This video is the story of how I wanted to fill the need for a crafting table in my wife’s workspace, and how I dove in head first to building it from wood, knowing very little about woodworking. How-to videos often come from the perspective of an expert showing off their craft; my video is more of a how-to on how to approach being a maker, how to learn new skills, how to be flexible, how to fail, and how to get help. I am NO expert woodworker. I’m a novice, at best–if I can lay claim to that title at all. The thing I can do is tell stories, and I’m trying to point that skill toward myself as a way to communicate the value of making things and to inspire others to become makers.
Only after spending a lot of time following James and Carrie around and making videos, have I finally started to understand how to be a maker. On the one hand, it seems obvious: just make things. But, it’s really a more complex ideology than that. It’s about creating, modifying, and otherwise shaping the world around you for the better, in ways both big and small. Also, it’s a rejection of disposable consumer consumption in favor of quality, custom solutions to problems that suit one’s needs. That’s a long way to say that I’m finally starting to feel like a maker, and I have James and Carrie to thank for that, because I don’t think I would have considered doing this project or this video if I hadn’t seen them and all the great people in this community in action.
I hope you like my video, and that you walk away inspired to make something or learn something new.
