forms for some curved stone steps

 

well, here we are, trying to figure out if we know what we are doing ...

we have the information below ... 

click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 all we had to do is make some sense of it so that the rise 

starts at the desired final grade, the three rises are equal, and

the last step into the house is the same rise as some steps

that are already finalized about 30 feet to the left of these ...

the existing entryway slab slopes 2" from the door out 

which was another complicating computation ...

you may recognize the ceiling from this blog post 

back in february of 2022

and i thought the ceiling was tricky!

 it was, but so were the forms for the curved steps !
 

we started with a cad drawing more or less based on 

measurements from the blueprints and those taken on site .. 

at some point the offset for the stone facing on the risers was 

 changed from 4.5" to 1.5" ('thin stone' facings) and  

new drawings were made.

 

from the new drawings we decided that it would be a good idea

to make some full size masonite patterns showing the 1.75" overhanging

nose of the bluestone treads and the 1.5" offset for the stone facing.

you can see them in the top photo  ..  that gave us the 

inside radiuses for the wacky wood on the curved forms

and the tops and bottoms of the actual form pieces in green above ...  

algebra 201!

 

once the first form was in place and we confirmed the rise and run

with the set up/full size mockup in the first photowe were able 

to make the forms for the second and third pours below 

 

viola!  

base for the riser and bluestone of the first step poured yesterday!

shop tour ... 2010

 well, blast from the past ...

i used to have a link to this video on the home page of my blog

but for the last few years it has linked to a 'page not found' ...

miraculously, it has somehow been restored though i have no idea how.

there it is, under the blog archive that, surprisingly- starts in 2007

up to almost a thousand posts now and over 2,000,000 page views ...

check it out!

use the link above as it will allow you to go to full screen

2010, it was a while ago ...

the crowbar !

long story coming here … 

I made the drawing below in 2010.

Somewhere I have a picture of the two crows I photographed 

in the snow in Burlington, VT. I had recently stumbled over the drawing a few days

before I got an email from a long time client who was looking for 

a ‘bar cabinet’ ... on a whim I sent him the 'crowbar' sketch …

The next day he sent me a picture of a crow on his balcony,

and he decided that ‘the word was out’!

We were on … click the pictures to enlarge them ...

next came the cad drawings 

after a few back and forths on the overall layout, 

we started to make up some sample panels

this was the first ‘real panel’ attempt … 

along with the clients, we were working with

 an interior designer, Ashli Mizell, who suggested smaller crows

 in the distance, and ‘softer mountains’.  she helpfully included 

some mountain images that we incorporated into the final design.

as we moved along, we made a full size mock-up 

and added our colored pencil crow cad drawings …

and then we started work on the crows …

there are between 40 and 50 individual pieces of ebony in each crow.

for the ebony, we were able to use 3” long fretboard cutoffs from Will’s

 stash which created feathers of slightly different colors that are 

easier to see in person than in the photos of the finished piece. 

the crow on the right is our version of clients' balcony crow.

kristian placed the ebony on a piece of mdf in a grid with

double sticky tape and cut the part for the crows from them

on the cnc ... it took about a dozen of will's variegated blocks 

and some other larger pieces of ebony to get all the pieces ...

  

we chose mahogany for the mountains, greenish poplar for 

the ‘fields’,and flaky quartersawn sycamore for the sky.

the three main woods are all slightly different thicknesses, which

create a bit of depth and gave us a place to add some black over

green painted borders.  that led to a discussion of what to use for the top

of the bar, and we chose some Vermont quarried verde antique with both

black and green colors inherent in the stone.  pretty stunning stuff!

all together now!

a couple more here ..

there are a few mirrors

a paneled back for the view from the balcony

an unfinished panel close up

there were a few files

i have a long time thing for crows, and often use them to

decorate my pottery ...

i'd also like to thank karen bonderchuk for her lovely book, 'a crow a day',

which i consulted as we got underway, and as we went along ...

crow anatomy consultant, though she didn't know it til now !

thanks karen!

repairs and restoration

 i had a chat with a friend about 'repairing things' recently ... 

we have done several repair projects, for several different clients, 

and after our chat, i sent him this link ...

it takes you here ... 

click the images to enlarge them

 there are 34 separate posts on my blog about us repairing stuff.

it is an interesting and often fun and rewarding part of our business.

after i sent the link off i actually took the time to cruise through

the various projects, some of which i scarcely remembered.

these projects tend to come and go quickly.

and below are some excerpts from other writers' take on the process ...

so true here

below from a new yorker article on the 

new restoration department at the whitney in new york

below are some images selected from the link above

 'antique repairs and restorations' 

showing some of things we have fixed in the last 40+ years ... 

rereading these posts this rainy afternoon has been quite a trip for me ...

chance to be a hero

it's a long story

with a happy ending  

and how about this one?

we didn't have to do much, but it sure was fun having it here for a bit

someone spent some time on this one

and we spent some time on the one below

one of the finest writing arm windsors i have seen

all the original pieces were available

tah dah!  all in, all done

one more ...

we had to reattach the top to this 'papier mache' tilt top table

with the little scraps of abalone inlays in the oval border ...

who even knew there was such a thing?

ok, last one  scroll down

 

triangular louvers

the week before last, we had a a request for some triangular louvers ...

                                        well, i've made them before.  23 years ago to be exact, 

and for my own house!   the problem was, i had to 

figure it all out all over again ...

kristian ran a ladder up to the one on the front of the house,

and checked some angles and spaces

and he worked from a cardboard template the

builder supplied for us .. 

we framed one up from the cardboard, and took it to the house 

for a test drive ... all good!

one full triangle and two halves, one for either side of 

a chimney on the other end 

        the half louvers escaped without being photographed,

but we'll get an onsite photos soon ...

we have three on our house