Thread: Mr Maker

Interesting.

What you described got me thinking of the Woodwright shop/show with Roy Underhill.

Woodworking is a serious activity:it costs me serious money, serious effort and I am serious about the quality of my work. But it must, in another sense be taken in a flippant careless fashion also, or it ceases to become a hobby and becomes just another thing we have to do. I once considered, had organised in fact, doing an apprenticeship as a cabinet maker. I was about 50 years old and with some previous qualifications and experience it would have been done in two years. I did not proceed with it for two reasons. The wages were such that for some time I would have been very poor. But the deciding factor was this. I did not want to turn my hobby into my work. I had a job, which I did not like very much, but there was always the shed waiting. Even now, where I have a most excellent place to work, the shed is still a refuge. No schedules, timetables, meetings, rules. My many failures are dealt without without fuss. They go out the door and into the rubbish bin. There are no secondary consequences. Nobody but me cares and nobody else knows. If I take 2 days or 2 months to make something it does not matter. No income hinges on completion.

I like the Mr Maker philosophy. To me it means taking fun seriously.