Priest Crafts

Not to be confused with priestcrafts, Priest Crafts is a name I jokingly contemplated for my business when a lot of my stuff was selling for use as gifts for clergy.
My brother-in-law was recently called as an LDS Bishop - the equivalent of a priest or a pastor in a Catholic or Protestant congregation, only unpaid. I made this chess bishop for him as a gag gift for Christmas - about 6" high, with felt base, he loves it and keeps it on his desk. See my Toys page for more.
And what clergyman doesn't need a nice wood bowl on his desk for candy for the unlucky ones who are stuck sitting on the other side?
And a good wood pen is a must, of course...

So yeah, I toyed with the name Priest Crafts, but in the end settled for something that was a little less of a lightening rod. And really, the bowl and pen are a must for any desk-bound worker, don't you think?

A Bowl of Pens

I've been experimenting with different pen forms for my slimline pens, with different kinds of woods, and different finishes, and several styles of each are shown here. To see the individual pens, see my Pens page. For more bowls, see my Bowls page. I'm trying to build up inventory for a booth in a craft fair this fall - once I get finished turning the pen kits I've got on hand, I'll be making a chess set, a chess board, some shelves, stools, benches, and stuff like that, so don't get too down that all you've seen for a while are my pens.

From top to bottom, the pens are from box elder burl, lignum vitae, bloodwood, maple, purpleheart, oregon myrtlewood, and another purpleheart. The Bowl is ambrosia maple.

Incidentally, I've also lowered my prices - for the basic 24k gold twist pen with base price wood, you're looking at only $25.00. A bowl like that shown is $24.00.

Building Future Woodworkers

Don't miss my new postings - a Trophy Shelf, Custom Crown Molding Shelf, and Purpleheart Slimline Twist Pen.

My boys have all been wanting to use my tools. When the brush-off "when you're older" became ineffective, I told them that if they want to use my tools, they have to read a book about how to use it and pass a safety test and then they can. Well, my 9-yr old read the band saw book and then the lathe book in record time. His first bandsaw project was a jet out of a leftover piece of aromatic cedar:He's learning to use the lathe now, one skill at a time. Here's his spindle - alternating beads, grooves, and coves:
My 7-year old has been reading the band saw book, and in the mean time has been working on his nailing skills. While I was turning my purpleheart bowl, he made this box:After he finished, he took it inside and wrote on it: "By Matt Staten. It was hard, frustrating, and fun. Helped by: His dad."

Can't help but feel proud of my awesome boys. My 4-year old and 2-year old will one day have projects to post too, but for now they're more into smashing things with the hammers than assembling them. Good thing for the scrap box! Way to go future woodworkers!