Profile: Wee Woodworks
Wee Woodworks creates intricately layered, mostly miniature wood objects filled with outsized charm and character. Owner and maker Chris Conway utilizes his background in graphic design to fuse unique colors, shapes, and textures in a unique style. Each creation is stained, painted, laser cut and meticulously assembled by hand for a final product that is sure to become a keepsake.
All photos by Kaley Kocinski
When did you start Wee Woodworks?
It’s been about 2 years. I was working at Hallmark and had the privilege to be on an innovation team which required learning a bunch of maker technology. Embroidery machines, 3D printers, CNC routers, lasers, dye sublimation, the list goes on. They had an annual art show for employees and retirees. I had been messing around with small layered wood and tiny wood boxes. I decided to enter and picked the name “Wee Woodworks” as most of the pieces I was making were small. I started making a bunch of pieces so my booth wouldn’t be empty. That first show included a ton of non-related pieces from sailboats and pirates to UFOs and Royals, but the response was good and I heard a lot of “I haven’t seen anything like this before”. I was making things that I liked and was interested in. It wasn’t necessarily about creating products with customers or demographics in mind. I still try to do that as much as possible. It seems that if I’m passionate about something and think it’s cool, there’s other people out there (at least a few) that think the same way.
Is Wee Woodworks your full-time endeavor? What is your “day job”?
This past year has been somewhat of a transition year. At the beginning, I was doing more graphic design and book design freelance work, with any spare time put towards Wee Woodworks. Now, it seems to be flipped - I still do some graphic design but Wee takes up more and more of the pie these days, which is what I had and still hope for! If I can make this into my career, that would be ideal.
What is the step-by-step process to create one of your signature layered works?
The process usually starts at concepting. I’ll kick around an idea for a while before I design it. I may have to look up some references to work from (if I’m designing a skull or a tiger I’ll need something to look at). Then I design in Illustrator and prep it for the laser. Trying to fit as much as I can on one piece of wood. This wood has already been stained. That was day one - I cut all these little pieces out and realized I needed to stain them one by one. Come on Chris! After that, the pieces are painted and assembled. I may need to sand edges and touch up before it gets the Wee stamp on the back. All of the thinking about how the layers fit together is done when I’m designing so I’m not having to think about how things are fitting together at the end.
How long does it take you to complete an item from start to finish?
That’s a little tough to say. I try to stain, paint and assemble a bunch of items at the same time. If I didn’t batch the items it could take forever. Sometimes larger and special items I create in a linear way but it depends on the piece.
What is your favorite woodworking tool?
My jigsaw is probably number one overall, but as far as my favorite for Wee Woodworks it would be my hand sander. It can be oddly satisfying to get a nice piece of wood nice and smooth!
What do you enjoy about making your creations small in size?
There’s something kind of interesting or magical about looking at a small intricate item. Especially when it’s dimensional. It kind of goes back to when you’re a kid and you notice little things. We had these sugar egg things that we put out for Easter. There was a hole on one end and when you looked in it was this whole scene made out of icing and sugar. We had some ornaments and model houses that were kind of the same thing. So far I haven’t made any pieces that are really deep like that but it’s on my list.
Do you listen to anything in particular while you work? What are you listening to now?
I am almost always listening to something while I work. Both music and podcasts. Fullbloods/ The Symposium a lot lately. And a ridiculous podcast - “Are you talking Talking Heads to my talking head?” Don’t listen if you’re really trying to get info on the band :)
Who is an artist or maker that inspires you?
Lots of names come to mind so I’ll just throw a few at ya. I used to be obsessed with Eduardo Recife. His color and use of the old and vintage are great. Jon Contino - his hand lettering and illustration make me feel like I’m headed to a 1930s baseball game. Jesús Sotés - his stuff is probably a little more relevant to what I’m doing with Wee Woodworks. The use of geometric shapes are an inspiration and you gotta love the color schemes.
Are you from Kansas City? What’s the best thing about calling this city home?
I am. I love Kansas City. I didn’t notice this until I started traveling more but we have a ton of trees in KC which make for an awesome fall!
Wee Woodworks products can be found at both Made in KC Marketplaces.
