11 Great Ways to Find Woodworking Inspiration is a collection of easy ways for you to always stay inspired for your next project. There are so many places to find your next project, and they are guaranteed to give you a lot of great ideas. Here they are:
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11 Great Ways to Find Woodworking Inspiration
In the beginning, it’s very easy to find inspiration as a woodworker. Over time though, this intense feeling does subside a little.
It still comes back when you need it, but you have to feed your craft to see it more. This is where inspiration can make a big difference in your woodworking.
Thankfully, there are a lot of ways to stay inspired as a woodworker. The internet is one of the most influential, and can keep you in good ideas all by itself. Knowing a few other places to find inspiration helps too.
Whether it’s a new project, or you want to see what other people are making, finding the right kind of inspiration can make a big difference in your woodworking. When you feel juiced up, and ready to tackle a project, you build better, think more, and turn out more exciting projects. Here are 11 things you can do to stay inspired…
Instagram for Woodworking Inspiration
Instagram is one of my favorite places to find inspiration. It’s super easy to carry around on your phone, and you can always find something cool. This is one of the more frequent places that you can visit, because again the app can come right with you everywhere.
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If you are new to Instagram, create an account and start searching for woodworkers. You will find people as well as projects. Start following the people that you like, as well as some of the hash tags that you like.
Instagram is hash tag based, which basically just a fancy way of categorizing the pictures so you can search for them. If you followed #woodworking, you would see the posts that other woodworkers tagged the same way.
Over time, you will find individual woodworkers and businesses that you like. When you do, start following their accounts. Any time they post something, you will see it, and you can be inspired for your next big woodworking project.
I’m on Instagram, and I can be someone you know that you can start following right from the beginning.
Pinterest For Woodworkers
There was a time when Pinterest was mostly fingernails, dresses, and recipes. Now, woodworking is a huge category, and lots of crafty people share what they make. If you need some inspiration, a Pinterest account can give you another app in your pocket that is fun to use.
Create a Pinterest account and launch the app. Go to the search area and start typing in what you are interested in seeing. This can be broad like “woodworking” or narrow like “jewelry box making.” You will instantly be flooded with results.
Scroll through and when you like something you can follow the person that posted it, or just the board that they posted to. If you create a couple boards yourself, you can save the really inspiring posts for later.
Pinterest is made up of boards, almost like a peg board in real life. Each one is themed, and you can label them any way you like. As you create boards, you can add the things that you really like, and over time you will end up compiling a huge volume of inspirational pictures.
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You can Follow Me on Pinterest when you sign up. I post a lot, and you can be inspired right from the very beginning.
Google Image Search
If you are looking for something specific in the realm of woodworking, the Google image search is a nice tool. All you have to do is go to Google.com and click on Images. Then, type what you are looking for into the search bar.
When the results come in, you will instantly have a ton of great pics to review. You can scroll through them and make note of any that catch your eye. If you want to save one of them, you can either pin it to one of your Pinterest boards, or save it to your device.
The image search is a nice way to get some quick data. If you want to see a Mahogany guitar, or a Pine chair spindle, then the image search is for you. You can perform the search on a PC, or any device that connects to the internet.
Finding Inspiration on Woodworking Websites
There are a lot of awesome woodworkers that love sharing online. You can read daily for a thousand years and never crack the surface of what the internet has to tell you. With this kind of resource, you should never run out of inspiration.
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Once you find a site you like, hopefully mine, you can bookmark it for later. Then, all you have to do it go back and open it when you have some time. This is much better than wasting time on your phone, and you might actually learn something too.
Woodworking websites range from very targeted niche sites to very broad sites. Do a search and start looking for sites that you like. Bookmark a few of them, and you will always have some good reading at your fingertips.
Related: 50 Woodworking Tips Free PDF
Woodworking Forums
Forums are a little old fashioned now, and it is more common to see a Facebook group. Even so, an online forum is a great place to get some inspiration. You get to talk to real people too, and lots of times they will help answer questions that you are struggling with.
A forum is a website that is ran almost like a conversation. Each thread represents a conversation about a topic, and they can sometimes be very long. Anyone in the forum can typically reply, so you get a wide range of answers.
If you need some inspiration on a particular topic, look for an online forum. Sometimes, your particular niche may be too specific. If they don’t have a forum for it, simply pull back a level and search for something more broad. Repeat that until you find a forum to join.
Visit a Woodworking Store or Hardwood Store
There is just something about going to the woodworking store that inspires the soul. Maybe it’s the smell, maybe the great tools, or maybe it’s the helpful staff. Whatever the case, a trip to the woodworking store can be a great way to find your next project.
The beauty of a store is that you can touch and handle the merchandise. If you are thinking about getting a new tool to advance your craft, you can actually pick it up and feel it in the woodworking store. That alone is sometimes enough to get your fires burning.
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If you are good on tools, look at the materials. Sometimes a new material that you have not used before can jump start your creativity. Even though the process will likely be the same, the new material makes it different for you.
An antique store can do the same thing, and I Found an Old Moulding Plane that was quite inspirational.
Visit a Site for a Different Project
Sometimes when you look into a website for a different project than you normally make, you can find inspiration that way. Look for something that is related to your main project, and search around for what comes up.
When you find a site, start reading. Many times, the different techniques and methods can cause you to start making connections. These connections will lead to ideas, and that can cause you to make something amazing.
With any project, you can find commonality in at least the tools. Lots of different projects can be made with a table saw. If you also use a table saw, you can start by looking at what other people are making with the same tool.
Make a New Project
If you are really successful in the above step, you might be ready to try something new. A new project is a huge motivator. The beginning of anything is magical, and you get to learn far more than at any other time in a project.
There is such a flood of information and explosions of knowledge in the beginning. Over time, the things you learn become less and less frequent, and the revelations are farther and fewer in between.
As a beginning, with a new project, you can flood your senses with new things, new information, and lots of wins. This can motivate and inspire you to keep on going, as well as give you energy for your next several projects.
Visit a Friend’s Shop for Ideas
If you are fortunate enough to have a friend that is also a woodworker, a visit to their shop can be inspiring. Sometimes, it’s just nice to see what someone else is doing, as well as how they are accomplishing the different processes.
As a woodworker, you are typically going to be learning alone. There are a lot of resources, but woodworking is a fairly solo activity. When you get an opportunity to see how someone else solved a problem, it can help you think differently.
We all typically have the same problems when it comes to woodworking. How to make things straight, how to get a thin glue line, and how to deal with warped wood. No matter what you make, you will have common problems, and it’s fun to see what someone else did to get past the same hurtle.
Related: Tour a Shop
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Think About How to Improve a Project
The world is built on making things better. If you think about a project that you already make, and think about how to improve it, it can be inspiring. This is the case especially if you can figure out something that makes a big difference in the project.
Now, you don’t need to invent something new to be successful at this step. You can simply figure out a different construction method or jig that is easier. You can also figure out a different type of wood, or joinery method.
If you have a chance to build a better mouse trap, don’t dismiss it. However, you will most likely have a much easier time refining the method. Who knows, you might end up with a new process that you end up using for a long time.
11 Great Ways to Find Woodworking Inspiration Wrap-Up
Here are the 11 ways again. You can use one or several of them to find a source of woodworking inspiration that lasts you a long time. There is something for everyone, and you can keep yourself motivated to turn out great projects.
I recommend that you pick out at least one of the social media methods, and save it to your phone. This way you always have something in your pocket that is much better than just looking at videos or playing a game.
- Google Image Search
- Woodworking Websites
- Woodworking Forums
- Visit a Woodworking or Hardwood Store
- Visit an Online Woodworking Store
- Visit a Site For a Different Woodworking Project
- Look into Making a New Project
- Visit a Friend’s Shop for Ideas
- Think About How to Improve a Project You Already Make
If you have any questions on 11 Great Ways to Find Woodworking Inspiration, please leave a comment and I will be glad to answer them. Happy building.
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