Day 2: Workshop Wonderland.

Today I had my first lesson as an apprentice luthier. I have to say that I want to go back tomorrow, and that I can see everything that I'm going to learn helping Val and me make a living.

The studio is 3.5 miles from where I'm staying. The sentimentalist in me wants to immerse myself in the time-honored tradition of apprenticeship, so I decided to walk the Dwain's.

Rochester is a beautiful town, and I had no reference by which to measure the city because I've never been and I don't recall anyone ever telling me about it. I had no problems navigating and the drivers are all considerate to pedestrians and those on bicycles, although I didn't see many of the latter. The streets have bike lanes, and there are a lot of signs that tell drivers to "share the road."

And I saw art and funky stuff from the beginning to end of my journey.

The roads are beautifully lined with flowers and trees, and everything is in bloom. There is a rail yard nearby, and I get to see trains and tracks and walk under a bridge, which has a really cool look. The road going under the bridge has been dug down, and there is a sign at the top of the road that says bridge prone to flooding. There is a sign about halfway down the hill that says don't try to drive if the road is flooded. I'd probably try.

So I got there in a bit over an hour, and it really was a beautiful walk. Rochester is a gem now, but I cannot imagine that I would have the same experience in January. I made the final turn, which is really just a gently slide to the left. The house and shop are down this road that you have to mean to get on. There are many artists that live on the street, so it was eye candy to walk down.

The first thing that we did was eat breakfast and talk about life and love and making and the dulcimer. Even though we both believed we were compatible before today, I feel like our deal is sealed. I cannot imagine working under another person, as Dwain is so talented and experienced--and his thinking and knowledge go well beyond lutherie. 

We talked about the fact that I will be taking business from him, and we agreed that I will make only one of the top-of-the-line dulcimers until Dwain says make more. 

We spoke of our histories, what brought us to dulcimers, and what we can give back. I told Dwain that I want to make pretty machines. There is a long history of builders decorating their dulcimers, but I remarked about how few dulcimers are decorated today. Dwain relayed a wonderful and sad story about his wife's art. 

At some point she had beautiful ceramics in a show. They were animals. There was a thing about them that sometimes happens in a body of work. I call it magic, but it is really a confluence of aesthetics, craftsmanship, tapping into the zeitgeist, the images of the collective unconscious...it goes on, really. Anyway, it was the people who exist and flourish in a manufactured environment who were going around this show, and when they would come into the gallery and see her work they would clutch them to their chest, as if the pieces were cherished keepsakes locked away for some time. But nobody bought one piece. There were so precious and so personal that the persons looking could not understand how to fit them into their pre-fabricated lives.

But I'm still going to make pretty dulcimers! I just don't yet know how they will fit into others lives.

Then we got in the shop! I came at a great time in that Dwain is building a Concert Grand dulcimer, the top in his line. Even though I'm chomping at the bit to get to work, I get to see him in action. I think that this will help me to better understand what I'm doing as I make my first machine because I've seen the inside and outside.

 I did get to work a bit, where I got to sand down two of the feet for the dulcimer. But mostly I just watched and asked a lot of questions. There really is so much to learn.

I was talking to a guy the other day, and I told him that I was going to learn to make dulcimers. He said that they are easy to make, and that he'd made one himself. And I bet that it is a great dulcimer, but I wonder if he considered the dynamic tension that should be used to give the machine great projection and voice.

There really is so much to learn. And the tools he has, holy crap. I'm so at the baby stage of my lutherie career, but I'm not scared. I've finally found a place in the world where I feel comfortable making my art. And even though for years I've had an aversion doing art shows and hocking my art publicly, I'm so excited to make folk art toys and dulcimers and present them to the world!

Then we had a snack. I ate two huge pieces of watermelon. That is a full-sized plate, right there. Dwain ate me under the table because I couldn't finish the last four bites of my second piece. I'm not ashamed, though the Cracker in me was a bit disappointed! But then Dwain is from the south.

Then we worked more. Then we ate tofu sausages and more veggies.

Then I walked 3.5 miles home--the magical place that I'm staying. I cannot wait to share more about that, but I'm done, worked over and tired.