The tools I use to make sculptures are a wooden dowel, a spool of wire, wire cutters and my hands.


I create a coil by wrapping the wire around the wooden dowel until it is full. A very clever artist who teaches at an art college in California suggested I shove the dowel into a drill and let the drill do the coil making. Brilliant! And time saving. The coiling is my least favorite part of making the art. It's kind of like filling the gas tank to go on a glorious drive.


After I have a nice long coil (think slinky) I flatten it out so I have a long line of loops (think lasso). Then I start inserting a loop inside of a loop and keep going, letting the form take shape. Sometimes I have an idea in mind. Most of the time the idea has me in mind. 


My early pieces are very much like those of the incredible artist Ruth Asawa. http://www.ruthasawa.com/art.html I learned her technique from her daughter in a workshop at the Japanese American Museum http://www.janm.org/ while I was living in Los Angeles.


My work can be purchased online through my Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop/TokulCrafts?ref=si_shop


Three of my sculptures can be experienced in person at the Driven to Abstraction show at the UpFront Gallery in Issaquah WA. http://arteast.org/2011/07/sep-2011-exhibit/


I welcome custom orders. I will be continuing to explore what the wire wants to do. The shapes I create will continue to change.