Wood-turner gives fallen trees new life as art

Wood-turner Richard Dlugo drew steady groups of spectators when he demonstrated his craft at the Morton Arboretum in Lisle one recent weekend.

Using pieces of wood cut from fallen trees at the arboretum itself, he transformed them into holiday tree ornaments — shaping them on a lathe, sanding, sealing, waxing, buffing and drilling a hole for a string.

“Every one is a little bit unique,” he said. “You don't know totally what it's going to turn out to be until you start to work it.”

That uniqueness captured the imagination of employees and visitors alike when the Arboretum Store starting carrying Dlugo's ornaments last year. Dlugo figures he made 200.

“They're a beautiful item,” said Jacque Fucilla, manager of the Arboreum Store. “They make great gifts.”

Among the holiday ornaments, which sell in the $24 to $42 price range, the birdhouses are especially popular, Dlugo said. He makes other items as well — jewelry, wine stoppers, figurines, bowls, boxes and, on special order, furniture.

The former music teacher and semiretired webmaster from Western Springs said wood-turning has fulfilled his creative side more than music.

“In music, you play a song and it's gone,” he said. “In a three-dimensional type piece, you can enjoy it over and over again.”

Dlugo got his first taste for woodworking when he built a soapbox derby car with his dad when he was in the eighth grade.

“I always kept that desire to want to make something else,” he said.

But a music degree, marriage and a family came first. Then in the 1970s, Dlugo started making toys — first for his own six kids and then to sell. He turned out hundreds of wooden trains, trucks, puzzles and jigsaw names in assembly-line fashion with his own children helping to do the painting.

“The toys started to become a part-time business at craft shows,” he said.

Dlugo stopped woodworking in 1985 when he returned to college to earn a degree in computers. His children took over his basement workshop for rock bands.

But by 2004 the kids had left home, Dlugo had his basement back and knew he wanted to return to wood-turning in his retirement. He bought new tools and perfected his craft — not more assembly-line products.

“I like to put a different spin on each one,” he said.

Sometimes what sets similar items apart is the wood. Dlugo uses many trees that have been felled by storms or old age, sometimes working with homeowners who need to have a tree removed from their yard. Oak, elm and some types of walnut lend themselves well to wood-turning, he said.

With its trees from around the world, the arboretum also has introduced him to different types of wood to use. Dlugo is particularly fond of Peking lilac and Turkish hazelnut.

“Each wood has its own personality,” he said. “The Turkish hazelnut is gorgeous wood. It's got pink and cream in it.”

His work was featured on ABC 7 Chicago last year and is sold mainly at craft shows. The Arboretum Store carries Dlugo's holiday ornaments year round, as well as bottle stoppers, figurines and some other items he makes, Fucilla said.

Dlugo and his daughter, Julie Matos, team up on the jewelry — with Dlugo cutting the wood and Matos adding the decorative touches. With his artist's eye, Dlugo is never completely satisfied with what he makes, but his work is widely admired in the craft shows they attend, Matos said.

“He is so skilled,” she said. “Even woodworkers will come and say, ‘You're so good.' That's such a compliment.”

Largely self-taught, Dlugo said he's been mentored at workshops and seminars he's attended. He invites interaction at his own demonstrations — answering questions, telling stories about wood-turning and asking children from the audience to help him with a piece.

“We are very happy to share our techniques with other people,” he said.

He's been asked what kind of tree has blue wood — after people have seen a piece he's dyed — but he gets serious wood-crafting questions too.

At the arboretum, a woman comes up to say she's been unwilling to get rid of a half tree in her yard because she wants to learn wood-turning.

“Do you have classes?” she asks.

Dlugo says he doesn't, but he might consider it.

“There's a ton of women in the wood-turning business,” he encourages her. “It's not just a guy's thing anymore.”

See more of Dlugo's work on his website, exqwood.com. The American Association of Woodturners can be reached at woodturner.org. To learn about the Morton Arboretum and other activities there, go to mortonarb.org.