Ticklish Ideas

Once upon a time five years ago, my then-current boyfriend was showing me around his bookshelves. He put a Garrett Wade catalog in my hands and said, "This, Sarah, is woodworker's porn." It was page after page of heirloom-quality hand woodworking tools, beautifully lit and photographed. I saw his point - but it wasn't really my thing.

I have this strange tenativeness (or maybe it's good old Scots thriftiness) when it comes to any kind of craft-work. I'm really unlikely to sacrifice a pretty and new and perfect piece of lumber (/fabric/et cetera) to the saw, just to make something that might not come out right anyway. I'm much more likely to say, "Oh, I need something to hold up/cover/decorate that ________" and go rummaging through the basement (or, in a pinch, the alley behind the local dorms) in search of some piece of near-trash that's just begging to be modded into whatever I need. Pocket-knife on polymer, baby. Wood screws. And duck tape in many decor-friendly colors.

There is a new drool-mag for DIYers of my stripe: MAKE magazine. Ooooh it's cool. Make your own, well, you name it. A cigar box guitar, a Hi-Fi modded into an MP3 player, a 2-wheeled doggy cart, and that's just the current issue. The website has links to directions to make a woolen knit DNA model and articles on a Pez MP3 player and the concept of wabi-sabi. I love these people and I haven't even got my hands on a copy of the magazine yet.

Thanks to Teresa Nielson Hayden at Making Light for news of this magazine, now in its fourth issue. I will let you know if my neighborhood Barnes and Noble is tuned in yet.