Silver Gecko WoodWorking

𝑪𝒂𝒎𝒆𝒓𝒐𝒏 𝑭𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒔

This was a heartfelt project for the special lady in my life. She has a deep love of hiking and especially waterfalls. This inspired me to recreate one of the notable waterfalls in our area as a gift for her birthday.

Handcrafted using reclaimed fir and barnwood. For the water in the pool below the falls I used wire brushed textured fir and stained to color. The tumbling water of the falls themselves were created using cotton.

This was a very rewarding project, she absolutely loves it and has displayed it proudly.

𝙃𝙪𝙢𝙥𝙗𝙖𝙘𝙠 𝙒𝙝𝙖𝙡𝙚𝙨 - 𝙈𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙧 & 𝘾𝙖𝙡𝙛

Saw these for sale on Etsy, thought it was a very clever use of weathered wood, and had to make a set!

𝑾𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝑹𝒐𝒔𝒆 𝑺𝒖𝒏𝒔𝒆𝒕
An experiment with color! Thought I might try staining this piece to see what might be possible for other projects in the future. This project is entirely reclaimed wood and all pieces have had some color treatment.
The flower petals and leaves are also from reclaimed wood. Each petal was stained from the edges inward leaving the centers natural wood color.
“Rosa Acicularis” is a flowering plant in the Rosaceae family. It is commonly known as the prickly wild rose.
Alberta adopted the prickly wild rose as the provincial flower in 1930 after the editor of an Edmonton newspaper suggested they select a floral emblem. The Women’s Institutes heeded this suggestion and passed it on to the Department of Education, and the school children of the province actually made the final decision. Kids had real power back then!
The flowers and buds are edible raw or boiled. In an emergency, you can peel and eat the young shoots. You can boil fresh, young leaves in water to make a tea, commonly used during menstruation to make up for iron loss. After the flower petals fall, you can eat the rose hips (remove any hairs and seeds in the center); the pulp is highly nutritious, and an excellent source of vitamin C. Rose hip is commonly used externally in oil form to restore firmness to skin by nourishing tissue. You can crush or grind dried rose hips to make flour. The dried flowers can also be eaten to help with heartburn, off to Taco Time we Go!
The sky received a sunset color gradient based on the Rayleigh scattering of sunlight, which results in the blue color perceived by the human eye. This was a challenge to blend and apply the different colors, but I am pleased with the result!
The rolling hills have a subtle green tint at the bottoms to simulate the rolling grassland and give them a shadowed appearance as the daylight fades. I left just the top edges of each hill with the natural weathered silver appearance to highlight them in the fading light.

𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐢𝐮𝐦? 𝐎𝐫 𝐢𝐬 𝐢𝐭?

Recently I was asked to design and build a new podium for the Norland Historic Estate. The one they were using had been around a few years and was showing a bit of age, wear and tear from the many riveting speeches and presentations conducted at that amazing venue!
They wanted something new and fresh. We came up with an very nice contemporary design with a clean yet classic looks that would draw attention to the speaker behind it.
Interesting, during the design phase, while searching for inspiration. I learned that what I was building was in fact not a podium. Most of us would refer to this as just that, however, in fact the “Podium” is actually defined as the raised platform on which the speaker stands to deliver his or her speech. The word is derived from the Greek word “pothi” which means “foot”. The word “podiatrist”(foot doctor) comes from the same source. So in actual fact the podium is more like what you stand on to deliver the speech or like the stepped platform the athletes stand on to receive awards at the Olympics.
What I was building was actually a “Lecturn” This is defined as a raised, slanted stand on which a speaker can place his or her notes. The word is derived from the Latin word “lectus” the past participle of the verb “legere”, which means “to read”. The word “lecture” comes from the same source.
I will undoubtedly continue to refer to this a “Podium” just because it would, most likely, create a lot of confusion to ask, Hey do you have a “Lectern”? so I can address this group and enlighten them with my amazing facts! LOL!