in the time before blogging

i was recently looking for photos of a walk i had taken with friends to a waterfall, virtually in my backyard, when i stumbled across a folder of pictures from the good old days, in our case 2002 to 2006, back in the time before blogging you might say.  so, why not just share them to my picasa albums, and continue to add images to that folder as i go back through the archives ... my real photographer retired in 2001 or 2002, and  i was just figuring out the digital thing.  so, some of the images from those days are better than others, but some are actually quite up to snuff.  ill post a few below, just so you get an idea of what we were up to back then (more of the same, but different styles) but you can view the real folder with about 80 photos at the link below ...

some images from 2003, 2004 and 2005    click on that first one and scroll through them with the arrow keys ... if you have a good connection, you can whip right through them ...   enjoy!

 a cherry and curly maple corner cupboard ...  it had a tv in it actually ..

 

a close up of the inlay in the side table above

 a custom audio/video cabinet

 a small mahogany console

 a mahogany porch table and some aluminum chairs

  a walnut partners desk

 a 14, one piece of bubinga table and chairs

and a sideboard made from the cut off

more images at the link above ...below, the waterfall pictures

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some custom barstools and other news from the metal shop

 we delivered 8 barstools to the hill farm project today.

 welded steel, leather by isaiah maccauliffe at bespoke upholstery in manchester, wood by dcf, design by san, sam and nina mooney of ncm design in manchester.. it was an interesting piece of mass production and they came out comfy and elegant.  and relatively affordable ..plus, sam just finished four
shorter ones with no swivels or seats for a friend who will finish them up himself.
they are really affordable that way.  contact sam for details

 swiveling seats and steam bent backs by sawyer bentwood in whitingham, vt.

blackening and finishing by mr. jim

stool frames with swivels recessed into the bottoms of the seats to hide them ...

 and weve got three interesting rebar pieces going to a new pizzeria in sebastapol, california.

they will all have danby vermont marble tops by herb johnson at 

johnson marble and granite in proctor, vt.  they will be on their way monday.

the steel things sticking out will hold the pizza peel and the freshly assembled

pizzas will slide off the marble, onto the peel and into the wood fired oven.

the marble overhangs the ply support by 1" all around.  

the peel and the marble are the same thickness.

 and another section of rail is in

 the trout are biting .. check out old toothy here .. click to enlarge it!!

 

happy and productive man in the new metal shop .. 

sams off tomorrow to a hammer making weekend with pat quinn in glens falls, new york

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its that time again open studio weekend

ok, we have been doing open studio pretty much since the beginning, and this is the 22nd year that this event has taken place.  this year there are over 230 vermont artists and craftsfolks who will be cleaning their workspaces friday and emailing their neighbors to stop by this weekend.  as usual, well be open saturday and sunday from 10 to 5.  it looks like we could get some rain, which could be good, could be bad.  you never know.  if you havent seen sams new metal shop, this weekend would be a good time.  hell be fishing on the rapid river in maine for the weekend, but kit or will or i will be happy to show you around.  kit will have her jewelery on display, and will will we be there at least in the afternoons to talk banjos.  come by if you can.  

below are some links and photos from my earlier blog posts.

open studio 2013

open studio 2012

open studio 2011

open studio 2010

open studio 2009

open studio 2008

 look for the yellow signs !!

 ill have a few small pieces for sale

 and the shop will be pretty clean 

unlike the 2010 open studio, mr. lucky will not be in attendance this year

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and so it begins with the daffodils

first bunch of daffodils open on the dining room table ...54 days to spring in vermont ... 

according to the weatherman, yesterday was the last day the 

sun set before 5:00 ... the days are getting longer ..

and ms. pileated was on the suet in the sun this morning ... 

the foxes are yipping ...

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a claro walnut desk for sale

we made this desk a while back for a show at a gallery in massachusetts.  it stayed in the gallery after the show closed until the gallery was flooded by a broken sprinkler pipe.  the desk survived, but the gallery didnt, and we moved it to the local arts center where it has been on display for sale until recently.

 while it was there it acquired a pretty substantial scratch in the top of it and we picked it up a couple weeks ago to refinish it.  its ready to go again now and looks good as new.  i thought id post it here for sale for a while before i return it to the gallery.

its got a drawer and a secret compartment, and it could also work well as a small dining table for 4 or 6.  the dimensions are +/- 44 x 66 x 29.5 high, the base is steel with a natural satin finish.  the walnut top is one piece and the grain is really nice.  lots of figure and curl ... the price is $8500.  please call me at 802-867-5541, or email me at dan@dorsetcustomfurniture.com for more information.

and if that one doesnt work for you, but you like claro walnut, i have two other possibilities:

this dining table is about 36 x 90.  its in a gallery in chicago, but i would be happy to retrieve it for you, polish it up, and ship it out.  please call or email for a price on that one.  it has a dark bronze shaker style base, and nice grain in the top.

and this slab is available.  dimensions in the photo below.  its finished and hanging on the wall, ready to be something ... coffee table?  desk?  a dining table?  a headboard?  your choice ..

call or email with your ideas ... 

all for now ...

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restoration repair thoughts on time passing

well, this one was around for a looong time.  i mostly finished it up yesterday.  the oldest of the photos below are dated 7/10/13.  seriously.  we made a table for these folks in the spring of that year, and a few months later the husband dropped this table off, and told me no rush.  big mistake.  let me just say kindly, that it was not in the best of shape ... click the photos to enlarge them ...

i have no idea why i didnt follow through and fix this one right off, except that i knew it would take a really long time to get it back to useful ... the main problem, (i speculate), was that the table was stored somewhere that was very damp, and the veneer on the bottom of the top came loose, allowing more moisture in.  while i cant find a picture, i definitely remember that the top was dry and cupped about 3/4 of an inch across the 18" width of it ...

so, out came the skilsaw, and i made some not quite all the way through skilsaw cuts about an inch and a half apart until i could very easily flatten it with a couple clamps and a straight edge.

at that point i put the top in the veneer bag with the original bottom veneer (you can see it in the background there) glued on to it .. that flattened it out and thats when i dropped the ball, likely intimidated by the anticipated time and risk involved in repairing the missing veneer.

so then recently, (the clients have commissioned another table), i went on to the patching, trying to find a piece of new growth walnut that matched the grain of the apparently old growth walnut of the original veneer.  since we had no idea of the tables origin, (italian? french?) im not even exactly sure what kind of walnut veneer the original veneer really is. the photo aggravates the color and grain match, and it is actually a little better and less obvious, (but obviously still obvious), in natural light.

as i was finishing up, there conveniently appeared a relevant article in the new yorker entitled The Custodians.  i have taken the liberty of posting two excerpts from ben lerners thoughful article below.  well researched, well thought out, and totally thought provoking.  a wonderful read for people like me who occasionally are called on to to rescue the old stuff. 

The Custodians

How the Whitney is transforming the art of museum conservation.

lacunae ... gaps .. missing pieces.  coeval .. living at the same time.

enjoy!

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