One of the things I like about being a woodworker is that the work comes in projects.  Discrete projects that have a beginning and an end, and then a new project begins.  And within any given project, there is the possibility of good things:

• Getting to know a new customer
• Making something that's out of the ordinary
• Learning new techniques
• Creating a product that's meaningful

When a project hits on all these cylinders, it’s a rewarding experience.  This post is about a project that hit all those cylinders, and more.

I answered the phone one day to hear a kind lady from Hospice Support of Fauquier County.  She asked if I would be interested in making a wall display for their office in Warrenton, VA.  She said they thought a Tree of Life would be a good theme, but they were open to other ideas.  That call led to a visit where I learned about this wonderful organization.  Hospice Support of Fauquier County is a nonprofit organization that provides non-medical supportive care to people with life-threating or terminal illnesses.  Of their many services, the most visible is their medical equipment loan closet.  Walk in, fill out a form, and borrow from their ‘closet’ of wheelchairs, walkers, and other supplies that are available to our community.  They provide an amazing service, and I was immediately on-board for an interesting project.

They wanted a way to recognize volunteers and donors.  The idea was to add names over time to a public display.  They thought a Tree of Life, with engraved leaves, was a meaningful symbol of this concept.  A wall in their office was the proposed location for the display.  I took measurements and asked for a couple of weeks to research and come up with a proposal.

Designing a wall display became more involved than I first expected.  I began by drawing the room in a program called SketchUp.  Once drawn, I had a scaled 3-D representation of the room to work with to determine the display's best proportions.  Once drawn, I could produce renderings (in a program called Podium) to see what different ideas looked like.  For the tree, I decided on an image that included a full tree and its roots.  The tree’s image worked well within a square that I divided horizontally through the middle with a horizon of our local Blue Ridge Mountains.  A bright sunrise rose above the horizon, and the tree’s underground root system extended below.  A little tweaking brought symmetry, which made everything look just right.

Although this image was clear in my mind, I couldn’t draw it well enough to accurately convey it in a proposal.  So I made a scale model of the display.  The model communicated the idea well, and it helped me learn what to expect in making the final product.

I presented the proposal to Hospice Support’s Board, and they rendered a decision to proceed.  In a future post, I’ll share details and photos of how the project went, and the final product.