We recently connected with Elizabeth Weber and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, thanks for joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

I got into woodturning because I was building pieces of furniture and wanted to start incorporating turned components into my pieces. I got into woodworking at the end of 2015 because a friend of mine bought a table saw and seeing her create pieces inspired me to try it out. We had just bought our first house, a fixer upper, and we had a table saw to work on projects around the house. I don’t come from a family of woodworkers, and I wanted to learn to use the equipment safely, so I started taking classes. When I started turning in August 2018, I was just taking turning classes for fun and still building pieces of furniture, so I would not say I was bitten by the turning bug like a lot of people say they are when they first step up to the lathe. It took another 8 months before that perspective would gradually shift, and when it did, I couldn’t stop.

When I first started woodturning, it was very much round and brown. I was trying to learn how the tools functioned best on different pieces of wood. During the pandemic, that all shifted. I lost access to the shop I’d been renting space in when everything shut down, hence no lathe and tools. I was in my basement carving spoons, and the American Association of Woodturners was putting out video series at the time. I remember hearing this lady talk, and I had no idea who she was but everything she said resonated with me. So I went back in the video to find the lady’s name and it was Merryll Saylan. When I looked up her work, I was floored. The colors, the textures, and her message… I was in love and thought this would be a great time to pick up some unfinished bowls I had laying in the corner and start playing around. My mentor recommended I take a look at the late Irish turner, Liam Flynn, and Helga Winter. Everything I did around carving and color started with seeing their work.

I wanted to learn as much as I could so my first workshop with carving, texturing, and touching on color was with Donna Zils Banfield. Because of her workshop, I started doing rotary carving and bought a woodburner. I had a workshop with Art Liestman, where I was introduced to dry brushing. Next, a workshop with Graeme Priddle and Melissa Engler helped me to find my voice behind my work. I have taken a couple of workshops with Glenn Lucas, one of them focused on helping entrepreneurial women woodturners. That’s been a great way to hone in on tool control and important aspects of running a business. All of these skills have been essential to my work and development as an artist ad woodturner.

The biggest obstacle I faced was the pandemic. Everything stopped which made taking classes and seeing things in-person significantly more difficult.

Elizabeth, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I am a woodturning instructor and spoon carver who lives in Seattle, WA. I began woodworking in 2015, and some of my first creations included several pieces of furniture in the Arts & Crafts style. I eventually turned to smaller objects and now specializes in bowls, spoons, and boxes. My skills range from natural finish and simple forms to highly carved and painted forms that emulate natural motifs. I serve as club president for my local woodturning club, the Seattle Woodturners, and I help run the local spoon club chapter, the Seattle Spoon Club. I was awarded the American Association of Woodturner’s 2023 Professional Outreach Program’s Artist Showcase as an emerging artist.

My first foray into the industry included production work right around the time of the pandemic, batching out products for clients. Unfortunately, the start of the pandemic meant I lost access to the shop I’d been renting space from and hence access to the lathe. I began looking for other ways to continue to develop my style and came across other woodturners who had incorporated color and carving into their pieces. This lead me to start taking my work in a completely different direction.

These days, I rarely do production style work as my focus has shifted to a more artistic approach. I carve and add textures to my pieces for galleries, shows, and potential clients. I get invitations and apply for things that I think might work for me (I don’t always get accepted but that doesn’t stop me from continuing to put myself out there). Another important part of my business is that I also travel around the country demonstrating for woodturning clubs and teaching at craft schools.

What sets me apart is that my work is heavily carved, textured and colored. I also find it important to understand not just the how behind the turning but also the why. Both of my parents are history professors, and I want to understand how past experiences influence the present. To move forward in more positive ways requires that we understand not only our past, but also our connections to broader surroundings. I sometimes attach a story to my pieces, as the storytelling begins with the turning process and lives on in the finished product. Each decision and method builds on the story, using shapes and surfaces to draw on a variety of experiences. I use bright colors to evoke happiness and emotion, using milk paints and acrylics to complete my work. I spent most of my life following the rules, so playing around with colors allows me to start challenging some conventionally accepted norms in woodturning and begin conversations. I do believe that color is nature’s way of smiling. Every piece I do offers a new challenge. There is the potential that at any point what I’m working on could fail, but it’s a risk I’m willing to take. If I succeed, wonderful. If I fail, then I have more than likely learned something that I can use in the future.

What I am most proud of is seeing people who take classes get excited and feel empowered by the whole process, whether it’s creating something on the lathe or carving a story into their work. Education is empowerment. It allows individuals to make more informed decisions by equipping them with knowledge and skills. It also helps promote social equity by offering equal opportunities to all, regardless of a person’s background. It also enriches the lives of people by fostering growth, critical thinking, and a love of learning.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

I have learned that there is an amazing community of people out there willing to share with you. As we get older, it can be harder to connect with people as lives tend to get busy with other obligations. The power of community is connection and the ability to share ideas and experiences. Spoon club is a good example of that. It’s a tight knit community where people come together to share resources and ideas openly. We are all learning from each other. It’s a place where you feel like you are part of something bigger, and I think it’s important the people feel like they are being seen and heard.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I have seen this play out time and again. A lot of people will not understand the time and effort that goes into learning a process. We live in a society that expects immediate results because they are either viewing our creative process through sped up snippets online or are only seeing the final results we deem acceptable. There are a lot of failures and mistakes that teach us how to be better at what we’re doing. My mentor told me he got really good at what he did because he messed up a lot. I always view these little blips as either design or learning opportunities. When I’m teaching classes, I will bring some of my first pieces or have photos of things in process so that students can see that they’re on the right track and not everything is perfect at the start.

My mentor also told me carve a spoon, then carve another 100. You should see improvement. If you don’t, it might be time to re-evaluate. I had a friend joke that we hold onto our first projects so that we can have something to be embarrassed about when we actually get better. Lol. We all start somewhere and it’s through exploration and curiosity that we continue to grow and get better.

Contact Info:

• Website: icosawood.work
• Instagram: @icosa_woodworks

Image Credits
All photos are by me.