Making stuff has always been part of my life. Even as a kid I enjoyed making my own toys from things that I could find in and around the house. I spent hours filling a small suitcase with folded paper toys, intricate bent wires and miscellaneous scraps that I made and treasured. I remember some of my prized items included a ship in a bottle where the bottle measured only 2cm and a paper and clay ostrich marionette. I do not think that I ever played much with anything I made or other toys but I got great pleasure from making things.
When starting a new project I tend to get very excited. I spend a lot of time thinking about all the steps while not in the shop. I also tend to read quite a bit about similar items and the techniques used to make these. I find that a whole world exist for most things with an endless amount of literature, methods, variations for making them. I usually feel that I would never be an expert in any one field since I like to try and make many different things. This also means that most of the things I make are unique. If I repeat any type of item the design is usually different and have said many times that I will avoid, as far possible, making more than 4 items that are the same.
Recently I also started to bind books. I love working with paper and combining this with wooden covers that I make on the scroll saw. I also needed to make some of my own tools to do bookbinding and using them is quite nice. I will surely make more books bound in different ways. In one of the books I made I have started to write the ideas that I have of things to make and I do not think that there is enough time for a small fraction of these. I am thus not sure which item will inspire me to go into the shop tomorrow and how the shop will look in a few months. It will most likely be something made from wood, on a scroll saw or laser cutter and with quite a bit of detail.