I AM A MAKER!
July 21, 2019
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Hello everyone! Courtney is not the only one around here who has turned a hobby into an obsession! My name is Kenny Archer and for most of my adult life, I have collected a number of hobbies. I guess you could call me the Hobby Collector or a Hobbyist, or simply... A Maker! By the time the maker movement began, I had already had an itch to create things.
I had already had an innate desire to draw, sculpt, build... you name it. I was lucky enough to have a mother who exposed me to a variety of different mediums for creation. That said, the one thing she was not able to provide was woodworking. I can remember making a birdhouse, a lamp, and a sliding book shelf thing at church camp when I was a child and really enjoyed the process and end product... I did not enjoy sanding though!! As I got older, in my teens, I asked my mom's husband (aka step parent... long story) if he could build be a new desk. At the time, I had a pine desk that basically had seen better days and was way too small for me. His response, would be what drove me to build every little thing I would make for the rest of my life. When I asked him for help, he said, "I don't have a router so I can't." I was probably 14 at the time and I didn't even know what a router was so I took that as the final answer and lived with that terrible desk all through high school. I never took a shop class in high school, which in hindsight, was a terrible life decision. It wasn't until college, when I again needed a desk, that I would attempt to build something. I had no tools, no experience, and no assistance, but... I built my version of a desk. And that was just the beginning.
Keep in mind, that I may not have been building things, but I sure as heck, gathered up more hobbies. It wasn't until I was an adult, married with my stepson, and owned a home that I would build my very first quality (-ish) wood project. Since then, I have obsessed over making things, taught myself through watching YouTube, developed new skills with each project, and solidified my passion in life! I AM A MAKER!
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If you are interested in what I build, how I build, and why I build, then follow me here at LIFE ON BEAGLE ROAD. I promise you that it will be a fun and hopefully inspiring journey!