My List
The New Year is always seen as a fresh start by me and seems to be true for most other people. I know it is just a convenient calendar thing but it is as good a reason as any. I have an excuse to start the year with a fresh beginning. How well I stick to that resolution is another story.
I approach and somewhat hide from the fact that I am getting near the federal “suggested” retirement age. I realize I will have to come to some resolution with that event.
I also realize there is limited time for what is called a human lifespan. My resolution is to (somehow) leave a mark that I have passed along this way. For me that will be a keepsake my hands and mind have created. Please note I did not write “passed away.” That has a different connotation.
I do not have the ability to become a manufacturer in the sense of a large volume, mass producer. The items I can make will be small scale and of an art craft variety. That thought feels comfortable to me. I would like to build heirloom quality last forever items. They will be my legacy.
My dad unfortunately left me no personally made items. I do feel some loss for that tangible evidence of his existence. It just wasn’t his thing. My grandfathers both fraternal and maternal did leave me items that help keep their reminder of past creativity. I hope I can pass those items and their meaning on to others.
That means I have to be producing something of interest or value of my own that it will be kept safe and be passed along. What I have to remember is to leave my identity on the item. Of that, I have already been reminded…
I have no requirement they be free gifts, given only to family and friends. It is better that I sell most of them for profit to continue making more items and supplement my retirement income.
There are many varieties of creatable items that can fulfill that ambition. I don’t think I can build a pyramid nor do I want to, but that is one of the “already been done” items anyway. Wealthy people sometimes have libraries built with their name above the door. This is the same concept in a less grand variation. I think I need to get down to a breadbox size item. (What’s a breadbox you ask?)
My fraternal grandfather produced pictorial art paintings. Such classic art will probably come and go as far as popularity. I don’t see much evidence of ordinary paintings hanging on walls these days, but I think they will always be kept if they have meaning to the owner. Traditional art is ageless.
My maternal grandfather’s legacy is in woodworking, mostly the furniture that he made or restored. Display is somewhat dependent on fashion of the time. But again if the owner has a connection to the builder (the artist if you will) it will be preserved and never thrown away. It has to be a quality and serviceable item. Plywood lawn art doesn’t qualify.
So clearly my goal and resolution from this point on is to spend my time making things that have the longest keepsake value. I must identify myself by those items. Dan was a potter, a picture taker; a candlestick maker, etc… please excuse the poetic license. I don’t fit in the tub.
The A3 locomotive project qualifies when completed, because of its quality and rarity; it will certainly be kept by someone somewhere in a collection for hundreds of years, but perhaps not by my family. That means I need to do more.
This 2011 resolution gives me some direction. This helps a lot. Writing it down strengthens the resolve. I have not created a build list but this is a resolution, not a specific a plan. Ha!