Diary of a Wood Artist

My youngest child was a senior in high school and I had spent so long being busy mom of two kids who were active athletes. I was facing some extra time on my hands and wanted to find a hobby that would keep me from sitting too much.

My stair revival gave me the bug to learn some basic woodworking but I really didn’t know where to start. Now, I will tell you my husband is pretty handy but I wanted to accomplish this goal mostly on my own. It felt pretty empowering to learn some basics and see where I could go from there.

Down the rabbit hole we go…..

As most of do now a days I turned to social media. I starting following some ladies who were DIYers. While it was great to see what these ladies were doing I still needed to learn the basics and that included power tools, the lingo, safety and the list goes on. So next I started searching the internet for some courses on woodworking. I was lucky enough to come across Pine and Poplar. Zoe had a story that intrigued me and the power of DIY (Do it yourself). I will talk more about their courses later

I love learning new things and wanted to help with projects around the house but frankly I was kind of afraid of power tools. Now my husband totally would teach me but I never wanted to slow him down in the middle of a project so I didn’t ask many questions but I did pay attention and tried to help were I could.

take a leap

Don’t be afraid to learn something new. Start small. There are so many options out there on the internet and social media. Do some research and read some reviews before you choose an option. DON’T spend a fortune until you do some research. I am one who likes to jump in with both feet and unfortunately I have spent too much money on something that didn’t end up being something I really liked or stuck with. I have gotten better over time but I am working on trying to be better about that. Hobbies can get expensive really fast. Woodworking is definitely one of those hobbies.

What I liked about Pine and Poplar’s course is that she tells you some of the equipment to start small. Their video’s and materials lists are helpful and thorough. Like their name implies, she starts with pine and poplar boards in her projects. Wood is expensive so it is good to start of with wood that is not expensive. You certainly don’t want to start with Walnut in the beginning because you will be wasting an expensive wood on the learning process.

Find projects that will build your skills as you go. Start with small, simple projects and move up to harder projects as you go.

What hobbies have you tried and did you find something you want to stick with? I am going to leave a link to Pine and Poplar’s site because I do think they have a great course to start out with. (I am not getting any compensation).

Till next time.