A few months ago, I was chatting over ZOOM with a few coworkers about life outside of work. I mentioned that I am an aspiring woodworker that dabbles in other mediums. I hesitate to use the term maker, but whatever label fits, I’ll wear it with pride. The other ladies in the group wanted to hear about my shop as there aren’t many women with “She Shops”. I chuckled and shook my head. I’d been thinking about and kicking around a space for women to gather and chat about projects for years, and just not gotten around to trying to bring it to fruition.
Growing up, I was the youngest of two girls. Rough and tumble tomboy, wanted to do everything for myself. I loved following my dad around on weekends and some of my fondest childhood memories were when I received my first hammer and saw (dad of course confiscated the saw which he actually bought to help cut down tree branches). I loved working with my hands. I took shop class when I was able to in high school, coming home with a shelf for my mom’s kitchen, and several other smaller projects. I was the only girl out of eight people in the class. It didn’t bother me much since I was there to learn, and the shop teacher was very kind, and saw I was there to work and not just pass the time.
I put down woodcraft for a few years after high school, some college and joining the workforce. I was so excited when I moved into an apartment with a garage I could use battery powered tools (still a new concept in the early 2000’s). It was a frustrating experience in all honesty so I didn’t spend much time in the garage. We moved into a house with a two car garage and again I started setting up a small shop. Every home requires some kind of work and tools, right? I cut my teeth on installing tile floors in basement bathrooms, painting every room, demoing carpet to put laminate flooring in, even some plumbing as none of the fixtures in our 1954 ranch had shutoffs.
It didn’t take me long into homeownership to realize houses are a lot of work! That and the gender stereotypes that had lasted so long about men being in charge of the household responsibilities was at minimum – outdated. No one told me how many times the filter on my furnace should be replaced, or to set a reminder about doing certain tasks every winter or spring to prep for the oncoming season changes (water heaters need descaling?HVAC maintenance?). Usually we found out when something broke or went wrong there were things that needed done we hadn’t been doing, because we didn’t know. Like this huge book of tribal knowledge should have been passed to me at some point and all I had was a Reader’s Digest How-To book and thankfully – the internet had begun to sprout. Just like woodworking, there wasn’t a guide available, I just had to navigate the path on my own.
In the times would mention to other women my love for building things, working with my hands, and see her eyes light up with kindred spark of creativity and interest, the hours of conversation would fly by about what we were working on, interested in, had planned, etc. The challenges we had going into woodworking stores and getting help, or not being talked down to, and possibly even better ways to use some tools that were geared for men (or in my case, right-handers). It was a balm to my soul to have this space with someone who understood what I was going through, and faced some of the same herself. More than a few women I spoke with wanted to try their hand at these same things, but just couldn’t get there for one reason or another. Mostly, there wasn’t a safe space they could come ask what they felt were ‘stupid’ questions for fear of retribution, of being misunderstood, belittled, possibly bullied. I’m hoping, that now, in 2021, especially after a global pandemic the tide has started to shift these past few years to a kinder way of treating each other.
In the meantime, I’m going to use this platform to share my journey, and all of the craziness that comes along. I’ll also be noting a lot of my favorite Youtubers, woodworkers, craftsman/ladies alike as a one stop shop for resources. If you have a project you are stuck on and just need a sounding board, feel free to drop me a line at any of the resources attached (FB, IG, email, etc). I’d be happy to help. For now, let’s talk about my shop….
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