Made a mistake? Celebrate it!
How a mistake changed a design for the better.
Jul 05, 2011
Small chisel bites in each spline created small, eye-catching details in the corners of the box.
This year for my wife’s birthday I made her a small mitered box out of English sycamore. It’s a simple piece, with a rabbeted lid and cherry splines reinforcing the corners.
Work on it went fast, but when it came time to flush-trim the splines, I made what looked to be a fatal error. On the last spline, I tore out a small bite with my block plane. Chin down, shoulders hunched, I mulled the options… remake, patch, or recut the splines… Eeek.
Suddenly, as I was holding the box, I noticed that the chipout was catching light in a cool way. I looked closer at the bite mark, and realized it sort of looked like a lamb’s tongue. Inspired, I took a risk and proceeded to nip away a small portion on all of the splines in the same way using a chisel. Turns out, my mistake was a design victory, creating multiple points of interest in the corners.
This small box was an enlightening woodworking journey. Sometimes a mistake can change a project for the better.
Sometimes…
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Small chisel bites in each spline created small, eye-catching details in the corners of the box.
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I rode the creative wave onto the lid, taking the sole knot from the board and making it into the handle. It’s mortised into the lid, and the curve was feehanded on the bandsaw, following the grain.
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You can see the facets pretty clearly here.
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I made the box for my wife's birthday. It can hold pens, pencils, hair scrunchies, phone accessories...
Comments
Turning disaster into a triumph. Nice!
Yes, I depend on them! Ok, maybe not, but I call them "design opportunities"!
Made a "cubby" for my new grandson (cubby = dresser with no drawers, just cubby holes)intending to make the holes the same dimensions, even up and down. The bottom ones, through the reversed (measure twice and cut once) I measured once and the bottm one wrong - larger by about 2 inches. Turned into a design opportunity. Just the size for certain clothing items to fit on the bottom. My daughter and son-in-law were very happy with my "mistake."
Sometimes, my projects seem to have more "celebrations" than I'd like them to have! ;-)
I'm glad I'm not alone in where I find "inspiration"
I always tell everyone that I did it on purpose so it will look homemade. If I made it perfect, it would look store bought.
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