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The beauty of woodworking is that it takes on many different meanings for all of us. For those like
Marylou Garcia-Anderson, it's all about art form. A Raleigh, North Carolina transplant who studied digital
media, video, and film making in college pours her artistic talents into creating
cinematically produced videos
of her craftsmanship at work.
While Marylou grew up in the golden state of California, she now calls the south home where she works
as a technical support engineer for cloud storage by day then it's off to her workshop in her newly
purchased home to help bring her clients dreams to life. These moments of self-reflection, where she can
be creative, all stem from her upbringing which delved into all art forms. Her entire family is made up of musicians
and singers who supported her during schooling when she decided to drop pre-calculus and took up
acrylic painting instead. This led to a propitious moment in 2015, when she snagged some pallets from
a neighborhood construction site. Her first project was a table. Designing and building her first project
led her down a self-described, "rabbit-hole."
Thankfully, her parents owned a miter saw and job-site table saw, which made it easier for her to start
and learn how to use these tools along with hours of YouTube videos. The next few pieces for her
personal collection included a chrevroned multi-toned headboard suspended above her bed that also
doubled as a hat rack, for her stylish collection. One of her largest builds to date, was a massive twelve
foot bookshelf.
As of now, Marylou is doing about 70% of work for customers; one of her all time favorites was a kitchen
island with a live edge that included drawers, it was her first time making drawers. Every makers dream
is to be given creative liberties on a project, which she had on this one; reflecting, "A lot of firsts came
out on this project and it was AWESOME." While home run projects boost our confidence, there are
those that tend to break at every joint.
The most challenging project she's had to date was a custom desk for an HOA administrative office last
year. She knew this build was going to be intense, there was even an interview to take on the project. All
the pre-cursor clearance seemed overwhelming and she secretly hoped they wouldn't select her for the
job.
Well, they did and she was in store for the design challenge of the decade. After reviewing the recipients
Pinterest boards and being asked to combine several elements from each Pin, Marylou went to work.
She incorporated storage, embedded outlets, and a tray for a slide out keyboard. At the time she did not
own a track saw, which would have made the project so much easier. Nevertheless, she soldiered on,
fixing her mistakes or covering them up with design elements. Such as the leather drawer pulls she
made. The final project was composed of birch and birch plywood finished with polyurethane. The
customer was enamored with her work and absolutely loved the desk.
For the true creative, it's more than connecting two pieces of a dead tree or getting the right stain finish,
for Marylou woodworking is also about the power to choose what lumber inspires her to create
something beautiful. Hands down her favorite species is cherry. The straight-grained durable hardwood
is easy to work with and classically beautiful even without colored finishes. Next in line for preferred
lumber are walnut, hickory, and affordable plywood. Her no-fuss local lumberyard supplies all her goods,
but she says, "You have to know exactly what you want before you get there, it is not a place for
indecisive shoppers."
The design and finish process is almost as important as the actual building. She uses SketchUp and
Adobe Suite products to help with the order of operations and for producing plans for her clients. The
game changer for her in the shop, was purchasing a benchtop drum sander. It does everything she
needs with the peace of mind that her projects will be flat, especially hard woods. When she is batching
out cutting boards, her finishes come out smooth as silk. A close second to the sander is the jointer, "It's
so satisfying to see joints come out flush."
With a new home to decorate and renovate, Marylou's maker future is looking bright. She has
aspirations to focus more on the development stage of how her videos will be formatted and get into
the space of quickly editing, producing, and sharing what she has made to inspire others to do what they
love. Her video equipment arsenal rivals that of her tool collection, including a Sony mirrorless camera,
field monitors, and an adjustable camera dolly track slider. While she has also dabbled in metal work,
forging a knife from an old saw blade, she is clear that not being niched down to one thing allows her to
express all forms of the arts, her key motivator. "Writing, singing, making furniture, and making videos
about making furniture are my passions, I'm here to express what lives inside me."
If you are new to woodworking or any art form, Marylou's advice is simple, "Jump in head first, do a full
on swan dive. Don't worry about making mistakes, you will make mistakes, and most mistakes are
fixable. If you have to start over that's okay, it's part of the process and will inform the next project.
Make every moment a learning opportunity and don't let frustration overcome you. Your next project
will be better than your last."
You can learn more about Marylou's journey and her work, by following her on
Instagram
,
Facebook
, and on
YouTube
.
You can check out Char's website at
https://www.thewoodenmaven.com/
and follow her on
Instagram
.
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