Mokuzen Studio

First projects

It has been quiet around here for a while, but silence on the blog usually just means absolute chaos in the workshop. Instead of sitting behind a screen typing updates, I have finally thrown myself completely into creating.

The last stretch has been an intense blur, kicked off by tackling a massive custom built-in closet right in the middle of a brutal heatwave. There is nothing quite like wrestling large sheet goods, scribing frames, and making precision cuts while the shop feels like a sauna. Sweating through every joint forced a kind of focus that set the tone for everything that followed.

Alongside the shop work, I decided to start sharing the journey more consistently through Reels and YouTube Shorts. The clips have been consistently pulling in around 1,000 views each. It is a strange metric to wrap your head around. On one hand, a thousand individual people stopping to watch you work with wood is a massive room full of eyes. On the other hand, in the context of endless social algorithms, you never quite know how to feel about it. I am trying not to overthink the numbers and just use it as an honest log of the craft.

Speaking of honest logs, I also tackled my very first epoxy pour, which provided an immediate, high-stakes adrenaline rush. Everything looked completely secure until I stepped back and saw resin quietly finding a narrow crack and dripping out the bottom. Cue instant panic. In a mad scramble, I grabbed tape, slapped scrap wood blocks directly over the leak, and cranked down heavy clamps to seal the breach before half the project ended up on the floor.

Against all odds, the makeshift seal held, the piece cured flat, and the project was saved. But the lesson was drilled into me loud and clear: epoxy has a relentless talent for finding the one flaw in your defense. Moving forward, forms get inspected under a spotlight and sealed like a submarine before a single drop is mixed. It feels great to be making, breaking, and learning in real time again.

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Mauro