First of all, my sincere apologies for taking so long, but you can appreciate the enormity of work involved in producing a magazine like “The Lost Scrolls of Handwork”. There is the project build itself then photography, writing, editing, rewriting, research, compiling and not to mention my day job. This is a huge task and responsibility for just two people: myself and my editor and friend Matt McGrane. He and I are separated by 20,000 km of – dare I use Trump’s words (lol) – “Water, big water, ocean water,” but thankfully we have the internet which helps bring us a little closer together.
The build and the article about the doll’s rocking cradle are finally complete. My project articles are not like most articles; they are fairly in depth and supported by many clear photos to help you understand the build better. Of course, no words can give more clarity than a good quality video can, which is why I highly recommend Richard McGuire’s (aka “The English woodworker“) videos. I won’t promote someone who isn’t of any worth (and no I don’t get a commission from him or anyone else); in fact, he doesn’t even know I recommended him. So in the future I do have plans to make supporting videos for the projects in the articles. I’m sorry though, that my videos may never match the quality of those who have the capital and second hand help to produce them. But I will do the best I can.
Now for something I think you will appreciate. I have given much thought about whether or not I should charge for this and future issues of the magazine. The decision I have come to is that I shouldn’t. I started” The Lost Scrolls” because I felt we needed a magazine dedicated to handwork. I wanted this magazine to be a worldwide community-based magazine and somewhere along the way I got convinced that I should start charging for it. I won’t deny that the idea of earning an income from something I’m very passionate about tickled my senses. Having experienced thousands of downloads on the first three issues drop down to only a handful due to a $5 charge was disheartening. One person even said that it’s a meal for two. I’m sorry but I cannot ever get that ridiculous statement out of my head.
As I said earlier, what I’ve decided to do is revert the magazine to being free. However, to help with materials I do ask for donations. Whatever you can donate would be sincerely appreciated. Timber in Australia is a genuine rip off and I will give one example that occurred only two days ago at Paradise Timbers. I asked for a price on New Guinean Rosewood rough sawn 200mm x 25mm, the answer I got was $60 a metre. At $60 l/m you have to be a millionaire or have a banker’s job to work wood. Thankfully not all yards are morons like these people but many are headed in that direction. So you can appreciate that the running costs are high and my pay is pathetically low.
I’m not only looking for monetary donations, but also donations of your own project articles or any article on a topic related to hand work; all would be greatly appreciated. I will set up links where you can donate money through PayPal and project articles through my email address. Your help would be greatly appreciated.
If my dream of a community-based magazine is realised, then perhaps I’ll be more of a compiler and less of the sole writer. This can work if many of you contribute for the good of the hand woodworking community.
