Hi, hey, hello. My name is Ross Tuggle, and I'm the artist behind Tuggle's Timber.

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I grew up in the small town of Laurel, Indiana, out in the country. My dad used to joke that he wanted to live where he was able to "pee in my yard without the neighbors seeing me," and honestly, that's the best way I can describe where I grew up. We had plenty of space and not many neighbors. The neighbors we did have, all seemed to be uncles, aunts, and cousins.

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My father firmly believed in doing things yourself rather than hiring someone else to do them. Because of that, I was frequently "voluntold" to help build porches, decks, chicken coops, loft beds, and whatever other project needed done around the house. At the time, I wasn't always thrilled about it, but looking back, I'm grateful for those experiences. They taught me that if you're willing to learn, work hard, and make a few mistakes along the way, you can build just about anything.

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After graduating from Indiana University with a degree in Sociology, I entered the social work field. I spent time working with adults living with severe mental illness before eventually transitioning into child welfare. The work was meaningful, but it could also be emotionally exhausting.

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During that time, I met my now-wife. One day while we were dating, she visited the duplex where I was living. My neighbor had an old green porch swing sitting outside, and she casually asked if I could fix it for her.

Naturally, I told her I could.

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The problem was that I had absolutely no idea what I was doing.

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Once I started taking the swing apart, I quickly realized that fixing it wasn't going to happen, so I pivoted. Instead of fixing the swing, I decided I would make her a picture frame out of the wood.

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That lasted about as long as you'd expect.

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After several hours and the destruction of most of the usable lumber, I realized I still had no idea what I was doing, and the picture frame wasn't going to happen either.

Frustrated, I dropped a handful of wood scraps on the floor. A few pieces landed in a herringbone pattern, and for whatever reason, something clicked.

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"Art."

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I gathered the pieces back up and assembled them into a design. I attached them using super glue and stainless-steel nails because, once again, I had no idea what I was doing.

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That accidental piece became the beginning of Tuggle's Timber.

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Around the same time, I was experiencing some particularly stressful months in child welfare. I needed a creative outlet, something that allowed me to work with my hands and focus on creating rather than reacting to the challenges of the day.

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One of the hardest parts of child welfare is the lack of control over outcomes. As a caseworker, you can identify problems, provide resources, recommend services, and clearly see what needs to happen for a family to succeed. But ultimately, the decisions are made by judges, and the work itself has to be carried out by the families involved. Your role is to provide the tools and guidance, but the final outcome is often out of your hands.

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Creating art gave me something I had been missing. If a piece wasn't working, I could adjust it. If I made a mistake, I could learn from it and try again. The effort I put into a piece directly influenced the result. After spending my days in a profession where so much was beyond my control, there was something incredibly rewarding about building something with my own hands and watching it come together.

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My wife encouraged me to keep experimenting with wood art.

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So I did.

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I made a piece for my sister-in-law. It was a 2' x 2' design featuring what may have been the worst miter cuts ever created by human hands. Then I made another piece. And another. Friends and family were incredibly encouraging, and each project taught me something new.

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Eventually, I decided to sign up for an art fair and see if anyone besides my family actually liked what I was making.

To my surprise, it went well.

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What started as a failed porch swing repair slowly grew into something much bigger than I ever imagined. Over the years, my techniques have improved, my designs have become more ambitious, and my confidence as an artist has continued to grow.

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Today, every piece I create is still made by hand. I cut, shape, sand, and assemble thousands of individual pieces of wood to create artwork that is designed to become a statement piece in someone's home or space.

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I still approach each project with the same curiosity that started this journey. While my skills have improved considerably since the days of super glue and questionable joinery, I still enjoy allowing the wood to guide the process. No two pieces are exactly alike, and that's part of what makes creating them so rewarding.

Tuggle's Timber exists because of a failed repair project, a pile of scrap wood, encouragement from my wife, and a willingness to keep learning.