what a week

well, i'm gonna try your patience here. i haven't been writing much lately, (too busy, the weather's too nice, pick an excuse ) so i thought i would catch up with a monster post summarizing the last week or two. here goes:

the photo above is not from the guggenheim, but rather from the house where we delivered the circular bench this past thursday. fit like a glove, as the saying goes.
the pictures were a challenge as the light was intense at the top of the steps late in the day ... you get the idea. the stairway is three full stories and is a 6' radius at the outside of the curved railing
the bench went to the same house as the swinging bench
and we've got two claro slab dining tables underway in the shop .. a ten footer and a twelve footer. both slabs are from the same log and are going to two different clients, one in chicago, and one in northern vermont. one of the table tops will be finished in a satin black color, which should be interesting as it's the first one of these tables we have made to be stained. the sample was elegant, so i'm looking forward to seeing it finished ... this week?
the 10 footer will have our regular natural finish, and both slabs are now routed for the bases. on to the finishing room monday with this one.
while we're talking about claro walnut, we're also working on some pieces for an upcoming show at a new venue in the berkshires opening on the 21st of july. it's a converted mill space in housatonic, mass., near great barrington, and while i haven;'t seen it yet, the space looks fantastic in the photo above. we started out figuring on a minimal presence, but at the urging of the organizers, we're now making a bigger effort. we're working on a couple of pieces using the small claro slabs we purchased back in february.
we've got a funky mdf desk mockup going, which sam will fabricate in steel this week. i'm not sure yet about the vertical things and we'll have to see as we go along. i might try some more polished rebar instead.
we've also got this coffee table slab. the base is completed and will be like the one we finished recently. i've decided not to reinvent the wheel with every piece we build. enough is enough.
also early last week, we started a new pool table. this is a long story i will eventually tell in a dedicated blog post, but for now, here's what we have so far ...
a bunch of parts roughed out, the slate, the slate support pieces and below,
a mockup of the leg details and and full size drawing. the table will be walnut, with quilted maple panels, which will veneered earlier last week.
and we've got this very funky bench project in the works, proceeding from the sketch above,
to the cad drawing ...
to the actual thing nearly completed. the last thing will did friday was cut the back on the cnc and he'll fit it up and fabricate the round cap on manday ... it's made from reclaimed white oak. hopefully, it will be ready to roll out by the end of next week.
and, speaking of rolling out, the benches for the copper top table left tuesday and are now on the porch in connecticut. i'm waiting for a photo of the whole setup from the client ... these are, like the table 11' long and have reclaimed chestnut x bases with new, distressed and painted ash tops.
and, that copper top table and benches led sam to create this 8' table for one of his clients. he'll be making matching benches with steel x bases soon .... 'take an object, do something to it, do something else to it'. this is a perfect ...
and we cut this quickie elm slab desk top from a slab we purchased at berkshire products ... in the door; meet with the client and cut it to shape; apply some finish; out the door last wednesday ... love a quick turnaround. still with me? almost done now .... my A D D is kicking in and it is a BEAUTIFUL day here in vermont ...
this one was a rescue operation ... it had been previously altered (20 years ago?) with some bad cast iron rail hardware that never quite was iustalled correctly. if you touched a post, the whole bed wobbled and swayed and seemed ready to collapse. we reversed the 'repair' by removing the 'improved' rails, patching those moritises and made new wider rails that were attached through the original bed bolt holes. new bolt covers and a ply mattress support and this bed is ready for the next hundred years. nice turnings and design. solid as a rock ...


and it seems things are picking up a bit ... these are just a could of projects that popped into the design quay this week ... more on those as they (hopefully) progress.

i'm outta here ... time to go watch the orioles ... click this one .. it's one of my best bird photos ...