Blue Heron Jewelry

I'm often asked what lead me to choose woodworking as a career. The best answer I can offer is, quite simply, I love wood. It fascinates me. The infinite variety of textures and colors, from the brilliantly colored rainforest species like Purpleheart and Padauk to the more understated yet equally beautiful varieties of domestic woods found in my own backyard. I have been known to spend all afternoon in a lumberyard, happily flipping through piles of rough-sawn lumber in search of that perfect board.

My formal woodworking training consisted of an apprenticeship with a boat builder. I have also studied at the Center For Furniture craftsmanship in Maine. Though I really enjoyed learning to build boats, I discovered through the process that I prefer smaller scale more detail-oriented work . So, I decided to strike out on my own. I do everything myself, no employees or assistants. I sell my work in art shows, through a select galleries and online.

One of the advantages of doing work on a smaller scale is that I’m able to make use of almost all of my materials. A small piece that another woodworker might view as a scrap, to me is more than enough for a box lid and the cut-offs from that in turn become barrettes or jewelry. Almost nothing goes to waste.

With each piece I make, my greatest challenge comes in deciding how to best draw out the unique characteristics of the individual pieces of wood. I try to form, with a minimum amount of change, a functional and attractive object that will hopefully be used and enjoyed by its owner for many years to come.

When I'm not in my woodshop, I can usually be found on the waters of northern Michigan, sitting by our koi pond, playing with my golden retriever, or knee deep in local river searching for rising trout with my fly rod. One of my favorite parts of the woodworking process is taking a rough piece of lumber or sometimes even a chunk of firewood or fallen branch from the yard and showcasing the unique beauty of the wood within. I am very grateful to have the opportunity to work at a job that I truly love. I really can’t imagine myself doing anything else.

Close