Since I last wrote, I went to Hong Kong for my father's 80th birthday. I had no luck finding a traditional Chinese furniture maker to visit.
But in the Palace museum gift shop I found 30 pounds of books on the subject. It's just amazing what certain cultures were able to build hundreds and thousands of years ago.
The museum is beautiful!
When we returned to Honolulu, I worked on a temporary sink grill for a tea room mizuya. It was for Yumiko, a tea master who trained in Kyoto who is married to Chozen-ji's abbot.
There are no texts on the traditional design of these in English but I was told by a sukiya carpenter they are regularly made in bamboo, and joined by nails. It's interesting how often you see them in America built in so many other styles and materials.
The temporary one will be replaced by something else after I find someone to learn how to make a better one from. And from bamboo, which has its own building peculiarities.
I also finished up a small frame to hold a koi pond feeder, mounted on the side of the walkway.
And got half way through a frame for a piece of art for a friend, inspired by the large calligraphy frames at Chozen-Ji.
I mean, it's basically one saw horse.
I've also been working the tiniest bit on the Ossipoff Cabin with my friends.