I don't have time to write a long post, but I did promise a potential client I would put up some photos of the table we've been working on ... Also, we picked up the chairs Monday and they are pretty sharp too ... It's our first experience with 'Danish Cord' seats. Nice job by Sandy Sherman Chair Caning of Brookline, Vermont.
This is the second coat of gloss finish .. the final satin coat will go on probably today
The eight side chairs
Close up ... all for now
Yesterday, Sam and I went to the Salem Art Works to see an event that Sam's friend, Pat Quinn was involved in. It took place at The Salem Art Works, an up and coming local arts place. It was my first trip there and it seems like the place has a lot of energy with a focus on glass, metal, wood fired pottery, and general fun and funkiness. On the way to SAW, Sam and I stopped to see Sue and Bill Clary's shop, Maccartees Barn , a shop with a mix of fine antiques and really fine, fine art. Their roster includes local artists Penny Viscusi, Brian Sweetland, and many others ... Worth a stop if you're in the area. Click the photos to enlarge them ...
The event was billed as an 'iron pour' with, I think, 3 or 4 four colleges represented by at least 30 art students who had prepared sand castings that would be poured. Here Sam checks in with Pat
In conjunction with the pour, for $15.00 SAW offered a blank for you to carve that they would then include in the pour ... Above, one of the directors carries one Sam and I whipped up out to the staging area. Interesting process. You have to visualize the reverse of what you are carving, a fact that stumped me for a minute. The 'tools' available, a couple big nails and some mangled clay trimmers, showed that it could be as crude or as detailed as you wanted. The sand was surprisingly hard to carve and held fine details surprisingly well. They poured it, but it was still hot when we left.
While we were waiting for things to heat up, we toured around and checked it all out ...
There was a funky, summer only large and well lit gallery space ...
and a great glassblowing hot shop where Leif Johnson , a local blacksmith and glass artist was leading a workshop ...
Leif does incredible combination of forged steel and hot glass.
Back at the furnace, the pour was about to begin ... 
fantastic to see the liquid metal rushing out of the spout.
pouring some of the student molds
That's our sand, but we had to run ... Pat was going to pick it up for us at the end of the day ....
Opens tomorrow ... Once again, it's time for the Woodstock Vermont VWMA furniture show. I have participated in it for a number of years and this year we have several new pieces we are showing there. I wrote about getting started on them last Sunday, at which point we had barely begun, but we managed to get it all together (see photos below) and I dropped them all off at the show today. It looks like it will be another good one. I don't have my own booth, but instead, we're exhibiting in the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers booth, same as other years. Also this year, Cabot Cheese and the VWMA are sponsoring a booth, "Best of Vermont Showcase" by Lisa Laberge Interiors. Lisa has our walnut table and chairs there, our skinny console and a small side table from our Bethlehem Steel series. She has a good eye and has put together a nice 'room' full of stuff. Click the pictures to enlarge them ...
Lisa's summary of her philosophy for the booth.
Not finished yet, but shaping up ... Still needs some Miranda Thomas pottery and a piece from Charley Shackleton ... good stuff at that link ... check it out ...
The Guild booth in process...Lots to see there.
There are other local furniture makers who have their own booths there like Bill Laberge (Lisa's husband), Chris Bowlen and Bob Gasperetti ... Sam and I are going to an 'iron pour' at the Salem Art Works tomorrow, but we plan to be at the Woodstock show most of the day Sunday, talking to show visitors about our work. See you there I hope ...
Chris Bowlen Custom Woodworking ... you can see some of Sam's metalwork in Chris's booth .. 
and Bill's booth .. almost ready to go ...
Well, we 'got 'er done' ... Three new pieces this week, in time for the show tomorrow. This 'Skinny Console' started out as a shop joke. The top is made from two bookmatched edge scraps from the English Elm oval table that we made earlier in the summer. They were too nice to cut up for kindling and I waved them around for a while until I finally glued them up ... I mocked up a plywood prototype base and the rest, as they say, was history ...
We can see many places where a table similar to this could be just the right accent piece ... use your imagination ...
Ahhhh ... 'Dancer #1' ... welded steel by Sam ... locust by Dan and Trevor ... Artfully arranged pieces that were also 'too good to throw away'. 
the concept on the board ...
the critical eye ... the base is a rough cut locust slab and the steel is unfinished so this sculpture is good to go, inside or out ..
The finished bench ... I kept trying to add stuff to the base, but, in the end, less is more as Meis, I think said. Hand hewn chestnut from a sleeper log, also good to go inside or out ...
red was the 'wrong' color for this one
nixed the bridge like elements
too fussy for a rough thing ... all for now ... fun stuff in person, all of it ....
as it is now
first attempt
thinner verticals, bigger circle piece
photoshopped in the back set ... 
the skinny console again
And we assembled the table as we went out the door Friday afternoon ...
9/16
We're making progress on the big Claro walnut slab table I described in the two most recent posts below. We should have it upright on the base tomorrow and ready for the finish next week. It looks like it will be a beautiful piece ... The slab has some pretty interesting and incredible color and grain variations and we like the new base design that the customers encouraged us to create ... It is going to be a heavy one though ... Hope they have a good floor system ... Click the pictures to enlarge them ...
The top is butterflied and scraped relatively smooth. We'll assemble the base and complete work on the bottom of the table and hopefully have it upright for the weekend ...
The chairs will be leaving in the morning to get their Danish cord seats at Sandy Sherman Chair Caning in Brookline, Vermont ... It's our first effort with the Danish cord and I'm looking forward to seeing how it works how ...
We started the day with a couple hours of drilling and tapping ...
and a test assembly before we finish sanding and varnishing on the bottom tomorrow... all for now ...
