About Eric (DIY’er)
How Eric Armstrong went from Fumble-Fingered Producer of Wood Scraps to Semi-Knowledgeable Creator of Fine Furniture
Hi. My name is Eric Armstrong, and I’m a sawdust junkie. (This is the 12-step room, right? Or am I in the wrong place? Again…)
Here, I want to tell you a little bit more about me, and what drives my quest for excellence in woodworker. (Yes, Eric Gorges, I’m talking to you. Your “Craftsman’s Legacy” series is a prime source of inspiration and ideas.)
I build Yoga Meditation Benches, and make them available at MeditateBetter.com. Precision is important, because each bench I make is an expression of love, and support for people on a spiritual quest. Building them is a meditation in itself, and I want each one to be as good as I can possibly make that day.
The bench helps you achieve the upright posture that is essential for meditation, and to sit comfortably while meditating — important for folks whose injuries or lack of flexibility make it impossible to get comfortable on the floor. It can also be used for a meditative yoga practice that focuses on achieving that posture and on kick-starting your meditation practice. (Those uses are described in my book, Bench Yoga.)
It has taken close to three years to come up with a good design for a portable bench that I can build, find the tools needed for the process, develop the skill to use them, and build the jigs needed to create reproduceable accuracy.
Then there was the surprising (to me) discovery that the finishing process was as intricate as the build process, requiring it’s own unique combination of knowledge, tools, and practiced skills. Egad…
In all, it has been a journey of discovery — and a heck of one, at that. It has given me a whole new respect for artisans and craftsmen, I can tell you (not to mention the growing number of craftswomen).
Now, I have many more books to write. But for some reason the pursuit of excellence in the build process has become a major of focus of my life! Driven as I am to help others, sharing what I have learned in that pursuit is tantamount to a moral imperative.
:__)
eric
Learn Even More: The Many Facets of Eric
