Michigan Woodworks

05/10/2026

Michigan Woodworks — Still Here, Still Creating!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted directly here on the Michigan Woodworks page… but Michigan Woodworks has definitely not been sitting still.

Over the past year, much of my focus has gone into rebuilding and growing the Michigan Woodworks website and blog at www.michiganwoodworks.com, where I’ve been sharing carving projects, show updates, events, and behind-the-scenes progress. Between running the Metro Carvers of Michigan club, helping organize and operate the 2026 Metro Carvers Show, planning future carving events like CarveFest, and somehow still finding time to carve and turn wood… things have been moving at full speed.

The good news? There’s been a LOT happening in the shop.

From caricature carvings and woodturnings to new projects, competitions, demonstrations, and upcoming events, I’ve been creating steadily — even if this page has been a little too quiet.

So… consider this the official “I’m Back” post.

Going forward, I’m going to make a stronger effort to keep this page active alongside the website and blog, and share more carvings, in-progress work, stories from the carving bench, upcoming events, and the occasional glimpse into the organized chaos of Michigan Woodworks.

Thanks to everyone who has continued following along and supporting my work. I truly appreciate it.

Until next time… keep creating, keep learning, and enjoy the journey.

07/06/2025

Like I mentioned in my last post… I’ve been giving my old website a bit of a refresh.

It’s now completely rebuilt and back online! You can check it out at www.michiganwoodworks.com to see some of the pieces I’ve been working on—and yep, I’ve even started listing a few for sale!

Thanks so much for all the support—it truly means a lot. Hope you have fun exploring the new site!

Michigan Woodworks create a wide-range of unique handcrafted items, or “Creations”, made from wood, acrylic, or crushed semi-precious stone that you will be proud to show off for years to come. All items are one-of-a-kind and make excellent gifts, suitable for displaying, or everyday use!

07/04/2025

Have a safe and great Independence Day!

06/29/2025

I’m back—taking time to return to what I truly enjoy. Retirement gave me the chance to dive into the things I love doing most. Over the past year, I’ve been revitalizing Michigan Woodworks, the company I founded in 2010. What began with woodworking and woodturning has evolved, and three years ago, I branched out into wood carving.

While I still dabble in woodworking and turning, my heart is now fully committed to wood carving—especially caricature carving.

At the recent Metro Carvers of Michigan 2025 Carving Show, I had the pleasure of displaying a wide range of my creations. I’m proud to share that I won four awards: first place Blue Ribbon for my “Walking Wizard” in Mythical Creatures, first place for “Santa with a List” in Holiday Carvings, second place for “Sheriff Jed and Poky” in Caricature Human, and second place for “Apartment Barkhouse” in Bark Buildings. To top it off, my “Walking Wizard” also earned third place Best of Show, competing against all first-place winners… see what our table looked like.

The excitement from the show has been truly inspiring, and I’ve been busy recreating my website, which will be launching soon!

12/06/2021

2021 December Echo Grove Craft Show

This past weekend we attended the Echo Grove Craft Show. This is their second show and growing. We had a lot of interest and sales. Bowls, Pens, and Ornaments were just a few of the items desired. Meeting and talking to the public was great. This is our first show since I retired… now having the time to turn more and attend these events. My wife, Mary Ellen, was my partner at the show and brought along her Digital Scrapbooking samples and got a tremendous amount of interest (check out her creations to the left of the show picture). Overall, we had a great time. Best yet, we were able to donate half of our proceeds to the Families of the senseless shooting at our local Oxford High School… our thoughts and prayers are still, and will always be, with them.

11/30/2015

Once again we had a great time at the Diegel Greenhouse's annual Holiday craft show held Saturday November 21, 2015. It is always held the Saturday prior to Thanksgiving and starts off the Christmas season for the greenhouse. Many vendors were present with various crafts and other items. We did very well and introduced our line of Christmas ornaments and a new addition to our Kitchen utensils... an antique crank style pepper mill. All of our products went over well selling pens, bottle openers, ornaments, and the new antique crank style pepper mill. The greenhouse has asked to keep the ornaments at the greenhouse, due to many interests in them. I hope to upload those ornaments in a short time and after I have made more antique style pepper mills, I plan to upload those as well. Call if you'd like a photo of the items before they are uploaded.

Enjoy!
.. Don

11/30/2015

I completed an intense three days of woodturning classes at Jimmy Clewes' Las Vegas' studio (October 14, 2015 thru October 16, 2015). Jimmy is a world-class teacher and demonstrator of everything and anything related to woodturning and finishing. He is an expert and excellent instructor. He can perform magic with his skills and has an uncanny ability to see into the wood and determine what it can become. He has developed unique coloring techniques, embellishments (adding brass, silver, etc) to the wood... one of the latest is the addition of gilt creams that act like a grain filler which provides a surface embellishment to turned pieces that get into the grain and enhance the grain patterns with wonderful colors. I created four pieces under Jimmy's tutelage. I hope to add these types of bowls and turned boxes in the very near future.

08/25/2014

Well we have finally gone live with www.MichiganWoodworks.com! As of August 5th we are online! It has taken awhile, but the site is now active. It will take me sometime to load in the products, so please be patient. I will first load the items with images and name (that has type of item and wood/acrylic choice). After I have them loaded, I'll go back and add detailed item descriptions. Thank you for your support.

07/04/2014

Well we are close to publishing the e-commerce site. Should have it fully operational by end of July... August the latest. I'll then be adding all the products on-line. Many of the pens and bottlestoppers I've had pictures of have been sold so I'll need to take some photos of the new ones and then place them on line. I'll be learning how to add products to the on-line site... This is a new experience in managing a website... Stay tuned, we are almost there!

02/16/2014

Coming soon will be a new e-Commerce website for Michigan Woodworks… stay tuned!