Marcus Washington is a character, and that is meant in the best of ways. Raised in Mississippi, he has stories about a multitude of subjects regarding his upbringing, but the one that helped us learn about his love of woodworking is particularly interesting.
Every Saturday morning, at 7:30, a grade school-aged Marcus saw a man that lived nearby sitting out on his front porch whittling wood. One day he asked his mother if he could go over there and talk to Mr. Johnson and told him it would be alright. So eight-year-old Marcus started visiting with his neighbor each Saturday which is when he started learning about wood and its characteristics by whittling away some time with him. “You feel this right here?” Mr. Johnson would ask. “Feel this. That’s wrong. That means you need to take a piece of sandpaper to it and get the rough patches out. Do it like this.” He would then hand the wood and sandpaper back to Marcus to do it himself.
Several years later, when Marcus was in eighth grade, Mr. Mitchell, the teacher of his industrial arts program told him that he would be a part of the class—and would stick with it until he graduated. What he didn’t know is that this teacher was the nephew of Mr. Johnson. He had been told about Marcus’s affinity for woodcraft and continued the education his uncle had started. As his interest in woodcraft continued, he began looking at the way wood products were constructed. One such item was a shoe box block used at the shoeshine stand at the bus station in town. He asked if he could take measurements of the existing box so that he could build one of his own. After finding out that he was in Mr. Mitchell’s class, they told him that if it looked good enough, they would put it there at the bus station to be used. It turned out so well that he was asked to make three additional boxes for other locations around Mississippi, one of which was in Jackson. Fast forward to an adult Marcus going to the transportation museum in Jackson, MS with his wife and kids and seeing his box there on display. The guide at the museum told him that apparently “some kid made that box back in high school.” Marcus told him that he was “that kid” he was referring to and was allowed to climb over the ropes of the display, pick up the box (which, by the way, was still in great shape) and flip it around, showing his name on the back. Talk about showing your kids a piece of family history!
In more recent years (starting about 15 years ago), Marcus became interested in creating the crests of the fraternities and sororities, specifically associated with Historical Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the United States. Having been a part of one himself while attending Alcorn State University in Lorman, MS, he was very familiar with these symbols that were an important part of the identities of the National Pan-Hellenic Council members, otherwise known as the Divine Nine. This is when ShopBot CNC machines began to play a role in his woodworking.
He headed over to the (now closed) Raleigh-Durham TechShop, where he had access to quite a few tools, some of which were specifically for digital fabrication, one of which was a ShopBot CNC. While there, he learned about CNC from none other than ShopBot’s Sallye Coyle. Marcus, being rather inquisitive, and Sallye, forever the helpful teacher and educator, worked together to realize Marcus’s vision. She worked with Marcus on getting VCarve Pro files done for the Divine Nine shields and helped him cut them. First, at the TechShop, and then later after they closed, he would go to Sallye’s house and they would do the work on the ShopBot CNC she had in her barn. Eventually, he was able to get his own ShopBot CNC. His ShopBot PRS Alpha ATC is plowing through beautiful pieces of wood, including yellow heart wood from the Caribbean and purple heart wood from Africa. Having the Automatic Tool Changer (ATC), provides him with the ability to build the bit/tool changes he has for each project into the file instead of having to stop the ShopBot to swap out bits manually.
The first set of crests he created went to Kansas State University. They were so unique, and of such good quality, that they put them in lock boxes so that they can’t be stolen. The second set he made went to his alma mater, Alcorn State University. People started seeing his designs and liked them so much that they tried to replicate them—and didn’t do it nearly as well as Marcus did. But in order to maintain the integrity of what he was creating, and make sure they were attributed to him, he started branding the pieces. We’re not talking about a label or sticker, he literally brands them with a branding iron he fabricated!
He is one of VERY few people that actually has a license from the Greek Organizations to fabricate these shields, and that’s quite alright with Marcus. Not because he wants to be the sole provider of these pieces, but because he wants the Divine Nine to truly maintain their identity and have only the best quality items representing them and what they stand for. The fact that most of this is done via his creations is something he finds personally fulfilling. People still continue to try and replicate his designs, but it’s pretty easy to see the differences from the “knock off” version and the items that Marcus makes.
Sallye and Marcus have recently reconnected and she’s helping him with new versions of the crests. Instead of keeping them two-dimensional (2D), as he has done up until now, he wants to make versions that are more three-dimensional (3D) in nature. This requires files created using VCarve Pro’s big brother, Aspire. For this, and other 3D projects, the ATC on his ShopBot is something that will prove very helpful, particularly because these shields (and other work) he creates contain not just a general shape, but also showcase intricate designs and type—which require different bits for different processes. This is where having the ability to build the tool changes into the file, instead of manually changing out bits, will prove extremely useful.
The work he already does is great. We can’t wait to see what he creates with the 3D files Sallye helps him generate!