Video of Bill Summers Workshop Visit (+ links to other studio visits)

Here is the second of two little movies I made during our NH trip last week. (I'm having way too much fun with iMovie!) It a minute and a half long.

The subject is Bill Summers, a craftsman in Concord, New Hampshire, who makes perfect dovetailed jewelry boxes. Hopefully we'll have these for you soon at Greenjeans. We first spotted them at the Canterbury Shaker Village Shop with whom he's worked since the 1930s!

Mr. Summers, now in his 90s, is a study in how careful, consistent work keeps a person vital. He has been a woodworker all his life and his home is filled with furniture, decorative carved spoons, and curiosities that he's made over the years. He was a machinist by trade, and uses his combined wood and metalwork skills to make amazing pistols and muscats with incredible detailing and balance.

As movie begins, Jae asks him which he enjoys working with more, wood or metal...



Bill Summers Workshop Visit, by Greenjeans on Vimeo


(Move cursor off screen for clear view. If it doesn't play smoothly, click pause button and wait for full upload.)

Thanks to Mr. Summer and his son-in-law Steve for the visit and for letting us film and take pictures!

To see video and photo postings about other studio visits on Greenjeans Blog, check out:

Jane Kaufmann Studio Visit

Dan Dustin Studio Visit

Ray Lagasse Workshop Visit
John Zentner Kiln Rebuilding

Tom McLaughlin Workshop Visit

Also, I have a new semantic obsession: the difference between a studio and a workshop. Does the former house an artist and the latter an artisan...?