Many of the items I make are for holding wine bottles, glasses, or generally something to make the consumption of wine more fun. I collect my barrels from multiple sources, but namely I get them from our wine production facility. So quite frequently the very barrel staves that I will make fun items out of, I have made the wine that was once contained within. Keep an eye out for our wine to hit the streets in the coming years. I am a member of a Co-op formed by students from the Cabrillo College Wine Program, We are currently going by the Name of BD Cellars, but in the process of bonding the facility, that name might change. We started producing wine in 2009, and we are still going strong. This year at the Santa Cruz County Fair we submitted four wines, every single one of them was awarded a gold medal, with three of them earning further accolades of Double Golds. Needless to say, we are very excited about the results. One of our members is almost complete with his bonding process, and you can taste his wines on the market soon, under the name of Hazel Dell Cellars, named after the property that we all currently produce our wines at.
My inventory is constantly changing, and being that I am a one man shop I cant always keep the on-line catalogue up to date. So the best bet is to email me at the address listed on this page. But if your the type who likes to see, feel and touch what you're going to put into your house, I will be selling my work at the Capitola Artist's Co-Op located across the street from the Capitola Police Department, Near the fire station. I will add the specific address and hours as I get myself integrated into the shop.
I will give you the basic layout of what I do, and how I do it. I am a person who needs to stay busy, I have a profession that allows me a fair amount of free time, but normally that free time is a random day or two during the week, never enough to plan a vacation around. I have always had a wood shop, and a metal shop in every home that I have lived in, so I often found myself in those shops on those free days. Combine the shops, my free time, and the new found availability of used wine barrels...and we have the Up Cycle Cooperage! Each barrel is disassembled and sorted by appearance and width, the barrel hoops are stacked and will be used as well. Each individual piece is hand sanded, stained and finished by me. All of my designs have evolved over time to aid in the efficiency in producing them, as well as making them more useful to the end user.