Handcrafted Wooden Animal Boxes by Jay Paul Kawatski

I was born (Jay Paul Kawatski,) on February 1, 1948 in Waukesha, Wisconsin, attended New College in Sarasota Florida briefly before immigrating to Canada in 1968. I lived in northern British Columbia for over 26 years, homesteading in the mountains 125 miles north of the nearest town, Stewart, B.C. While living in British Columbia, I taught myself many of the crafts needed for a self-sufficient lifestyle, including trapping, tanning furs and leather, snowshoe making, log-cabin construction and home-made hydro-electric principles. I have been carving and working with wood for over forty years.
Since November, 2000, I have been a member of the Twin Oaks Community near Louisa, Virginia. I am known at Twin Oaks as Woody Harmony, and I have managed the poultry flock, also the shop that produces the wooden stretchers for Twin Oaks hammocks, meat processing for the community, and the production and sale of cut flowers and ornamental agricultural products.

In the photo at the top, I am working on a turtle box, carving the details using a small V-parting tool and a magnifying glass. At the left, I am oiling a batch of sample stools, (stool samples).

While I lived in British Columbia, I had two children, Natalia and Kyle. Click here to see old photos from my wilder days. Natalia is now an artist who waits tables to survive and Kyle has been working in the construction industry.

You might also want to check out my new blog, even though I don't keep up with it regularly. Better yet, check out the old blog site by clicking here.

. The items that I am producing are very unique. Most of them are made by no one else, anywhere! This is the only place, for instance, where you can get these self-locking turtle boxes. It is my own design and I have never seen any boxes anything like these. I put a lot of effort into perfecting my techniques and processes and I try to create products that will, hopefully, be in circulation long after I have passed on.