Feature of the Day #48: Ash Woodshops

Trinket Jewelry Box

Greetings!
Continuing with the current theme of "Mother's Day Gifts", today's feature goes to Ash Woodshops, aka, Alan Huey and his beautiful and one-of-a-kind woodworking
Huey as been an avid woodworker his whole life. As he describes, "as an artist, woodgrain is my palette." With this palette he creates great beauty out of the gifts of nature. His many creations include furniture, writing instruments, custom boxes, jewelry boxes, puzzles, turned bowls, cutting boards, and jewelry. This is how he describes his creative process and what art carving means to him:
I love to take a simple block of wood and discover what beautiful thing can be made out of it. As layers get peeled back, the grain becomes more exposed giving view of the beautiful natural grain taht becomes the center of attention. I just love to use God's creation as the focal point of my art. I love to share this with you through the useful things that I make with this beautiful wood. I do not use stains, I let the wood "speak" for itself.

Claro Walnut Handmade Stemware

One of the most beautiful things about Huey's work is that by its very nature, no two pieces can ever be exactly alike. Just as no two people are the same, neither are any two trees. Their grain is as unique to them as the intricacies of our bodies. Each curve and line tells as story as the patterns cut this way and that. Even if they're cut from the same tree and made to be a set, they can never be identical. For example, in Huey's Claro Walnut Handmade Stemware (above), four goblets stand proudly together. They're four-of-a-kind made stronger by the similarities of their comrades. Yet if you were to pull one aside, its beauty would not be diminished by the absence of its brothers. Each one holds its own and tells its own stories through texture and grain as distinguishing as a fingerprint.
Huey puts a lot of heart not only into the carving process, but into his descriptions of his work as well. Here's how he describes his Tineo Wood Bowl (right):

Tineo Wood Bowl

Beautiful Tineo (weinmannia trichosperma) is native to South America. This beautiful tropical hardwoods is sometimes used for hardwood flooring. I can just picture a floor with the spectacular grain that is in this bowl and say WOW! This piece has a nice beading along the rim and measures 6"D X 2.75"H. It is a really beautiful piece. It is fairly heavy and very hard. 
I chose his store as one of the Mother's Day features because Huey offers such a wide variety of unique items you simply cannot find anywhere else. To see many more examples of Huey's craftsmanship, visit his store on Etsy here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop/ASHWoodshops

Be Creative today!

~Squirrel Creek Creations

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Handmade Wooden Fountain Pen