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Articles
FUNCTIONAL FURNITURE FROM
THE SEA
by Jan DeGrass
(Balanced Life, November 2003)
Will Cummer
Sunset is a good time to meet Gibsons' woodworker Will Cummer
rambling the beaches of the Sunshine Coast. Imagine a Calgary
man, from the land of prairie and mountain, moving to the Coast in
1995 to live by the ocean for the first time. In Calgary, Will was
primarily a sign maker and designer of fine wooden crafts, though
he had tried his hand at furniture construction. When he moved to
Gibsons, flat broke and seeking a new direction, he became
intrigued by what he perceived as free wood lying around on the
beach for any woodworker to use. Not only free, but it came in so
many interesting shapes, forms and textures. Something else
tugged at his artistic imagination.
"Secret things are exposed on the beach," he says. "We don't
usually see the roots of a tree. It was like seeing a tree without its
clothes on."
He started to collect the surf-polished trunks, worm-eaten branches
and root structures-all the materials that a professional log salvor
would not want--and to experiment with forming them in to furniture.
The first item he ever made from driftwood was a pedestal table that
sold immediately to a Gibsons resident. "It was made from a root.
I've looked ever since for that shape, but haven't found it."
Beachcombing became an adventure. He found himself always
searching for that perfect piece.
"You can put in your order from the ocean, but it's not at all
concerned with a delivery schedule," he laughs. Sometimes, the
storms wash in a spectacular piece, an artwork in itself, but usually
he must trim and fashion the various woods: red and yellow cedar,
alder, fir, hemlock, even maple, the scraps of the forest industry or
trees toppled from eroding banks. He became familiar with the
various species, learning, for example, that the ocean's brine could
pickle wood to preserve it, and that a tiny sea worm, the teredo,
bores interesting tunnels in wood, and that cedar weathers to an
attractive metallic grey.
He searched for sea worn planks, branches with character--curves,
bumps, kinks--to serve as legs, arches that could form the top of a
loveseat, small trees that could be cut away in slabs to form chair
backs or arms. He built without any real knowledge of the medium
but enough woodworking skill to follow some basic rules. First, he
chipped away with hand tools; later, he found power tools helped
him along. But he prefers to take a quieter Swede saw to the beach
for hand-cutting and only take away those pieces he can carry.
As he fashioned his first driftwood loveseat and chair, and sold them
immediately, an artistic ethic emerged. "I decided right off that I'd
make something comfortable, that could be used as a seat rather
than a conversation piece."
Will sits on every bench he makes, reads a book for a while,
relaxes, shaves a bit off here and there, tries it again. "I want to use
this furniture in our everyday lives…and make it beautiful."
After years of beachcombing, he amassed a collection of twiddly,
funky bits of wood, not big enough for furniture. He decided to use
them in decorating an item of his own design, the "beach bank,"
consisting of two vertical panes of glass held by a wooden frame to
form a box suitable for holding those tiny beach treasures. They sell
well.
Although chairs and loveseats are his favourite projects, he also
makes garden gates, arbours, and trellises. Often they are
decorated with used hardware, beach rope or "log dogs," a circular
iron loop with a spike. His latest creative idea is to add hand carving
and colour.
For the past two years, Will has taught driftwood furniture
techniques during the local Fibre Arts Festival. Next February, he
will offer courses in furniture making allowing participants to
apprentice for a one-day class or experience a hands-on, two-day
demonstration class. Because students like to make their own piece
of furniture, he has plans to offer a third workshop in which couples
can come for a three-day course, build their own piece, and take it
home. He will show his work this Christmas season at the Woods
Store in Sunnycrest Mall in Gibsons. His fine wooden crafts are also
for sale at Vancouver's Granville Island Wood Co-op store. For
more on courses or outlets, call Will at 604-885-8258 or e-mail to
willofthewoods@dccnet.com.
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