Piper Tamler

Piper Tamler is a shop technician at PTSW, a whimsically sculptural woodworker, and a building educator. While newly transplanted to Port Townsend from the woods of Southern Oregon, she’s no stranger to PTSW as a student and is a graduate of both Foundations of Woodworking and Art of Furniture. 

Piper’s woodworking journey began in natural building and timber framing, studying and working under plasterers and framers close to home in Oregon, and as far away as Vermont and Nicaragua. But Piper found her true niche in teaching woodworking as the woodshop coordinator at Talent Maker City, a maker’s space in Talent, Oregon, and as a seasoned instructor at Girl’s Build, a nonprofit that teaches the trades to 8 to 14-year-olds all over western Oregon.

I carry this quote from This American Life’s Ira Glass with me always, especially when I’m struggling with my craft - a great reminder that the only way to “fail” is to give up!

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. And if you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take a while. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

Instagram: @piperswoodenworlds