About

 

        My life as a craftsman began in 2014 when I was temporarily laid off. It wasn’t the first time, and this time, wasting my time in front of a screen was out of the question. So I sat down at my computer looking for a potential DIY project of some sort. That’s when I spotted a marvel of basement engineering - the RotaryMek 10 - a rubber band machine gun! I immediately ordered the instruction book and ran to Canadian Tire to buy the necessary tools: a bandsaw, a drill press and a belt sander. The project was a success, the object worked wonderfully, but the fun was in the making. So I went back to looking for projects. What can you do with a bandsaw? Bandsaw boxes of course. I got my hands dirty on the few models available online, and I got the bug. However, I quickly got tired of these models which were, for the most part, rather boring. Back to the computer. I use Windows Paint for the first time, and I start creating my own models. The sting, again. Over the next few years, I will design dozens of original models, and make hundreds of boxes.

        But this is only the beginning, my search for new projects has never stopped. I saw Malcolm Tibbetts' segmented vases. Impossible! I saw Karl Hansen's basket illusion vases. Sorcery! I am obsessed with them. How do they do it? What fantastic combination of instruments do they use to compose such masterpieces? I need money, lots of money. Fortunately, I have some popular box models on Etsy. A few more years of work. And I mean work, the pleasure is gone. I like to design unique pieces, but buyers all want the same thing.

      Production work, I know the tune. I discover determination in myself, a certain feeling of pride follows. And one fine day in December, as if nothing had happened, I am finally ready to offer myself the most beautiful gift, a workshop worthy of the name.

        January 2019, I hear the arrival of a truck. It transports machines and instruments that are just as many mysteries to me. I immediately put my new acquisitions to the test, and quickly understand that nothing is impossible, what seemed like witchcraft to me is revealed before me as if by magic, and it strikes me! Each machine, each tool, is a teacher in itself. So I let the instrument guide the hand, and I chain the vases with disconcerting ease. Each new creation fills me with joy, each technique assimilated makes me proud. I finally know who I am, and it's about time.

Simon Roy,

Lathe artist