the crow bar has landed

the crow bar has landed,

 and it is living down town now!

views of lots of building and some water ...

night view

view of the river

 day view

and the crow that started it all ...

great clients!

great fun!

good job Kristian!

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!

a nice walnut sideboard

we recently finished this mirrored art deco styled bar cabinet, and 

today we got a confirmation of delivery and a nice note... 

this new cabinet was a 'simplified' version of the original cabinet below that we made for another client way, way back in 2009

they are both stained/painted pieces, one with gray mirrors with a back, and the 

original with an open back ... both were fun and challenging projects.

cad  comparison

early stages ... mortises tenons and tapers on the cnc

the openings were filled in with walnut ply, allowing spaces for the mirrors

and some 'speed racks' on the doors ..

installed the grey mirrors and sent it on its way ...

a custom cherry bar

along with bennington marble and granite, and GSK climate control, 

who engineered the stone and the plumbing, we installed

this custom cherry bar cabinet last week.  beautiful flamed black granite top and 

a hand hammered copper sink in a beautiful sunroom.

we've been working on it for a bit now, and i am glad it is in its new home now.

you can see a little of the process below ..

as usual, it starts with a cad drawing and a cut list for myron at irion lumber.

beautiful 15-16" wide matched cherry for this piece

it is loosely based on this paint and maple sideboard we made back in the late 80s

blank slate in the room

 

we also did a cardboard mockup with a full size drawing ...

step one, the ply case

add the end panels, doors, drawers, and a template 

for the granite folks, and we are good to go .. well,

actually, as usual, there is a little more to it than that ..

 gotta deal with those off center, pesky pipes that have to be moved

so i made the jig below for the plumbers and set it up for them ..

that worked until i had my 'problem thoughts' when i awoke the morning of the installation ..

we now had to get the fairly heavy cabinet over the pipes and into place in the corner 

 with no place to stand .. brain storm

solution ??? remove the cabinet from the base .. 

place blocks to raise the box up above the top of the pipes,

slide the box over the pipes and remove one set of blocks at a time ..

fortunately, the supply pipes were only a bit above the top of the base, and the plastic drain

pipe had yet to be glued in, so we only needed 3 sets of 2 x 4 blocks ...

all that anxiety for nothing ... 

a really old friend

now this piece is what you would call a REALLY old friend.  i actually made this cherry and ash piece, according to the client, in 1980, my first full year in the custom furniture business.  the client was a friend who started and owned a successful art gallery and custom framing business at the time.  the design of the doors is actually taken from one of his most successful frame designs.  originally, there were two shelves above it, but the second one was crowded out in the bar's most recent home by what i believe is a striking gunter korus oil.  click the photos to enlarge them.

i don't remember the origin of the carved drawer pull detail, but i remember it being a challenge to cut those faces out of the top frame board to make the grain continuos.

this view shows more clearly the finger jointed slate frame for the well cared for black slate, and the hand carved backsplash detail

drawer detail with funky dovetails ...

a view of the interior of the cabinet.  i actually remember making the jig to create the 'box corner' detail on the v shaped pieces.  i think the ends of the 'vs' slid into angled slots in the sides of the wine rack.

this piece is actually for sale.  the client is now in his late 70s and intends to downsize to a new home in the spring and he's editing his extensive holdings.  he told me last week he 'hasn;t had a drink in 27 years' and his 'daughters house is too small' so it is on the block at a VERY reasonable price.  way less than i would build it for again now.  if you are at all interested, please contact me at 802-867-5541 for details.

thanks! it's a great piece.  if i had a place for it, i would consider buying it myself !