Lyle True: portrait of the artist.

Lyle True was born in 1927, in Carpenter, Wyoming, the fourth of five children in a ranching and farming family. Farm life is often described as an endless series of chores, but is in many ways more an endless series of improvised repairs, constructions, and patches. And make it yourself entertainment. Lyle's grandfather was reputed to enjoy homemade fireworks on the 4th of July:

1. Haul your anvil out of the work shop.
2. Suspend your second anvil over it on a rope. A long rope.
3. Pour a pound of black powder on the first anvil.
4.  Cut the rope. 
5. Duck.

Lyle turned toward the arts, attended the University of Wyoming, and earned a M.A. He became a professor of art history, teaching at Bethany College and then at Colorado Women's College. He continued to practice make it yourself at multiple levels: artists tools, including silverpoint tools made of Osage Orange wood scavenged from fence posts, wall paper from scavenged cigarette foil, and furniture. The smell of boiling horsehide glue is not easy to forget.

Outside the fine arts,  his primary work material was wood. Osage Orange is a particularly interesting material. A scrubby bush/tree, it grows in East Texas and Oklahoma. Also known as horseapple or hedgeapple, it bears an odd fruit the size of your fist. Not edible, but the tree is valued for its ability to make a strong, wind breaking hedge. The wood is extremely rot resistant, and has a lovely yellow-orange color.

His making style is the not unexpected product of the pursuit of beauty and the cheapness of a depression baby and teacher. Most everything was made with hand tools, and simple lines. The spice cabinet shown here is no exception.

The cabinet is made of pine, sanded and waxed. The wood is hand sawn, and the joinery is basic: butt joints, glued and nailed. After 50 years, there are some mild structural issues, but it has been moved across the country several times, and is still in daily use. The dimensions fit glass spice jars perfectly.

What appears to be a double drawer on the bottom left is a wide drawer. The "divider" is actually an inset piece of wood used to echo the divider above. The inset is clearly chiseled, not cut on a table saw. In fact, I don't think he ever used power tools.

I recognize signs of my own design process here. Or lack of process. The photo highlights the problems that doors cause for the unwary. The door was apparently not closing properly against the small internal shelf on the left. There is an easement cut in the edge of the door to allow it to close, clearly cut with a curved chisel. When I had the same problem, I took the door of my cabinet off and cut the easement on the table saw.

Author's note: I will likely profile one or two other makers from
my family. Don't let that stop you from filling out the maker survey
on the right, or from suggesting yourself or someone you know as a
subject. I will run out of material fast if you don't!

Make it do, or do without.

ABC Evening News has had an interesting series this week,  Made in America. As you might imagine, I think they missed the point.

That old rhyme, Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without  comes a little closer.

But really, wouldn't make it yourself or do without  be better?

It's not an absolute, anymore than the original is. It is a mantra, a motto, not an outright refusal of the new and factory made.

It means that we keep what we have until it can't be used, that we take it on ourselves to fix and patch, and recycle instead of throw away.

It means that we should make what we can.

And yes,  Made in America is a good thing. Particularly if you live in America. But made at home is better, wherever that home is.

A stake in the ground.

We're here to celebrate the makers of things. Things with moving parts, greasy parts, made from wood or wool and other things that grow. Things with diodes, capacitors, wires wound tight around iron cores. Things that do stuff, hold stuff, keep us lit and warm.

We'll be writing about knitters, fitters, carpenters, mechanics, jackleg engineers. People with too many tools and never enough time, with things to get done and the itch to do it. People who make things out of love, need, compulsion, or just because they can. Kids who build robots because it is fun.

This was our past. We were self sufficient, individually, as communities, as a nation. We made it up, we made it do, we did without. Ordering from the Sears&Roebuck catalog was a big deal. We were green because we had to be.

And now, we order from Amazon. Tools from China, digital downloads from cyberspace. Fruit from Chile, fish from Thailand. And that is good, too. But it does not have to be the whole of our future.

We can eat locally. We can buy locally. We can make our things ourselves.

If you have a maker to write about, whether it's your friend, your mother, your neighbor or yourself, get in touch and let's tell their story.