Faux Bois

When given the opportunity to wander around the gardens at The Huntington not too long ago, I ran across someone who is definitely following his vision, using his hands, and being a master craftsman.  He’s not using machinery and his entire project is time-consuming and, obviously, a labor of love. Terence Eagan is painstakingly restoring the faux bois works (arbor supports, etc.) that were created at the Huntington in the 1920s and have since been decaying.IMG_5002IMG_5003Luckily for me, he stopped his work and graciously posed for a few photos and told me about his project and how he worked so hard get the restoration approved and funded.  Fascinating!  And just the kind of thing we advocate at QSB.

See videos and articles on his website.  Also, the Huntington is well worth a visit if you find yourself in southern California.

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No faux bois in this particular part of the Huntington’s gardens.

Projects and Practices

The magazine is, of course, a passion project for me.  I’m behind the times in getting that the trendy term for finding your true passions and making time for them in your life is passion project.  Do you have a passion project or the dream of such a project?  I’d like to know.  Also, what’s stopping you?

The kind folks over at Try101 (who are following their own passion projects) opened up their blog to guest posters on “30 Things I Love Right Now” and I took them up on the generous offer.  You can see the list I contributed here.  I like this practice they have, this making a list of 30 things.  When you’re having a crappy week (or month+), it helps keep one looking on the bright side (even though it’s hard to come up with 30 things when things aren’t going well).  Try it, you might like it.  They explain the philosophy here.