Items for the San Mateo Woodworking show

Your items and creations are needed for display at the San Mateo Woodworking show. There will be a locked glass display cabinet for smaller items. Bring your items to the October meeting or contact Robbie Fanning to arrange their delivery. RFanning@mac.com or 650/323-1183

SF Museum of Craft+Design

JoAnn Edwards, co-founder and executive director of the museum, recently said that one of the primary roles of the new museum will be to insure the longevity of craft. "Our goal is to educate the public about the 'present' of craft by celebrating and promoting the artists and culture of contemporary craft and design." Edwards adds that one of the ways the museum hopes to achieve this is through "innovative" exhibitions that focus on important craft media such as clay, wood, glass and fiber. "Coupled with that will be an educational component comprised of a monthly speaker series, weekly docent tours and video documentation," adds Edwards.

The SFMC+D will include both indoor and outdoor exhibition spaces and will feature exhibitions that provide the public an opportunity to see and experience the entire process from the design of an object, through its creation and finally, to its completion. The inaugural exhibition features the life-long collection of art, craft and design from studio furniture maker Garry Knox Bennett and his wife, Sylvia. The exhibition, "Dovetailing Art & Life: The Bennett Collection," will be on view through Jan. 31, 2005, and will feature many pieces never before seen in a public venue.

The exhibition includes five of Bennett's own handcrafted pieces as well as a selection of paintings, sculpture and objects d'art that presents the visual harmony between art and craft.

Forty-five objects of all types of media from 36 renowned artists make up the inaugural exhibition.

SF Museum of Craft+Design 550 Sutter St. SF, Closed Tuesdays 773-0303 Admission will be free through 2004. In 2005, admission will be $5 and $35 for a membership.

For more information: www.sfmcd.org or 415/773-0303

Good Wood

The Woodworkers Guild of Southern California is calling for entries for Good Wood: Furniture and Objects from Sustainable Materials. The theme of the show is the development of environmental consciousness in the crafting of furniture and objects. The show will offer an opportunity for fine woodworkers to exhibit work made with environmentally sound materials and methods, and to address the issue of sustainability through design.

Good Wood is open to all California woodworkers. The show will open at the Pasadena Museum of California Art on April 9th and move to TreePeople's new conference center in Beverly Hills, on April 24th 2005. It will open at Trios Gallery in the design district of Solana Beach in June 2005 as part of the Furniture Society conference in San Diego.

The entry deadline for the show is January 15, 2005. For more information and to download rules and entry forms go to www.woodguildsocal.com

Shop Space

Peter Sullivan Associates is interested in potentially turning one of their warehouses in West Oakland into workspaces for all manner of woodworkers. If you're interested in getting shop space in Oakland, contact:

Nicholas L. D. Echelbarger 415-362-1700 (work)
Peter Sullivan Associates, Inc. 206-909-3616 (cell)
155 Montgomery St., Ste. 1600 415-362-1760 (fax)
San Francisco, CA, 94104

Bloodwood

Since this is the raffle wood, I thought a description should be apropos.

Bloodwood comes from various species of Brosimum and grows in Brazil, Venezuela, Peru and Panama, French Guiana, Colombia, Guyana, and Suriname. It is not one of the most widely used of the exotics in the U.S. market, but those who have experience working with bloodwood appreciate its heartwood for its vibrant color, which remains true or deepens over time, and its golden luster.

The wood's grain ranges from straight to slightly interlocked. Some of the heartwood features ribbon stripes of green or yellow or red. The sapwood of the tree is a pale yellow and clearly demarcated.

The wood is very dense and hard and that can make it tough to sand. It is very hard to sand by hand but a belt sander or other types of mechanical sanders work well. It is also difficult to mill because of its hardness. Bloodwood is also said to twist when you cut it.

Jatoba is similar in many ways to Bloodwood. "They have the same grain characteristics and hardness, but Bloodwood's color is better, and it won't oxidize the way Jatoba and Padauk sometimes do." Padauk can also bleed color with some finishes.

Bloodwood finishes well since the denser the wood the higher the shine. It has a great luster when finished. It is often used as a contrast wood. In furniture, it works well alone or as an accent wood. It can also be used for cabinet work, marquetry, musical instruments, carving, decorative fittings, billiard cues and butts, drum sticks, organ pipes and decorative boxes and turned bowls. Also, artists use the wood for custom-built ship models, casegoods and as an accent wood for custom lighting and copper sculpture containers. Bloodwood is also cut into decorative veneers and used as an accent inlay in high-end wood flooring. Bloodwood is also a popular turnery wood. With its attractive color and inherent luster the wood is used to turn all sorts of objects and art pieces.