sketchbooks the essential tool

ive got a couple projects going on, and one of them is going to go on for a lot longer.  the cleaning the cellar in the shop project i should be able to finish up in another 10 or 12 hours of effort, but the digitizing the sketchbooks project will likely go on for another couple years.  so far i have scanned and saved the highlights to this album from three fairly recent ones. 

 you can scroll through the slideshow at this link.

this is maybe a third of it ...

ive been sketching sporadically since 1980 when i bought betty edwards book drawing on the right side of the brain to learn how to communicate with my clients.  while cleaning the cellar last sunday, i found a fresh box of sketchbooks, likely packed when we moved to dorset from arlington in 1996 containing some drawings from 1988.  the one above is sams, and he would have been 5 and a half in january 88, the date of one of wills first drawings i found below in the same sketchbook.  will would have been 3 and a half then.  fun ...

i wish i could draw like that now .. i have written on this subject before, and i think its an important one.  the hand often is a link to the subconscious.  we sometimes dont know what we will draw until we start, and every sketch is not a winner.  some are though, and it is hard to come up with them if you sit down with the intent to come up with something new.  set that pen or pencil free .. see where it goes ..

click the photos to enlarge them ..

this series of sketches and photos below are just a few highlights from the slideshow

trout desk

duck bed

sometimes new ideas come from existing pieces.  the sideboard and mirror combo are from 1987.  the sketches below from a proposal for a client are from 1988.  

take an object. do something to it.  do something else to it. .... jasper johns

 i leave you with a couple more from sam from 1988 ..

yeah, real fun ...

Read more

I give you my heart with all my love…

I give you my heart with all my love….

How often will that have been said over the centuries. Very, very often probably. And is still said…. Sometimes the sentence may have been accompanied with a gift. And who wouldn’t fall for a suitor bringing a very nice and very precious gift?

In Sandra Hindman’s book (S. Hindman. 2007. Towards an art history of medieval rings. Paul Holberton Publishing, London, UK. ISBN 978-1903470640. Medieval (gold) rings from a private collection placed in perspective.) a very nice example is shown of a golden ring with a large heart-shaped ruby, lord of stones, with engravings of ivy and the text ‘CORTEPORTAMOR’ estimated to be just for the right period of our re-enactment group, the fourteenth century. Nowadays, I would probably laugh hard and find the ring very much over the top, but perhaps in older times I would just have been delighted. Well, actually no one ever gave me a present like that, so I will just have to make it myself!

The Gothic heart shaped 14th Century love ring in gold and ruby. 

With engravings of clinging ivy and text inscription. Height 23 mm, 

inner diameter 12.3 mm, outer diameter 18.7 mm, bezel 21.6 x 17.5 mm. 

Stone approx. 10.2x 10.8 x 7.7 mm.

The original ring is of course full of symbolism. Ruby is and was a very precious stone surrounded by myths of warding of danger, having the power of fire, removing evil thoughts and of influencing the decisions, mental and physical health of the person wearing it. The ivy expresses fidelity and eternity, as the evergreen crawls and creeps towards the sky, forming a union with whatever it clings to, becoming almost inseparable. And the text to make it even more plain in old Italian that the heart caries love… Someone really had to be convinced.

(Above) Text engraved on the Gothic Love Rings hoop.

(Left) Engraving with ivy on the bezel of the Gothic Love Rings hoop.

In Medieval times rubies were probably traded along the spice trading routes, arriving in Europe from India. Nowadays it proves to be difficult to find heart-shaped cabochon natural rubies of the size desired for the ring. Well, at least, I could not find affordable ones. In the end I resorted to buying a synthetic, opaque one – made in China - that as side bonus seems to come closer in appearance to the more pale pink colour of the original stone.

The ring itself is made from 1 mm thick silver plate material. I started sawing out the shape for the band and the heart in one strip very much like a loop shapes cigar band. Sizes. I neatly filed the ends of my band and soldered them together. Next I made the ring round on my ring mandrel. For the heart shaped stone I made the setting out of 0.5 mm silver plate. I drew the heart shape on a small paper and used to strips of approximately 5 mm to form to half shapes that soldered together exactly fell around my ruby.

 

Repeated annealing the hoop and bezel of my silver ring to be able to slowly mould it to its round shape.

On a half round file I now hollowed out the setting so that the bottom fitted nicely on my ring. I soldered the two pieces together. With a small file I made the top of the setting thinner to make it easier for the time I was going to fit the stone into the setting. Then I had to file and sand the whole thing thoroughly, before polishing it.

The heart shaped setting soldered to the rounded hoop and bezel. After this the heart shape was filed to its final shape and sanded.

The ring was polished except for the inside of the setting. 

The text and ivy has been written with a black marker on the hoop and bezel before engraving.

When it was nice and shiny I used a black marker to draw on the ivy vines and fit all the letters of the text on the ring itself. I am not a good engraver, but having the ring firm and stable in my ring clamp it worked out quite nicely. I lightly polished the ring again to get rid of any small scratches made. Then I placed the stone in its setting and slowly pushed, bit by bit, the setting round the stone. Bling bling, ready to show off!

The result shown from three different sides.

The CORTEPORTAMOR text on the replica.

A small movie to show the ring from all sides.

There are various other examples of heart-shaped rings and jewellery found in private collections and museums. Some examples are given below: A medieval A-engraved heart-pendant of bronze (private collection), a medieval childrens silver ring with gold-plated heart (private collection), an engraved gold ring with a heart shaped wolfs teeth (14th century, V&A museum, London, UK), and a heart shaped brooch engraved at the back with the text (14th century, V&A museum, London, UK).

Two pictures of a medieval small heart shaped childrens ring in silver and gold (the heart) found on a terp - a man-made dwelling mound - in Friesland, the Netherlands. The ring is ornamented with diagonal ribs.

A medieval bronze pendant with a nice green patina, engraved with an A. Archaeological find, Germany.

Gold heart- shaped brooch with stylised leaves and flowers or feathers, made in France or England around 1400. The brooch would have been colourfully enamelled, both at the front and back. Engraved on the reverse in a dentillated border is the black-letter inscription NOSTRE ET TOUT DITZ A VOSTRE [D]ESEIR (Ours and always at your desire), each word separated by a small floral sprig. Brooches often fastened garments with a slit at the neck; they were used both by men and women (V&A museum, item 86-1899, London, UK).

Decorated gold ring with wolfs tooth set in a heart-shaped bezel, made between 1200-1300 in France or England, inscription added around 1375-1425. Gems, but also other materials, such as teeth, were supposed to have magical properties. Inside the hoop are two engravings: a magic formula and a biblical phrase. The charm: ‘BURO + BERTO + BERNETO’ is to protect against toothache; the biblical phrase CONSUMMATUM + EST are the last words Christ spoke on the Cross, and were used as a charm to calm storms. This large ring likely belonged to a man, possibly a merchant who travelled at sea (V&A museum, item 816-1902, London, UK).

Read more

fun with a lounge chair

weve been making these lounge chairs for a few years while now ... weve made more than 20 of them and ive lost count mpw.  this ones got a new twist though ... ah! ..  a pun!   sorry, it just slipped out 

heres a link to the video

one of our clients is building a new house with a really nice fireplace on one wall and a killer view on another wall .. they thought it would be nice to at times be able to face the chairs in either direction .. after a couple of failed attempts with somewhat substandard commercial swivels and a failed first prototype, we made the prototype in the video, which, as you can see, works slick.  if you have a side table though, itll clear that out as it spins, so you may need an attachment to provide highest and best use.  more photos as we get the real cushions and apply the finish ...

after considering several commercial swivels, we decided that since the mechanism would be somewhat visible, we would have to build our own.  we used the same hardware as on the swiveling bar stools. well be adding another curved element to cover the steel support system before we do the finishing ...  i think that will add some additional interest to the front view too.

website information at this link

in the raw

on the porch (with optional green canvas covers)

 

i have a rocker like the one above for sale (scroll down)

and i have 3 in my office.  i think of them

sort of as mid century adirondack chair adaptation

we also do a narrower ladies version

and we also do something similar with a metal frame. ..
lots of napping possibilities ...

Read more

New cookbooks and an old with a new recipe

During Saint Nicholas and Christmas time I have received and bought some new (at least for me) medieval cookbooks. These were:

The Book of Sent Sovi, containing the recipes of a 14th century cookbook from Catalonia (Spain) (ISBN 978-185566164-6). Luckily for us, the Catalan language is translated into English, but the actual transition to modern cooking has to be done by ourselves.

Das Mittelalter Kochbuch by Hannele Klemettilä (a German translation of an English translation of a Finnish book; ISBN 978-3-7306-0028-3) is filled with general information on medieval cooking, and contains a collection of recipes from medieval cookbooks and by Finnish re-enactors. There is some uncertainty whether the dishes by the latter are indeed medieval as no manuscript source is provided. Also some interesting information on Finnish medieval food can be found in the book.

Herrenspeis and Bauernspeis - Krumme Krappfen, Ollapotrida und Mamonia (ISBN 978-3-936622-14-0), Mein new Kochbuch - Wurst von Salm, Salbeimauschen und weitere Rezepte aus der mittelalterliche  Burgküche (ISBN 3-936622-64-7) and Orientalisch-mittelalterliche Küche (ISBN 978-3-940168-44-3) are all three by Peter Lutz, the former medieval cook of the Ronnenburg in Germany. These last three book are written in a very entertaining and informative way, and his view of how to prepare medieval dishes is very like our style of cooking. His last book deals with the medieval Islamic food and the influence it had on European (Mediterranean) medieval cooking. One of the dishes in this book, Rummaniyya, can also be found in the the Italian Liber de coquina from the beginning of the 14th century as Romania. This a a meat dish with a pomegranate sauce. A related recipe, Limonia (with a lemon sauce instead of a pomegranate sauce) is Katinkas favourite medieval dish. Mein new Kochbuch mostly takes the recipes from the late medieval/early renaissance cookbook Ein new Kochbuch by Max Rumpolt from 1581. However, Peter uses the extensive information on cooking found in Max Rumpolts book to find out how certain medieval cooking styles were performed. The recipes in this book are not those commonly encountered in modern medieval cookbooks.

Recipe of Rosijsen from the manuscript of Maister Hannsen des from Wirtenberg koch from 1460.

His first book, Herrenspeis und bauernspeis, starts with a recipe of Krumme krapfen. We knew this recipe already from another book under the name Rosijsen (Horse shoes) and have made it several times. The other book, however, did not provide the source, while peter Lutz provides at least two: The manuscript of "Maister Hannsen, des von Wirtenberg koch" from 1460 and the Alemannische Büchlein von guter Speise  (1470). The latter one also adds that the horse shoes are good and healthy. Indeed they taste very well, but today we would have some doubts on the healthiness of this dish.

Rosijsen

When eaten it looks like a horse shoe. You shall take good cheese and grate it. And take a same amount of flour and add eggs. So it can be kneaded easily. Add spices to it and roll it on a dish like a sausage. Bent it like a horse shoe and bake it in lard. [my translation of the German recipe] 

Ingredients (serves 4):
3 eggs
150 g grated cheese
150 g flour
salt, black pepper, nutmeg
lard or vegetable oil for frying

 

Make a smooth dough from the eggs cheese, flour, salt and a good amount of spices and let it rest for 20 minutes. Flour your hands and roll the dough into a sausage with the thickness of a thumb. Cut it into pieces of a finger length and form into a horse shoe. Fry the horse shoes in the hot lard or vegetable oil until they are gold-brown and crispy. Eat warm (with a sauce, but it tastes also good without one).

Salse von Weichseln (sour cherry sauce)

Peter Lutz recommends this sauce with the Rosijsen - which I have not tried yet. The recipe is from  Das Kochbuch des Meisters Eberhard (mid 15th century) who was the cook of Duke Henry of Landshut in Germany.

Zum ein salsenn von weichselnn zu machen.
Item wiltu machen ein gutte salsenn von weichselnn,
so thue die weichsell in einen hafen vnd
secz die auff ein glut vnd laß sie siedenn vnd
laß dann wider erkaltenn vnd streich sie durch ein
tuch vnd thue sie dann wider in den hafenn vnd
secz sie auff ein glut vnd laß sie wol sieden
vnd rurr sie, piß sie dick wirt, vnd thue dann
honig dar an vnd geribens prot vnd negellein vnd
gut gestu:ep vnd thue sie in ein feßlein. Sie
pleibt dir gut drew oder vier iar.

To make a sauce of sour cherries [translation into English by Volker Bach].
If you wish to make a good sauce of sour cherries, put the cherries into a pot and place it on the embers and let them boil. Then cool down again and pass them through a cloth, put it back into the pot, place it on the embers and let it boil well until it thickens. Then add honey and grated bread and cloves and good spice powder and put it into a small cask. It will stay good three or four years.

 

The sour cherry sauce with the rosijsen. Image scanned from the book Herrenspeis und Bauernspeis.

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 glass of sour cherries
• 100 g honey
• breadcrumbs to thicken the sauce
• cinnamon
• cloves, freshly ground in a mortar
• black pepper, also freshly ground 

Take the stone out of the sour cherries and mash the stoneless cherries to pulp (e.g. with help of a blender). Heat the cherrypulp on a small flame untill it is reduced by a third in volume. Add the honey and the breadcrumbs while constantly stirring until the sauce has thickened. Finally add the cinnamon, cloves and a little pepper.  If the sauce is added hot into clean jam bottles, it can be stored for several years.

Read more

a chippendale chair repair

a few photos here for my client of a chippendale chair that had a broken back splat.

the splat was broken and badly reglued at some point with some kind of flexible adhesive like substance.  after a little study, we determined that the best/ fastest/ most correct thing to do was to reinforce the broken spot with strips of matching mahogany.
click the photos to enlarge them..

due to the curve of the backsplat, we had to make an angled jig to hold the splat while we routed the slots for the reinforcing strips.  it seems very solid now that the glue has set.

we also had to excavate the piece of broken tenon from the chair frame itself, and then create a new stepped slip tenon ... sorry i missed that picture as it was a complex little deal due to the fact that the original tenon was flush with the back edge of the splat, and not something we
could replace/repair without the patch being visible ..

all done, with the touch up color and blending in ok ...

any other repair option would have required us to do some
scarfing and likely some carving on the original part.

all in all, a pretty successful repair that left the original backsplat complete
and ready for another 100 years.

update 8/15
we had such success with the first one, that we got to do another one

both tenons broken on this one

no choice but to have a visible patch

a little color touch up monday and it will be good to go ..

Read more