Transport, Curing & Sorting

From Prince William Sound, Alaska, to my studio on Fidalgo Island, Washington, is about 1,500 sea miles or 2,200 road miles. Collecting prized driftwood pieces and loading them on a boat is the first step in a long journey.

I pack my Alaska driftwood into large boxes and ship it to Tacoma via a commercial freight company. From there, a truck transports it, and I unload the wood at my studio, deep in the evergreen forest just north of the famous Deception Pass Bridge.

This part of Washington State receives almost no rainfall during July and August, allowing me to dry the driftwood outdoors under the sun. From there, I move the wood into my studio and sort it onto shelves by size and shape. The wood has to acclimate thoroughly to the humidity indoors, which typically takes another six months of curing before I can use it in my work.

I incorporate a variety of crazy shapes in my sculptures, which is one reason I so often use wood from Western hemlock trees and Sitka alder bushes. These species grow in contorted shapes that produce infinite bends, twists, curves, and zig-zags. To cut and join pieces from multiple pieces of driftwood, I must choose pieces very close to the same diameter.

Since I store thousands of pieces of driftwood, I have found it easiest to pre-cut and sort a supply of material in advance. I sort these by size and store them in large plastic containers for easy selection when working on a sculpture.

After these steps, the dry sorted Alaska driftwood is finally ready for me to use in a unique sculpture!