more new projects

 following up on some stuff from the previous post, and getting some other new projects underway.  happy to clear the decks a bit and make room for some new stuff.  we hung the big mirror yesterday, all 13 5" of it.  it was interesting as the building is old, the floor and ceiling or both out of level and when we hung it up level, it was just so obviously wrong that we had to move it around until it looked right with everything else that is going on there.  as it hangs now, the right end is about 7/8ths higher than the left end but it totally looks right given the other stuff that is going on .. havent had to do that for a while.  click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 

 and the cherry bookcase clients will be in town this weekend ... that piece will be 

joining its friends that we made previously ...

 and the dart cabinet is happening now ... it can be fun working with crooked old barn boards.

 you certainly cant be fussy, and you definitely have to go with the flow.

 and its been a good excuse to have a dartboard next to the chop saw for a while.

recipe for a railng .. cut a bunch of steel up into very specific lengths, and weld it all together,  

then take it to the clients house and bolt it to the posts you put there last week ..

 looks easy when its done ...  

 

and sams got a couple other table bases in the works.  the one above will have a danby marble top.  thats 1" rebar .. polished .. its a nice look and the rebar is becoming popular with our customers .. 

 

 and another nakashima style base 
hes just making the base.  the client is making his own top.

and theres a new claro walnut table happening too ...  4 x 8 x 2.75" thick, with a 

beefed up steel base to go with the beefier slab.  its gonna look good.  weve done a 

heavier base before in 1.75" steel, but this looks fine in our regular 1.5" steel.

the price of steel has increased so much lately that its hard to justify working in the thicker stuff.

 

 the slab had a few surface, non structural, cracks that we filled with our usual advantech tintable epoxy.

  

chris finished the chest of drawers for the shaker piece .. we may install that tomorrow.

and trevors underway on a new 60" round walnut table with a 22" crotch walnut inlay in the center of it.

 

more on that as we progress ... all for now ... dan
update: ill do a complete blogpost when were finished

 

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more on the dart cabinet

pretty fun project here ...

my designer client, nina, had an idea for a cabinet to go in the room with 

the pool table we installed earlier this year. 

we started with a chalk sketch on two of the best ( a relative term) of six red

barnboards that had been salvaged from the clients property, and designated them

to be the doors for the cabinet.  click the photos to enlarge them.

we then added some structural poplar pieces that we later covered with barnboards, but these pieces actually hold the cabinet sides together and provide the structure to secure the cabinet to the wall.

working with the barn boards as they are is always a challenge when you are totally accustomed to

lumber that is straight and flat and has integrity.  

one must go with the flow, and cast all aspirations to perfection aside.

we added some chalkboards and dart holders

the red box below the shelf is held in place with rare earth magnets, and is removable to access a space that will hold the cable box for a nearby, wall mounted tv.  the red leather tab was chriss brainstorm.

and later this week, christina young, the decorative painter on site will add the lettering i 

photoshopped on in the photo above to the top of the cabinet.

last thing we did was add a coat of linseed oil, which made the red pop, 

and gave the cabinet a fantastic warmth.

we hung it up friday, but forgot to take pictures !  

well be back there later this week and well take some then ..

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More cool things to do with your hood

The hood is a common piece of clothing for the mid and late medieval period. It is also very comfortable to wear, especially when it gets chilly outside, like at the moment in the Netherlands...

The hood has a standard way of wearing, but in the late medieval period people started experimenting wearing the hood differently, resulting in foppish styles. These styles are nicely illustrated in one of the blogposts of Tacuinum medievale. Personally, I like (and sometimes wear)  style 6.

But there are more things you can do with a hood than wearing it. Some examples are shown in  the margins of manuscript Bodleian MS 264 (Oxford University, Oxford, UK).

1. Playing blind-man.

The hood is put on backwards, so it covers the eyes and creates a blindfold. The liripipe is hanging like an elephants trunk in front.

In Blind Mans Buff, the blinded man has to try to tag one of the other players, while the other players try to avoid him. The other players have to make sounds to indicate the direction the blindfolded player in which has to move in order to tag another player. The player who is tagged becomes the next blind man.

Another variant is where the blinded player is guided along a difficult track by the other players.

 

Bodleian MS 264 folio 70 verso. A blinded elephant man on the left. 

2. Throwing games.

A knot is made in the hood, approximately at the point where the liripipe is attached to the hood. This creates a heavier point, making the hood easier to throw. The liripipe is used to swing the hood for the throw. This game is played by both males and females.

Bodleian MS 264 folio 130 recto. Males playing the throwing game.

The illustrations suggest that the hoods should be thrown towards another, or at a blinded person. We have tried several versions of this game: throwing and catching (catching scores points); throwing and hitting each other (hitting another scores points) and just throwing (the one farthest throwing scores points). Throwing and hitting each other resulted in chaos, while throwing and catching was a bit more playful. Just throwing and throwing and hitting were boring, but the latter became better when one person was coaching the blind man when to duck to avoid being hit by a hood.

Bodleian MS 264 folio 130 verso. Females playing the throwing game. 

A variant of this game was developed by us (i.e. we can not relate it directly to an illumination), in which the players wore a felt hat, which needed to be thrown of the head with the hood. Each successful hit to the hat was rewarded with one point, while the game was played for a certain amount of points. We thought this was a better variant, as each player has equal opportunities to hit and being hit, and the game allowed a lot of interplay. 

 

 

 

3. Catching Butterflies.

We have not tried this yet, as the butterfly season is over at the moment. The hood is held closed at one end, and open at the other end to trap the butterflies. Although some woman look like trying to hit rather than catch the butterflies. This seems to be a more feminine type of game.

Bodleian MS 264 folio 135 recto (more examples a shown in the margins of MS 264)

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a live edge coffee table

we delivered another nice claro wlanut slab coffee table this week.  the slab is one of a pair we bought back in january, specifically for this project, and in the meantime, sold the other one to another client who just happened to be looking for a small dining table exactly the size of the other slab.  

sometimes you just get lucky.  clcik the photos to enlarge them.

so here it is, onsite friday morning .. a cloudy day, but still a warm object with a little light.

at one point, i considered straightening the flair, but decided to not even ask .. the

live edge was just too nice ..

the base design is one we have used before in flat, 1/2" steel, but the tubing is a little more refined.

we added our dark bronze patina to the natural, polished steel.

 earlier in the process, i took the base to the clients home nearby with a piece of half inch mdf cut the to same size and shape as the actual slab.  i then took a couple photos ...

 and then, with a little creative photoshopping, added a photo of the the sister slab from the table below, which by that time was already finished and shipped.  this mockup helped the clients visualize the

finished table in their space .. it took a minute,  but was well worth the effort.  compare this photo with the onsite photo at the top and you can get a handle on the power of photoshop.

all for now.  enjoy your sunday ...

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Cedar Bowl

This is a little cedar bowl I made back in 2012 and put on display at the Sunset River Marketplace.  I really enjoy turning cedar.  The contrast in the wood along with the smell make it a joy to work with. Anyways, it sold last month!!!  Knowing that someone likes your work enough to pay for it is a really awesome feeling.

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nice press!

 a little nice press for the family businesses, courtesy of helen whyte and the 

battenkill business journal .. the photos good too! click the photo to read the story.

thanks helen !!

check out wills new website here

see sams work here

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Two More Ornaments!

The latest addition to the ornament family of 2013.  They have already been adopted too!  What a happy Christmas story. 

On the left is ebonized oak with holly finials.  It is 4.5" tall and weighs .933oz.

On the right is lacewood with sapele finials.  It is 5" tall and weighs .837oz.

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