Miniature Redwood Vases

Five miniature redwood vases in various stages of being finished. One unfinished, two stained but unvarnished, two varnished and finished.
These redwood novelties in various stages of completion are the work of William “Bud” Osterberg. Bud began teaching himself how to turn wood on a lathe in the eighth grade. When he was 16 years old, Bud began working for the Sinkinsons at their River Street mill.
John William Sinkinson was an expert craftsman and one of the pioneers of the redwood novelty business in Santa Cruz. Bud’s beginning wage was twelve and a half cents per hour. Once he proved his skill on a lathe, he began making miniature vases and earning the good salary of twenty-five cents per hour.
In early 1942, Bud Osterberg left the Sinkinsons to work at the Basalt Shipyard in Napa; he later enlisted in the U.S. Navy, shipping out to the South Pacific. After the war, Bud and his cousin Gilbert Nichols (a fellow Sinkinson alum) started their own redwood novelty business in Bonny Doon. Eventually, it became a one-man operation. In 1951, Bud joined the Santa Cruz Fire Department. During his twenty-five year career as a fireman, he continued his wholesale novelty business from a workshop in the back of his home on Encinal Street. At this time, most of his novelties were made from salvaged coastal redwood limbs and burl gathered on the family ranch in Bonny Doon.
Bud made a variety of novelties including bowls, plaques, and pincushions. He specialized in miniature novelties, some measuring only one inch high. His most popular novelties were three-inch vases, pitchers, and barrels, which he sold for twenty-five cents each wholesale. Bud’s local customers included Big Basin Redwoods State Park, Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park, and the Brookdale Lodge.
After turning out and hand sanding pieces made from limb redwood, Bud Osterberg often added a red tinted stain. To complete the finishing process, he would slowly dip the pieces in a lacquer coating. He repeated the process up to five times to provide a distinctive luster.
Accession No: 2016-001