Hello Everyone!
I will continue making keyed flutes up to 6 keys for the forseeable future.
Part of my decision earlier was due to the wear and tear to my hands, arms and shoulders from hand filing silver. That is about to change with the purchase of a Die Filer’s Machine.
Also, this past month it seemed like everyone was beating a path to my door to order a keyed flute or retrofits. Its a good income if I can keep at it.
And I wonder where my Folk Flute clients went. Last month was the first month ever without a single retail order. This is usually a bad sign that the economy is about to implode and this usually happens soon after huge tax cuts are given to those who don’t need the money. This is a fact, not a political opinion. I have seen this happen repeatedly in my 38 year career which started out in the Recession of the late 1970s early 1980s. People simply sense the inevitable and stop their discretionary spending or simply do not have it (its all going to the higher gas prices resulting from our current relationship with Iran - that is where my tax cut went).
Or it may be simply that my potential Folk Flute clients read a certain contentious thread on Chiff and Fipple and now see that I am the Donald Trump of Flute Making and they want nothing to do with me. I am thinking of getting a Twitter account and wondering if my kids can work for me roughing out blackwood. I might change my business name to “Blackwoodwater” and hire out as a woodwind mercenary. I better hire myself a former mayor as attorney.
I don’t mind the pause in orders as I have enough work in my queue for way into the fall. June will be a busy summer starting with an unexpected visit and lunch with Robert Bigio this coming Monday. He is a great flute maker and also very active in the ornamental turning and Guilloche engraving community. He’s been following my progress with this and how I am using it on my instruments so I am bringing some work for show and tell. Our mutual friend Rod Cameron has been inspired by both of us recently and has spent the last week designing and building his own machinery. Robert wrote that beautiful book on Rudall, Rose and Carte and personally owns much of the tooling that came out of their workshop.
The rest of June will be flat out flute making, mostly keyed. Then my summer break begins early in July with some days at Fiddle Tunes in Port Townsend followed by a week of Paleontology with Geezers down on the southern Oregon Coast at Cape Arago. Some of my favorite paleontologists actually. I will then be back home for two weeks working with a carpenter and other contractors to get a bunch of work done on the house. Then we are off to Lark Camp. After Camp I attend a 2 day workshop on Galician Music at Cathy Chilcott’s in Berkeley. I’ll be staying with my friend Carole who is one of the paleontologists and spending Wednesday with her at the Museum of Paleo, followed by an afternoon in the collections. On my way north I am stopping at Otter Crest possibly for another few days of paleo with my friend Alan Niem if he is around. Right after I get back Nancy and I go see Porgy and Bess at the Seattle Opera. The rest of August will be spent enjoying the last embers of summer and recovering from it. Back to flutes in September not to mention the Ornamental Turners International annual conference right here in Seattle. Rod Cameron will be coming up for that hopefully and we’ll get some quality time together!
Lately this past week it has been a whirlwind. On top of the flute making I am finishing up more machinery for engine turning metal - one which will allow me to engrave the metal already mounted on the flutes (David K. take notice! I am doing this for you!). I am also writing a book about this metal engraving that I hope to present at the OTI. I am also composing an Opera and that is mostly what is running through my brain. Surrealistic and humorous. Current working title is “The Magic Binoculars”. The music is pouring out of me like a bodily function. Here is the rough draft of the Overture: http://www.caseyburnsflutes.com/Overture.wav Be sure to turn the volume way up so that you can hear one of the quieter solo instruments. Enjoy!
Happy Summer! Except for Terry McGee unless he becomes a sunbird suddenly and heads north for the winter (come visit if you suddenly get an urge. Just not on July 4th this time!).
Casey
