Doyle Zilem discovered that life is more than making a living. He’s an artist in wood. He lets the wood shape his artwork. And in doing so, he tells us, “I’m happier now than I’ve ever been.”
“I make art — what else could I ask for?”
“I’m retirement age but I don’t ever want to retire. I’ve worked with wood all my life. I still do remodeling work as a part-time profession but I don’t like it much anymore. Making money? I’m not interested in that. I make art.
You know, when you have money, it’s never enough. The more you have, the deeper in debt you get. I want to live stress-free and I’ve found something I really love. I’m living stress-free. I take no medication and my health is good. My kids love me and come to visit — they love my artwork. What else could I ask for?
It all started with a slab of wood
About seven or eight years ago, a friend gave me some wood he sawed on his sawmill. I used it to build a bar top for my mobile home. It wasn’t that long until I bought a mill of my own — a TimberKing mill — and started sawing my own wood.
I’ve got logs piled up everywhere on my property and I have plans for every one of them. I cut wood and see what it’s going to become. I follow its natural shape. I might add turquoise and silver. I often leave natural edges. That’s what I do — I do artwork.
Art training? I don’t have any, just trial and error. I make things Southwestern style — rustic. I saw lumber with my mill and I carve wood with an angle grinder. Then I do fine detail with a Dremel tool.
“TimberKing 1600’s perfect for me”
Everything’s been really good with my TimberKing mill. It’s a 1600 model and it’s perfect for me. I got my money’s worth in the first year and a half. And I didn’t really even try. I don’t advertise, people just keep coming and wanting to make things for them. They’ll pull in to have a look and I end up selling them something. I’m still going strong.
I have a sign out front, ‘One Man Band.’ I don’t dance or sing; the sign refers to my bandsaw mill!
— Doyle Zilem, TimberKing Owner, Bellmead Texas
“The Wood Whisperer” video featured here was created by Richelle Farley, owner of Richelle Studios. Richelle is a freelance visual artist who lives on a ranch in Louisiana with horses, blue-eyed cur dogs, and a squirrel named Rocky!