Thoughts on mortality #2

above is a screen shot of the opening paragraph of a blog post from 2009 ..

 it is a bit of a story as to how i got to be reading that post recently, but here goes :

recently i was asked by a long time client/friend to make a box for her husband's ashes.

this is something i am  always honored to do, and i have made many of them ...

we went back and forth on the design and wood choice and settled on

the spalted maple you see above ... as it turned out, she plans to 

'go with him' and so, i eliminated the divider i had suggested in the original design.

the thought was that i could just 'double my regular box size' ...

but after doing a little research on 'cremains' i realized i could go a bit smaller ..

more or less final dimensions below ...  

these folks were longtime 'summer' clients, at their house here in dorset,

when they were not at their ranch near san marcos texas ...

we made many live edge pieces and a few 'outside the box' pieces 

involving burls, mirrors and antlers ... these folks were master collaborators ..

and always fun to work with ...

 

the note ... 

 

i leave you here with another part of the 2009 post  ...

from old st. pauls church, baltimore, 1692 ..

 

'gracefully surrender the things of youth'

....... 

'be careful. strive to be happy'

 

good advice a plenty there!
and below  

cremation urns .. a meditative process

time for a little update to an ongoing post i wrote back in 2014.

i am working on a new mahogany box for a client in Louisiana

similar to the one below, only in natural mahogany ...

this photo shows the interior, with the supports for the sub top

i will add a small leather tab to the back of the sub top 

once i have completed the finishing

it is in the finish room now ... more photos later ...

we've made a number of boxes for friends' ashes over the years.  i always find it an honor, a time to reflect, and a time to appreciate the person and the relationship we had.  the boxes and caskets below were all made in the last 7 years and i expect as time goes by to make a few more each year. our friends are getting older. click the photos to enlarge them.

the box at the top of this post was for the mother of a good friend;  her daughter in law's box is in the photo above; both boxes are in stained butternut.

this one was for a good friend's mother; cherry and curly maple.

a matching pair ... the husband above in november; the wife, below, a few months later.

both in stained quartered cherry

 

and we knew them since the 70's

a friend for 43 years who passed on this past summer .. birdseye maple and steel; family effort; sam on metal; will on dovetails; dan on the box bottom, the lid, and finish

kit's mom;  milk painted pine and douglas fir

mother in law above ... father in law below

reclaimed pine

a few more boxes from the archives below

"put a piece of glass in that sub top so horst gets some light in there"

 

 

not an urn, but a 'treasure box' .. 

and here are two casket i made,
one for my dad , a dancer, an engineer, a fisherman and a hunter; cherry and walnut

and one for my mom; a mom and a quilter; various woods

 there is a detailed post on box making with dimensions and step by step steps at this link

 they've all been spur of the moment projects and i haven't varied the theme much

 and often i get one of these

jump at the chance to make one if it comes your way.  you won't regret it.  it's wonderful thing to do.

march

well, i realized yesterday a whole month has passed without a new blog post.

first time in over 10 years ... sign of the times, i suppose.  70 is not the new 50.

we have been busy though .. actually busier than usual, which in some ways is nice .

below is a parade of projects from this month and a little bit of february .. 

cherry vanity and mirror #1

cherry vanity #2 .. had to replumb from 1 sink to two

and we also had to decide how tall the mirror should be

we had to assemble it onsite because it wouldn't make the turn on the stairs

tahdah, in place ...

next was a built in reading bench

a ply case with dovetailed drawers

testing the function

built in ... awaiting cushions

also, a couple of items for a client's pool room .. above a plaque to mount the lights on

sam made brackets to hold the 15' counter up

the 15' walnut counter

driving south in the snow

installed

the walnut game table with the edge inlay

and with the center inlay

your basic old fashioned veneer press

glued in an leveled with some alcohol on it

the base has a tapered hexagonal center column
it's all finished now, but i missed the pacture and it's wrapped now.

 and sam made some steel brackets and we made some barnboard shelves

 and a 12' bench for a local client

with a fine slab of curly maple

3/16/18 ... down to 16 projects that week

 an oak table using the client's antique legs earlier in the month

40" x 7'

back up to 23 projects in the works this week ...

and currently we are wrapping up this custom kitchen island in natural cherry

counted them today ... 67 pieces

it is disassembled and in the finish room now ...

hope to ship that out one on tuesday ... verde antique top coming 42 x 60

and somewhere there we squeezed in a butternut cremation urn

and we repaired this beautiful old oval table this week.

i dropped it off today.  it was sloped about 2" due to the broken leg when i picked it up

we reglued the cracked leg

rebuilt the dovetail and shimmed it

reinforced the glue joint under the new ebony veneer

added a new copper spider

good to go

and sam made this cute little stand for a friends glass panel

black powder coat finish

 and next week i'll be taking a little trip to boston to drop off these steel

benches, visit some friends and play a little indoor badminton. 

something i haven't done for 50 years now ...

i am looking forward to that

 

original equipment, 1968

and i will be totally glad when this snow goes .. this is from last thursday

when we got about 12 inches on top of a foot already on the ground.

we are just starting to see some grass now ... crocuses before too long ...

i am ready for spring.