But is it art?

I guess I'm not qualified to answer that question myself.  I would look at some other customers stuff and definately say yes, but my own stuff?  Maybe almost.  At least I like to think of it as 'art-like'.  To be a true artist, you need real skills, I think.  I'm more a hack (literally, you should see my saw!) tooling around with stuff I don't really understand.
 
Some of you may think that is overly self-critical, but in many ways it's true, especially considering that I am an illiterate person (not being able to read Japanese) and also not always very social.  The last couple of years have not been kind to me in some respects and I am usually reluctant to approach strangers and ask for help.
 
For these reasons, I have been unable to learn as quickly as I'd like, but I guess that's how it goes...