Natural Edges Custom Woodworking

07/27/2017

Garry Oak Bench;

My 2017 piece that was accepted into the Sooke Fine Art Show. The show runs from July 29th until August 7th. Find out more information at sookefinearts.com.

The inspiration for this bench has come in part from living in the Garry Oak/Camas bio-region that is Victoria. The Oak tree here is pushed to the sidelines of the city but still it has a strong emblematic presence, their curved and gnarled branches genuflected against the sky. Shapes formed by the geology of the rocky soils, the ocean and the dry windy climate.

As a settler here in the territories of the Nuu-cha-nulth and Coast Salish people. The bench asks; does landscape and place have the potential to shape and influence those who are now settlers here in the same way it has formed the Oak tree?

‘Rest in the Shade of the Garry Oak Bench’ was hand carved and resurrected from the wood of a wind thrown Oak tree and offers a place in this busy world to pause and reflect on our relationship to place.

Materials; Salvaged Garry Oak and White Pine. Finished with Tung Oil.

07/27/2017

Natural Edge Maple Dining Table
April 2016-July 2017;

Turning the sadness of a much loved tree that was thrown down in a winter storm into a beautiful Dining Table.

The client wanted something to remember from the Maple tree that was blown down in her yard and have something made from it that was more than just fire wood. We chainsaw milled the tree in place and then stickered and air dried it with a fan for 14 months. The wood had some extensive rot so the top had to be made out of 3 pieces instead of 2. The uprights are supported by a curved stretcher which is morticed through the uprights and pegged with a Yew wood wedge. The supports are angled instead of the usual straight as it gives a more dynamic feel and also reflects the fallen tree, lifted up and resurrected.

Dimensions; Top is 98″x 34-36″x 2.5″. Height is 31″. Finished with satin spar varnish for durability.

07/16/2016

The Protect Ancient Forests Chair. Will be in the Sooke Fine Arts show July 21st-August 1st. Below is part of the artist statement that accompanies it.
'The inspiration for this chair has come from my volunteer work towards protecting the ancient forests of Vancouver Island, especially the Walbran Valley/ Kaxi:ks watershed an hour’s drive north of Port Renfrew. Many old growth Western Red Cedar trees are there, no-ticeable by their distinctive branching castellated tops, silvery grey against the dark greens. The area includes the ‘Castle Grove’, one of the most significant stands of unprotected monumental Cedars in B.C, the largest being the ‘Castle Giant’, which is over 64’ in cir-cumference.
Born in England, I am a settler here in Canada, but the term settler and settled have many definitions. The unlimited resource extraction of Vancouver Island’s remaining forests by industry is a colonial settler practice: unsustainable, ignoring the realities of climate change and the limits of the natural world. An unsettled practice. On the other hand, a sense of calm and quiet can explain what it is to be settled, still, planted like a tree.
Hand-carved from salvaged Western Yew, a wood long known for its strength, the representation of an ancient cedar is contained within this chair. It invites you to sit, to be still, to become settled, to be in the present moment and place. The sitter is hopefully reminded of incredible and precious forests that need to be valued and protected.'

02/06/2016

The Moon and Oak Tree Doors. The clients of this project live in an area of Victoria that has many beautiful twisted Garry Oaks growing on the rocky bluffs around their house.The idea was to replace two doors on the upper floor where the eaves of the roof drop to an angle on the opening side of the door and use that in the design to suggest the line of a tree and a branch and then have the moon snagged in it.

11/03/2015

Tree-Lovers Dining Chairs.
One of a set that incorporate the natural edge of Big Leaf Maple for the crest rail and the back splat.The clients wanted a chair that reflected the land and the forest around their house.
It was a challenge using the natural edge with so much joinery involved but in the end it was worth the extra effort in that it creates something unique, as the straight lines and symmetry of the chair are interrupted by the uneven edges of the tree.
Materials; Big Leaf Maple, seat Red Alder, legs and stretchers Gary Oak. Finished with Polymerized Tung Oil.

07/17/2015

Raven Shippeii; July 2015:

Commission from ZenWest for some Shippeiis or talking sticks to be used by the Abbott. This one is the first and was influenced by the noisome Ravens which seemed fitting for their strong presence on the coast here. They have at least 30 categories of vocalization from caws to croaks and clicks and have been recorded to demonstrate displacement, which is the capacity to communicate about objects or events that are distant in space or time, to be able to give instructions. The original image that I had in my mind was of Raven perched, in silhouette in its place at the end of a snaggy Cedar top.

One of my favorite books on the subject is ‘In the company of Crows and Ravens’ By John M. Marshall and Tony Angell, which has great illustrations and documents the human relationships between us and the Corvids.

Made from Western Yew and finished with Tung Oil.

04/17/2015

Pine Corner Cupboard with Oak Carving;

March 2015.

Stretching the definition of Memento Mori a bit here but liked the idea of an alternative interpretation on the ‘remembrance of death‘. The client was looking for something to display heirloom objects that they had recently inherited. Leaves and branches are Oak and the flowers are Western Yew, I tried to base them on a Salmon Berry plant and have it grow upwards to where the flowers bloom, suggesting the return of spring and the circle of life. I made the leaves by laminating thin strips of Oak in a compound angled form that gives them the appropriate curve and twist, I thought this would be easier that carving them from the a solid piece of wood! Finished with Tung Oil.

06/26/2011

Welcome to Natural Edges Custom Woodworking.
Please visit the website: www.naturaledges.ca
and the new blog which includes book reviews, photographs and video clips: http://www.naturaledges.ca/blog/

Naturaledges Custom Woodworking in Victoria BC by Peter Cressey. Affordable and aesthetically pleasing custom woodwork, furniture, kitchens, finish carpentry, garden furniture, etc.