art - as I'm able to take a lot of what he's considered a total loss and reclaim lumber in the form of beetle kill blue pine, gorgeous golden juniper, and beautiful aromatic red cedar. Giving back to him too has made my soul happy - they lost so much, including 7 beloved horses, and every sale I make that contains his wood, I'm able to give back to him so that it was not a complete devastating loss. Nothing can ever soothe his battered heart when he has to look upon his grandparent's blackened stand of trees and bald mountain, but I'm glad I can help in this small way...

We all must do our part - my part I get to do is full of joy, surprise, and unadulterated happy dances! Here's hoping that "doing your part" brings you at least a 10th of the butterflies it does me!! =>

Happy Monday - and "thanks for stopping by the shop!"

Freida

I am writing this letter to beg all the “powers that be” to not let any of the Orphan Works bills to pass through your hands! This will have devastating effects on our art world as well as ANY person that creates a photo or other simple visual work. You simply cannot allow the big businesses to destroy the WORKING copyright system we have now. Our current copyright laws were put in place in 1976 and have been working very successfully – Our country is the only one that has even thought to change it! One of the big issues is the fact that our current copyright policy states, “INTERNATIONAL LAW FORBIDS COERCED REGISTRATION as a condition of protecting ... copyright.” The United States is about to break International Law!?

There is an open door to theft in these bills sponsored and financially backed by the big image companies to “legally” take any image or creation out there by calling it an “Orphan Work” just because the creator of the work either didn't know how to, or couldn't afford to, register with select companies that would be the copyright registrars. Plus, this only takes into account images registered on their system. If you have registered all your work on another system, they won't be searched here and, even though you may have spent thousands of dollars registering your creations, a new or unused directory could orphan everything you've ever created.

As quoted in an article by Mark Simon on April 10, 2008, “You could see photos you take of your family and kids, or of a family vacation, used in a magazine or newspaper without your permission or payment to you. You would have to pay to register your photos, all of them, in every new registry in order to protect them. Say the average person takes 300 photos per year (I take a lot more than that). If a registry only charges $5 per image, that is a whopping $1,500 to protect your photos that are protected automatically under the current laws. If there are three registries, protecting your images could cost an amazing $4,500. Not to mention the time it would take to register every photo you take. Plus, you will also have to place your copyright sign on every photo.

That's not including all your art, sketches, paintings, 3D models, animations, etc. Plus, even if you do register, the people stealing your work can still claim it was orphaned and, unless you fight them, they win. Even if you win, you may not make back your legal fees.

Anyone can submit images, including your images. They would then be excused from any liability for infringement (also known as THEFT) unless the legitimate rights owner (you) responds within a certain period of time to grant or deny permission to use your work.

That means you will also have to look through every image in every registry all the time to make sure someone is not stealing and registering your art. You could actually end up illegally using your own artwork if someone else registers it.”

This would affect everyone, even YOU!!

I hope that you can see that signing any bill into law like this would be detrimentally harmful to everyone – not just artists and photographers!

I am a very small part of the 'art world'. I have 3 boys and am currently trying to establish myself in the creative world. I'm totally disabled and hoping someday to be “off of the system” and be a viable part of society again through my work. There is no possibility in the near future that I will magically become whole again. Through my woodworking I not only become an asset to society because I will be able to support myself and family, but my creative contribution to the world in general benefits us all. If it were not for the small income I generate with my work, I don't know how we would survive as a family. We could even end up on welfare – which is something I would hate with all that I am!

I've never asked anything of government, but I'm begging now, to you, to stop this legal thievery... It would truly devastate our country as art and freedom of creativity is a huge part of our culture and history!

From a prominent artist that we would not have some of our history had his art never had been, “Spider-Man comic artist Alex Saviuk is also concerned about the loss of copyright protection. "When I found out all the negative aspects of the new legislation, it would almost behoove us to want to do something else for a living," says Saviuk. "If we would have to register with all the different companies, we would never be able to make a living."

"It would be impossible for me to register all my art," continues Saviuk. "It would put me out of business." “

There are quite a number of people out there that don't think this a “big deal” but what if we'd never had artists like Alex Saviuk? “Spiderman” is an undeniable part of our history and culture!

Thank you for reading this and I will pray that you will help in this fight – it is not just my fight, it is yours too!

Freida Kirkland

Deer Mountain Wood Art

I would appreciate some input on this letter before I send it - does it sound okay? Did I cover everything? Thanks =>

PLEASE WRITE YOUR LAWMAKERS AND PUT A STOP TO THIEVERY OF OUR ART!!!