This photo is kind of difficult to interpret. The big chest is 1:4 scale (about 9” long). The small one is 1:10. It is Marco Terenzi’s work, of course.
Both will be at Handworks this weekend, along with so much other cool stuff that I won’t be able to see it all.
By the way, Marco makes micro tools for sale, so follow him on Instagram. You never know when you might be zapped by a shrink ray and need a 1:4 scale hammer to fight rabid chipmunks.
— Christopher Schwarz
With the exhibit of the Studley tool cabinet and workbench only days away (May 15-17, 2015, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa), Don Williams is fielding a lot of questions about tickets. Here are some frequently asked questions about tickets, books and art prints:
Will you be mailing my tickets?
No. The ticket purchases are recorded electronically. Don will print the entire list out, then check you off the list and hand you your timed ticket when you check in at the Scottish Rite Temple. You will show it at the door of the exhibit hall and be ushered in. Just to make sure, it would be a good idea to bring your PayPal receipt with you just in case something gets missed.
I ordered my copy of ‘Virtuoso’ to be picked up in Amana, can I pick it up at the exhibit?
No. You need to pick up your copy at the Lost Art Press booth in the Festhalle Barn. John will have a list of everyone who ordered a book and asked to pick it up in Amana. It would be a good idea if you brought your receipt with you, but if you don’t have it, we’ll work with you.
How can I get my book signed by the author and photographer?
There are three book signings scheduled at the exhibit in Cedar Rapids:
Friday at 2 p.m. to 3 p.m.
Saturday at 5 p.m. to 6 p.m.
Sunday at noon to 1 p.m.
More details are here.
If I ordered ‘Virtuoso’ before Handworks, will I receive a commemorative postcard?
Yes, you will.
Where can I get a Studley poster?
There will be 100 commemorative art prints for sale at the exhibit only. None at Handworks. Details here.
— Christopher Schwarz
“Virtuoso: The Tool Cabinet and Workbench of Henry O. Studley” has just arrived in our Indianapolis warehouse, and all the pre-publication orders will begin shipping soon.
Our offer for free domestic shipping ends May 13 at midnight. After tomorrow, the book will cost $8 or more to ship, depending on where you live in the United States. If you have been a customer of ours before, then you know that this free shipping is the only discount we will ever offer on a book. Our books do not go on sale.
On Thursday we load up a trailer with 3,013 lbs. of books and head to Handworks in Amana, Iowa. We are bringing as many books as our towing and payload capacity will allow. But because books are heavy, we might run out of some titles during the show. So stop by our booth early to avoid disappointment.
— Christopher Schwarz
In conjunction with Peter Galbert’s “Chairmaker’s Notebook,” we will soon be offering full-size plans of the two chairs shown in the book.
The plans were hand-drawn by Peter at full scale. I’ve been scanning and piecing together all the bits, trying to produce them on the fewest sheets possible. It is taking me longer than I expected.
I don’t have pricing information or a release date yet. We will be using a print-on-demand service to produce and mail them, and I am still working out some details with that company.
So stay tuned.
— Christopher Schwarz
“He is a writer for the ages – the ages of four to eight.”
— Dorothy Parker
When people ask us about the books we are working on, they usually say something like: “That’s nice, but you should really get <insert name here> to write a book. That would be awesome.”
I can tell you most definitely that book is unlikely to be awesome.
After 25 years of writing, ghostwriting and editing authors of all skill levels, I can say that your world-class woodworking skills have little to do with the quality of book you might write. Many people are incapable of organizing their thoughts into words. Their prose is a diarrhea of overlapping and aimless ideas. They prefer to say something in 1,000 words when 10 would do. They never get to the point.
I’ve worked successfully with these people. I interviewed them (sometimes for days) and distilled their thoughts into a magazine article in their voice. It took about a week to create 2,000 words that way. Books are usually about 100,000 words. I don’t even want to do that math.
Even worse – and there is worse – are people who want to write a book yet have no idea what it should be about.
“Can you give me a topic?” they ask.
“Nope.”
Truth is most authors at Lost Art Press are burning up inside because of an obsession with some aspect of woodworking. They are already writing a book, but they don’t know the mechanics, or they think that only four people would read it.
Here’s what we ask of these people.
If you can do this and we’re excited about the book, chances are good that we can work together (unless you are an arrogant wiener).
All these thoughts are boiling in my brain right now because I am writing up a contract for our 20th potential project – that’s about five years of work we now have stacked up ahead of us. So trust me when I say there is a lot of unexplored ground in our craft – perhaps even a birdhouse book with your name on it.
— Christopher Schwarz
