Big Island, Vt. (WCAX) - Kay Bowley's woodworking products are works of art, but the people who make them don't consider themselves artists.
"Of course, I do not think that I am an entrepreneur in the field of art. "Technically, I'm a creator," he said.
Kyle Bowley has been working with wood for eight years, inheriting many of his tools from his grandfather. He had never taken a carpentry course in his life.
"He was completely self-taught. I love YouTube University,” she laughs.
However, the product is very unique, which makes it different from other products in its range. Bowley usually crosses a Lichtenberg photo plate and a Vermont geographic map plate—both from his engineering background.
"I would say I wouldn't do it unless it was too complicated or too dangerous," Boley said.
Cutting boards are made by carving patterns into wood using electric current.
“I saw this video online that created a lot of fire and a lot of smoke and made a really cool pattern. I said I have to figure out what it is and learn how to do it.
After burning the wood, it gives a colorful and sometimes shiny effect to the clay stone.
But his technical ability shined on his card.
“When I was in Vermont, a lot of it was Vermont-centric and Vermont-centric, but I've done it in other states, too. They give me the GPS coordinates and I can call up the map,” he explains.
Using about 1.2 million lines of code and seven computer programs, Boley built a machine to carve elevations in wood. It uses four engines to generate maps created with data from the US Geological Survey. Accuracy is within 1/1000 of an inch.
“This [map] is over 12x tall. So here the hill is 12 x high. That makes Mount Mansfield twice the height of Mount Everest,” he laughed. "The right scale makes them look like unstamped wood for Vermont."
Making these products is Bowley's hobby, which he sells mostly on Instagram and at farmers markets, and while he's not an artist, this creative engineer definitely makes art out of his craft.
"I like to say I nurture art naturally, it reveals what I do."
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