care for your craft: wood
Do you know how to care for your wood product? Certain materials need to be stored away from certain elements (sunlight, water), for longevity, and wood is not the exception.
What are you using your wood product for? Your choice of stain, polish or lack thereof, should support both function and the type of wood used. For example, does your wood product need to be food safe? Weather durable? Scratch resistant? Emphasise shine?
To answer these questions, ask yourself where the product will be used, and kept, in your home.
A few things to look our for when you are shopping for wood craft:
- Screws, nails and pencil marks are to be removed or concealed unless otherwise intended for the design.
- All sides (bottoms, backs, undersides) should be smoothly finished, without scratches, bumps, marks or foreign matter in or between coats.
- The wood itself should be of furniture quality. Therefore, free of deformations, unless intended by the artist. Any knots, warping, cracks, etc. should not affect the work’s structural and/or functional quality.
- Does the hardware used fit seamlessly and operate smoothly with the product?
Durability, functionality & aesthetics
Upon selecting a wooden piece, focus on the relationship between its durability, functionality and aesthetics.
For example, all food serving items and children’s toys must have non-toxic finishes. All toys must meet Health Canada material, production, packaging and labelling requirements, such as age requirements for choking hazards.
Was your wood ethically sourced, harvested via sustainable means? In BC, it is illegal to cut down arbutus trees for commercial use. Therefore, ensure any arbutus materials you encounter are produced from timber that has been scavenged, fallen or removed from the tree by natural causes.Ask the artist about their pieces to learn more about their process - there is always a new story, technique, or material that you can discover when you purchase craft!
We have recently added a selection of wood craft by member professional artists to our shop online. You can now find a variety of shapes, sizes, and types of wood to shop from the comfort of your home!
Craft pictured: Top: Air plant wood planter by Billy Would Designs. In text: Maple burl vase by Neno Catania