pottery show

still fooling around with the pottery thing .. had a few new platters and plates

come out of the kiln lately ... got another batch in the works.

working with color is so different, (and quieter), than working with wood ...

neon orange + cobalt black

spring green, kentucky bluegrass, neon blue, cobalt back

neon orange + neon blue and teal blue

bottom side

teal blue and yellow

jasper johns target

 neon green + black

teal blue, red clay, hunter green, yellow orange

hunter green, marine blue, black, red clay

more to come ...

seeders instruments instagram feed

any of you folks out there interested in musical instruments or musical instrument repair would likely enjoy visiting seeders instruments photos on facebook.  if you've ever wondered what's inside a guitar or violin, you'll find out there .. enjoy ..

a cabinet mockup

ok .. the cabinet is done and in new york now,

awaiting the application of the antique papers.

i'm going to update this whole post eventually with more construction detail.

this was a deceivingly complex piece and we're happy to have it on its

way to its new home.

the original part of the post below i wrote back in april

as a 'information' post for the client.  there is more to this piece than 

meets the eye and we wanted to work out the proportions and

construction details before working on the real thing.

a full size 'model', if you will.

 shows a 3/4 view .. for bigger versions of these pictures, click them to enlarge them ..

overall dimensions of this mockup 58 high x 30.5 wide x 16.5" deep

 from the side a little more

 with the elbow catch

 interior .. drawer faces and shelves mahogany .. painted back?

 the top of the cabinet is below typical eye level.  it is also the only surface on the outside of the cabinet not to have the applied paper and frame detail

 showing the side hung runners for the file drawers.  we can use full extension runners on all the drawers if you like .. otherwide, the smaller drawers will run on wood and pull out only about 3/4 of the total depth

 side view with sample leg

close up

 designer pdfs

pie top table

so, my designer friend, nina, wanted 'something unusual' for the top of the antique 

table base that she bought at brimfield below.  had to be round.  

i scratched my head for a bit, and this is what we came up with.

click the photos to enlarge them. 

it's a very cool thing.  kind of like a piano stool.  i wish i had taken a picture of the raising 

mechanism.  that knob in the middle of the shaft locks it at whatever height you

tighten it at.  it's got an acme thread adjusting shaft and a spinning collar that raises

and lowers the top.  at the bottom it's about 22" high, and at the top. about 38".

very slick.  i'm sort of stumped as to its original purpose, but it is really well made and very stable.

a 14" wide piece of glued up reclaimed oak, cut into four 'pie shaped' pieces, and glued up.

we had to special order the 2014 silver dollar as our local banks didn't have any.

we tried a bunch of different patina chemicals on it, but the only thing that worked was a soak

in good old chlorox for about an hour .. it wasn't 'perfect', but a little black sharpie and 

it was 'good enough.

cad drawing above.  we cheated by throwing the plank up on the cnc and cutting 

it there for a 10 minute perfect fit and glue up.

a curly maple pedestal table

we just finished a nice curly maple pedestal table.  

it's heading to Connecticut next week.

it's based on a design we've done a number of times now, usually before in walnut.

we started with nice wood from our favorite supplier, irion lumber.

myron sent us a matched set of boards, all from the same log.

before the angled apron and the finish. this is the first time

for the angled apron, which we feel gives the top a lighter look.

the base support pieces are mitered and dominoed and then glued up a pair at a time.

then the halves are glued together.  they are secured to the base by timberlock screws that engage

the cross grain 3/4" dowels inserted in the pieces before they are glued together.  we usually add a little glue between the horizontals and the verticals, but  it's mostly the timberlocks the give the base its rigidity.

we now include two dowels in each base section.  this blog post contains the most information

on the construction and assembly of this type of table.

here's a smallish oval version from last december.  

that one went to an isalnd in the carribbean.

 and here's the original from 2010 with a
link to the original table design and blog post from august 2010

lots of stuff from the metal shop

sam's been quite busy in the metal shop lately ..

 tomorrow he'll finish up this custom steel table base with 1" solid rolled arcs on the corners.

 we'll be getting the reclaimed chestnut 'any day now', so we can start on the actual top, which will be similar to the top on the 'basque style' chestnut table we made back in january

the steel will have a blackened patina and a matte sheen clear finish

 next up, a dough bowl sink.  the clients came to us with this antique dough bowl which is a totally handmade, irregular, antique object.  i made a wood mockup and fitted the 'sink' to it. sam then crafted the actual metal base by matching the steel angles and lengths to the wood mockup.

 weld up the ends and connect the dots ..

it's all blackened now and sam will deliver it to londonderry tomorrow.

 and here's a custom coffee table base for a friend who will make his own top and lower shelf.

sam will finalize the finish color with the clients tomorrow

and some 'vermonter' beltbuckles.  i saw #238 on one of them.  in the foreground is a hammer sam forged in a class with his friend pat quinn at the adiurondack crafts school a couple weekends ago.  pat just received his masters in black smithing from southern illionois university in carbondale and his work is featured in the latest issue of the anvil's ring, the quarterly magazine of ABANA.

and another in our series of claro wlanut slab coffee table bases

 fooling with a snow roller wheel for a designer client ..

we're going to try to hang it and light it

and lastly, some 'adjusted' new grill work for the wood fired grill at a local restaurant.