New Member John Richards, Woodworker

Woodworker John Richards recently joined the gallery as a member of the artist cooperative, and we interviewed him today about his craft.

John says he loves to experiment by combining his woodworking and machine shop skills in intricate ways. He especially loves making his beautiful abalone pens (see photo at right, click to enlarge).

He gets his exotic woods from around the world, and local wood primarily from burls — black walnut, oak, redwood, maple, and buckeye. He enjoys the beauty of the different kinds of wood he works with, such as rosewood, purple heart, paduak, ebony, blood wood, and grapevine (merlot and chardonnay). He inlays abalone, mother of pearl shells, elk and deer antlers, and ebony and ivory from recycled piano keys for his pens. He sells his wood pens for $45 to $55.

John crafts his boxes (see photo at left, click to enlarge) made out of wood and epoxy. He creates a mold, assembles the wood burl parts, and very slowly fills the mold with epoxy. When dry, he slices the lid off, designs the inside pockets by hollowing the sections out by hand with routers — the deeper, the more difficult. He then re-polishes the box, designs the outside, and attaches hidden barrel hinges so that the design of the box is emphasized. He sometimes inserts abalone, pearls, and gemstones such as garnet, amethyst, malachite, lapis lazuli, and ice flake quartz for a sparkle on the inside.

John was born in New Mexico in 1937, and was raised bi-lingually in a Latin neighborhood with a Spanish mother and English father. All his life, he has worked in woodworking (30 years) and as a machinist (19 years), making components and raising his family of four children. As a young man, he moved to California in 1960 looking for a job, ending up in southern California. During the Apollo moon-landing program, he worked as a machinist supplying airplane and missile parts to Navy carriers and corporations. He moved to the Ukiah area around 1972, working as a cabinetmaker, and started his own company in 1986.

Seven years ago, Danny Fetzer in Hopland hired John to create his kitchen and bathroom cabinets, decorative windows, and front door at Jeriko Winery. He also created cabinets for the Brutocao family in Hopland. He crafted the McDowell Tasting Room and the cabinets at three Schat's bakeries, as well as many private residences.

Chris, an old friend of John and his daughter, just walked into the gallery and said that one of John's passions is growing and drying peaches and crafting garden furniture, wood chimes, and hanging baskets for his backyard. Chris says he's an all-around good guy who's great to have over for Thanksgiving.

John's work has been shown at the holiday and summer craft shows at the Mendocino Art Center, and craft shows on the Santa Cruz boardwalk and in Santa Rosa.