open studio 2013

here we go again  ... vermont open studio weekend.  year 21.  i missed a few in the late 90's when we were building and moving, but typically, we're there, opening our doors and welcoming the public into our freshly cleaned workspaces.  it should be called spring cleaning weekend, at least here at dorset custom furniture.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

here we are, thursday at 5 pm.  looks ok, but, man, when you start to move stuff around, it is unbelievable the dust and clutter lurking, like everywhere.

 

 two truckloads to the dumpster and a totally full pickup for our wood scrap collector ... jim is tackling some seldom seen areas behind the shapers ...

 

 and here's trevor, at around 11 am, attacking the cnc area.  dan starts to freak out ... we'll never be done !

 sam and jen around 2:30, and the shop is starting to come together

 we set up the claro walnut table that recently returned from a gallery show in massachusetts.

 detail of the table above

 and will was excused from morning clean up to fit and hang the doors and install the hardware on this cool claro walnut credenza .. we got rid of a lot of small claro cutoffs making the veneers for this one. we did make him vacuum the office in the afternoon.

 

 and he'll have some banjo stuff to see.  this one is gone,  but there will be others, both finished and in process

and sam cleaned the metal shop ... the new metal shop construction will get under way soon.

 and all these pieces have some sam mosheim metalwork on them .. all for sale ... memorial day clearance sale in process ...

  and kit and penny viscusi are ready for visitors in the finish room ... actually, in the end, we were more organized, and we finished setting up earlier than usual.  come on by if you're in town .. saturday and sunday, 10-5 both days ... lots to see ...

a claro walnut sideboard

update 5 22

 faces of the drawers  .. inside of the doors

will is working on the faces of the doors and they should be glued up sometime tomorrow.

we're working on a fun one.  we have accumulated a small pile of cutoffs from the 15 or twenty claro walnut tables we've made in the past couple of years and now we've got a use for them.  this client bought our table back in february and it is being used as a desk in a law office down south.  so, next is the credenza and coffee table.  i made the sketch above assuming we would cut the cutoffs up into veneers and use them for the faces of the doors and drawers.  we're just starting that part of the project now, and i hope to have it into some kind of viewable shape by the weekend, when it's vermont open studio again !!!

more on that later.  in the meantime, click the pictures to enlarge them....

case with square pieces of mdf to straighten it up; before we added the back.  there is no face frame, so case stability and the connection to the steel base is paramount. 

here, the assembled case is sitting on a timber strand base mockup to work out the sizes and kinks in that.

and for the top and ends, we got these three incredible 28-30" wide walnut boards from irion lumber.

 

one piece sides about 24" wide and a one piece top, about 25.25" wide

here, we're working out the mdf substrate sizes for the doors and drawer faces.  in the end, trevor cut them back and installed 5/8ths x 5/8ths solid claro edges, which you'll see when the doors and drawers are opened.  it's now on its custom steel base that sam finished last week.

will, slicing up the veneers with out new starrett band saw blades,  mighty sharp!

 a quick mockup of a few of the slices ...

another

inside of the first door ... figuring out the process

ready to glue on ... i think we'll do the last piece of veneer and some butterfly work on the cnc after gluing.

the coffee table is ready to go and patiently waiting ... more later ..

i'm back (sort of) ... spring in vermont

well, when it's springtime in vermont, you can't expect tooooo  much writing from me ... i do have a couple of good posts coming up, but i haven't quite gotten around to getting them together just yet.  soon, i suspect, like maybe tomorrow.  maybe.  if it rains or something.  maybe ... here's a sampler of what it's like outside here now ... like i said.  spring.  click the pictures to enlarge them ...

 you got your grass to mow ... nice change from the snow ...

 you got your hoseshoes to set up

 you got your magnolias ..

 and your phoebe nest ...

 and your fishin'...  sam with a big one from the mettawee ..

 your tulips  ...

and your wood to stack ... all done now ..

your big fat 800+ page book to read ... 400 years of natural history, well written.

your golf to play ... been out a bunch of times ... 

and so much more.

and oh yeah,  we still have to work ... we've been working on the new designs.  heading into it big time on monday ... more soon ... dan

design is a process

well, after about 35 years of this kind of work, i have come to really appreciate the process of design, as much as the event of making stuff, which also is a process, and not a list of a linear progression of steps.  we do something, analyze it, do something different, analyze that, and step by step, move it all forward in small increments.  to get to the model above, i've been working with the builder, the client, and two different designers for a couple of weeks now.  it was a lot of work, but i think we've got a handle on it now, and it has been interesting.  click the photos to enlarge them ...

it started with some architects sketches for a more or less traditional kitchen, with a pantry in a separate room off to the right.  

we went with that originally, and i had just finished my shop drawings below, when i was informed that there was a new designer on board, up from florida, with some new ideas of how the kitchen should look.

 

he wanted a more streamlined, clean and modern look ... 

 after quickly revising my drawings to reflect his initial input above, trevor and i visited the site again and waved our arms and pencils and cardboard around with everyone for a while, until i realized that it was going to be a little more complicated then that ...  i offered to make a scale model.  time was short, but we got on it 

so the site looked like below thursday afternoon ... 

and the model looked like below friday morning ... 

so after another meeting friday morning, it was back to the shop, and mid afternoon, back to the site with the model below, adjustments and additions completed ...hot glue and double cardboard ... nothing better

north and east

east and south ...
back to the new shop drawings monday ... a couple more model changes and we're good to go ...

so now, the confusing little room is gone, it all feels more open, clean and spacious, and, it's the weekend ... 

for more on models and mockups, see these previous posts

a burst of activity

hmmmm .. busy time here in the designing and pricing and proposing department.  plus it's spring, which always cuts into the free time i usually have available for blogging.  this post will be more or less a continuation of one from the end of last month, where again, i didn't take the time to write in depth about specific projects.  i think, maybe too, the 'writing' is taking sort of a backseat to the enjoyment of 'living', for the moment at least.  getting out for five rounds of golf in april is pretty good for me. 

here's a quick april 'projects in the works' lineup, and some hints of what's to come in may ... click the photos to enlarge them ..

a claro walnut coffee table from the offcut of a previous dining table ... we keep 'em, and sometimes we get lucky, and someone needs one exactly the right size ...

this one's heading to chicago this week.  'industrial look' welded steel base by sam.

speaking of sam, the metal shop is humming, and he's cranking it out.  these are parts for some large turnbuckles that will hold a building together, where the second floor floor was removed.  there are four of them total ..

 that's 1" solid round stock bent into those graceful hooks .. turnbuckles from peak supply ...

and he fabricated and installed some new custom railing projects ...

i think this one was installed a couple of weeks ago ...

and these unusual objects will support wooden poles which a local message artist will hold on to while she walks on your back ... sounds interesting, but i haven't tried it yet ... a niche market for sure.

and next up we have the new design department.  this'll be a new kitchen, hopefully by this time next month ...

i finished the shop drawings using some uninterrupted time this weekend ... during the week, i often work from one interruption to the next, and drawings like these just don't flow for me unless i can concentrate.

and after a few sketches and cad iterations of this wall, we have a confirmed design for a long bedroom wall ... coming up in june sometime ...

another claro walnut coffee table ... waiting for it's base that will hopefully happen this week.  the 'ant attack' area is fascinating ..

and the pine sideboard is finished and gone, and now in its new home in stowe, vt ...

here we have another upcoming project that took some time to design and figure out.  it will be a credenza in a north carolina law office, along with the 'ant attack' table above.

 using claro slab cutoffs, we'll cut the short cut offs into veneers, and lay up the door and drawer face panels like a puzzle.  it will have a welded and polished steel base by sam.  i am looking forward to seeing this one get umderway.  it should be a fun one.

and this one, will whipped up week before last.  it's finished now, and i hope we can deliver and set it up in the client's home early this week.  shaker influenced design, simple detailing,

and will is currently, along with a couple of new banjos, working on this slightly smaller version of a lutyens style desk he built back in 2009.  luckily, in a couple of blog posts, we documented the process as we figured out the first time so he's got a little leg up on this one.  also, four additional years of practice doesn't hurt either ...

 

march, 2009 .. +/- 26 x 72

the new onw was starting to take shape by last friday ... still a long way to go though .. lots of detail.

and trevor whipped up this little 'rustic' coffee table last week.  it may not look so rustic in this photo, but now the base is distressed and pickled, the top has its breadboards, and the culry maple top will be distressed, stained and finished later this week.

and jim and sam made a couple of reclaimed oak tables in the 'bethlehem steel' style .. burned, and lightly distressed reclaimed white oak from west virginia ...

and, actually one of the larger projects we wrapped up this month has been ongoing since last september.  it will start to take shape, hopefully, by early july ... we have one more approval to go, and sam's new metal shop will start happening.  it's been a long slog, with lots of challenging permit related details, but i think we have cleared almost the final hurdle. we have received the loan commitment, and the last detail, which i will not mention for fear of jinxing it, will be approved by the 15th of may ... and then, my 'free' time will be gone.   'life is uncertain, golf now.'

ok, work on your pottery too