By Michele Hardman
Sam Hermann is one of the most upbeat, cheery women you’ll ever have the pleasure of meeting. Her laugh, smile, and bubbly personality are infectious. I recently discovered her while browsing through one of the galleries at the Center For The Arts downtown. The room was filled with a mix of wooden, dimensional artwork, unlike anything I had ever seen before. I was intrigued and found out that Sam is a local artist, but I wanted to learn more.
Sam first tried woodworking when she was around 12 years old and did a project for 4H. She crafted a unique wooden box with oversized hinges, which earned her a trip to the Ohio State Fair that year. She really enjoyed the project and was hooked on woodworking from then on. When she first began, she was using a jig saw and pieces of wood that she took from old pallets. It quickly became apparent that the jig saw chewed up the wood too much for her liking, so Sam then tried a scroll saw and was much happier with the results. It was shortly afterwards that she discovered the Intarsia technique. I learned that this particular style of art is a distinct form of woodworking that involves creating intricate designs and pictures using various types and colors of wood. This style of art has been around for centuries, dating back to the ancient Egyptians. One thing that struck me about her pieces is that they have an incredibly smooth finish, almost like they have a wax coating on them. I learned it’s not wax, though, but a combination of lots and lots of sanding, good paint, and then a sealing coat of either polyurethane or Walrus oil. No….not actual Walrus oil, that’s just the brand of it. This is a VOC-free, 100% natural furniture oil.
Sam gets some of her design ideas from nature, but the majority of her inspiration comes from Pinterest and tattoos that she sees. She then puts her own twist on things and makes a sketch to get started. First, she uses a belt sander to get the basic shapes. Next, she may break out her Dremel tool for some finer details. Then it’s time for the palm sander. And then the hand sanding–lots of hand sanding, starting with 600 grit and then getting finer and finer until she gets the wood ultra smooth. Sam laughed and said she remembers the days when she had longer, prettier fingernails. Those days are gone now, since it’s tough not to get her nails into all the sandpaper and file them down along with the wood. Just one of the hazards of the work.
One of Sam’s favorite types of wood to use is Purple Heart Mahogany. It’s a hardwood—and a little difficult to find—which makes it more challenging to work with, but Sam thinks the bold purple color is beautiful. “It just pops!” she says. Another cool thing she does occasionally is use a small torch to lightly burn the wood. A lot of her finished pieces are given away to family and friends, but you can also find a few at El Weirdo Restaurant in downtown Panama City.
Woodworking is a very relaxing stress reliever for Sam when she comes home after a day working as a biologist. A majority of her day is spent in the office doing permits and reporting. The rest of the time, she’s out in the field. In her free time, she likes to bike, go out on their boat, go flounder gigging with her husband, and travel. Later on, when she retires, she’d like to open a little coffee shop to provide a place for community to gather and to showcase other local artists. Sam has lived in Ohio, North and South Carolina, and now Panama City, Florida.
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