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

art show ...

 6/13/2023

the dorset field club, where i play golf, paddle tennis and tennis is having its first 

one day member art show.  each member/artist was invited to show two paintings,

two drawings, or two photographs representing their artistic leanings ... 

the list of participants is lengthy, and i look forward to seeing the show tomorrow.

i had trouble selecting just two works from the many drawings and paint splashes 

i have made over the years ... there is a slideshow at this link of 

some of the paintings, drawings, pottery, and woodburnings i had to choose from.

  use your arrow keys to click quickly through it.

in the end, i selected a couple of small ones for the show, like 7" x 11" or so ..

over and out ... more after the show

 

6/17/2023

ok ... the show's over, and what a hit it was!

it was a very rainy and dark afternoon, but when i got 

there at 5:00 the place was full!  so full, i couldn't really take any 

pictures of the art til the party ended at 7:00, and folks filtered out.

there were over 30 members contributing, and the outpouring 

of  'hidden talent' most folks found 'pretty amazing' ..

who knew?

below are some photos, without all the people ...

click the photos to enlarge them ...

those are mara and kristian's sheep in the lower left corner

a few of the larger works ...

a close up of one by nancy howe

my two small paintings look a little lost there 

to the left of dr. henley's dog portraits and just to 

the right and below pam marron's barn ...

the 'pirate' was a hit with me ... 

i spoke to the artist and she said it was one of her 'smaller ones'

it's a wrap! a few folks still at the bar, 

but by the next morning it was all gone ...

thanks to leida rodenburg and patti campbell for putting this all together ...

lots of furniture photos to see on my website and blog ....