Camille:

This is the first IPTW I attended in quite a while, though I have always 
felt I was one of the small legion of preservationeers, tramping across 
the field of historic preservation. Some beside me, who I know best; 
some ahead of me, who I learn from; and some behind me, who I help along 
as I can.

So, we tramp along across the field, on the job or at IPTW. Sometimes 
it's a quick-step, other times a trudge and occasionally we sail along, 
just above the waves of amber grain. That’s where we ended up during my 
letter carving demonstration. First, the evening before the workshop, 
beers at the tavern and tracing granite letters from the monument across 
the street. The next day at the workshop carving demonstration, a story 
or two, how I carved letters as a kid, how I came to inherit such a fine 
skew carving chisel. As the visitors warm up to the topic with 
questions, I start a few of them on sketching letters after the great 
master letter carvers of a century and a millennia ago. I lay out 
letters in pencil on wood, “M I N D    H A N D    H E A R T”, and invite 
visitors to crowd in close. Finally, skew chisel in hand, sharp steely 
edge bites into soft pine wood, roughing out across the word, letter by 
letter, thick bars and thin, laying in the bevel, edging out the serifs, 
  I’ve lost myself in the curve of the “R”, then a tap on the shoulder, 
Tirzah asks, “Could I give it a try?” Then a few others finish their 
tracings and step up for a go at it—and there we all are sailing along.

Later, the trebuchet slings a wild load, a skill saw sails up and across 
the field, arching, arching over, looking a lot like the curve in the 
letter “R”, arching way over, way too close to that last parked car, and 
every preservationeer scatters in a different direction. Regroup, 
Regroup! There are buildings to save and people to help.

See tramping preservationeers, Tirzah’s carving, trebuchet launching, 
and more at the new video player over on the IPTW.ORG website.

--John Leeke
Sharp steely edges.
Fine wooden curves.

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