A Death in the Family

My Mom and Dad 2005

Sam, Saturday afternoon with the finished casket

My Mom died yesterday. It was quiet, graceful, and not unexpected, but still, as always, a shock. I'm happy she made it to the 4th as my birthday is the 3rd and forever after would have been tinged with a sort of bittersweetness. Now though, I can think that every 4th of July party is a little bit for her, fireworks included. I practiced that concept last night and though it was hard for me, my friends agreed it was a good thought. As I did for my father two years ago, I built the casket along with my two boys, my wife, and my employeees. Everybody pitched in and it went more quickly and smoothly than the last time. My mother was a quilter and I took that as an inspiration. The red, white and blue was, believe it or not, an accident ... She always liked blue .... Building a casket for a loved one is a cleansing experience and was summed up beautifully in an email I got from a client after I told her the news. I hope that she doesn't mind that I share it here.

"Hi, I'm very sorry to hear the news about your mother. You and your boys making the casket is really special. She will be enveloped by people that love her. I told you how much I love the smell of the wood in my dressing room furniture, it makes me think about the furniture like it has life and significance. I get it that it feels cleansing to you to do this for her. It didn't sound grim to me, more like a very special goodbye."

That about says it all.

Click the pictures to enlarge them

End of the first day

A quilt my mother made for us

The quilt inlay

Hardware

My father's casket ... 6/27/06

Casket Dimension Info

I'd like to amend my comments below in the more clear light of several days later. I don't want to have anyone head into a project like this at a difficult time without knowing that it's a big one that you probably can't complete without considerable experienced help. Looking back and talking with my two sons who helped me and guestimating how much time my other employees spent, I have to say that it probably took between 80 and 90 manhours total. Of course if you eliminate the quilt inlay and buy the hardware rather then making your own, and do a simpler finish, you could probably halve that effort. Still, it's a great thing to do, but not something to be undertaken lightly. My original post is below, written on the day before we actually finished. I don't regret a second of it ......

This is something you too can do. I've done it twice now and it feels like you're accepting the death but also doing something about it. No matter what the funeral directors say, there's a law that says they have to use what you give them if it fits in the vault .... I had trouble getting construction information on short notice so here's some help if you find yourself in the same situation. Inside dimensions of my mother's casket are , 22 x 73 x 12.5 .. industry standard vault dimensions into which it must fit are, I believe, 84L x 28 W x 23 H ...Design backwards from the outside in. Rule of thumb is four inches wider and 5 inches longer then the person. The hardware has to fold probably ... Please check with your funeral director to confirm dimensions. Keep it simple ...

Another Custom Railing

6/20/08 Sam's had a busy week. He whipped up a table/island base for a local cabinetmaker, has been working with Jim on the grill parts and finished up the tapered, trapezoidal posts and bases for a custom contemporary railing that he's working on. The 'feet', (steel plates with threaded supports) will be lagged through the treads and into the stringers and and then the posts will be bolted to them giving them a clean contemporary look. After mounting them and making patterns on Monday he'll fabricate the railing sections and weld them in place on site.... The top detail will also be confirmed after the posts are in place. There's a ladder involved somewhere to get to the skylight above but I'm not sure where that's going now ...

CAD drawing

The hollow trapezoidal posts and half post bolted to their respective plates

Photo to the right shows the post mounting brackets

The finials

The half finial against the wall

Finials on the posts, anatomy of a half post and half finial

Custom Metal and Bubinga Bench

Sam and I have been working on a collaborative project with a long time client for a month or so now. The client came with her original sketch and asked us to expand on her ideas and create a 54" bench for an entryway. We sent some sketches back and forth and I liked what was happening so much, Sam started a prototype base in the metal shop. One thing led to another and we decided on bubinga for the wood parts, added an inlay on the seat edge based on a picture of part of a sideboard she sent us, and after a couple tries, using photo printed enlarged versions of the inlay photo, we got the whole thing mocked up. We weren't totally happy with the feet we orginaly made so after consulting with Cynthia, we made a new one based on her input, which we liked a LOT better. Then, at her request we leafed the new foot sample with palladium, which is a cooler, more silvery version of gold leaf. After seeing that, we decided it conflicted color-wise with the curly maple of the inlay, so we're going to do another sample in real gold leaf, which I think will be very elegant. We're working on the parts for the real bench in the metal shop this week and we're moving the project along. It's going to be a fun one. Click the photos to enlarge....

Update 4 12 .... We're making progress. The base has been gold leafed, and it is an awesome sight ... It almost glows in the dark. Later, with the help of the the client, we'll rub it down to a slightly duller but still dramatic sheen. The frame of the seat has been inlayed and glued up ... You can see a video of our CNC router cutting of the channels for the inlay on You Tube. Next week we'll apply the bead molding and the octagonal end features. Then we'll finish it and await the fabric and the upholsterers schedule.


The seat frame inlayed and glued up

The gold leafed base in the shade and inside the finish room with the lights off

The bench base primed for the gold leaf

Sam has finished the metal work on the base and it's ready to prime

3/22/08 Meeting with the client today. Resolved some design issues ... 'dulled' down the gold leaf by burnishing it, giving it a softer and less Louis XV feel. After some discussion regarding the connector between the front and back x es , we settled on two 3/4 square solids , similar to the original prototype. All that's left now is to build the wooden bubinga bench part with it's 12 feet of ebony and curly maple inlay, finish the connector piece, gold leaf the base and antique it, make the slip seat and upholster it ....

Sunny day in the shop .... Gold leafed sample foot to the left

The bench without it's top structure in the metal shop Thursday
With a proposed (but too busy) connector ...

Our original bench mockup with the inlay photos and cushion mockup

The first version of our actual inlay bottom ... refined version top

The new foot next to the original

The new foot with the palladium leaf

The inlay photo from the client

My original sketch based on the client's original sketch

High Chest Repair

We fixed the loose molding and big corner chips on this worthy high chest this week. We were able to remove the end moldings and reglue them with hide glued. It appeared that it was the first time the original end moldings were off the chest since it was built. The front molding, however, was more stubborn and had some serious big nails in the face of it. We had to settle for prying, cleaning and regluing with hide glue while the molding remained in place. Seems to have worked fine and the chest is headed back to its home tomorrow .... Click the pictures to enlarge..

We attempt to remove the loose front molding

Regluing the front molding without getting it off the case

Gluing a new piece on the miter of the short molding

Routing the broken section of the long front molding for the repair piece

The completed repair

Back to storage

A Custom Vanity Project

Like so many of our projects, this one started with an 'inspiration photo' of an existing piece of furniture. Inspiration photos are often clipped from magazines or books or collected from the internet. In one case last fall, I made a table for a woman who claimed she had had the photo on her bulletin board for TEN YEARS ! Anyway, this particualr piece is destined to be a vanity in a formal powder room so we had to make some design modifications. The vanity will have a stone top and the sink is about 8" deep, but is glazed on the bottom so any part that shows will appear finished. The original appeared to have elements that were gold leafed so we made some samples and decided on a palladium leaf. We first made a template to rough turn the delicate bobbin style legs which were then cleaned up by hand, turning with a center steady rest. We then tried a couple of diffferent detail ideas but in the end, settled for a plain apron and leafed appliques as on the original.

6/18/08 Well, we picked up the legs with the Palladium leafing today and they are something! We'll be gluing up the rest of the vanity tomorrow and after a quick couple of topcoats, itwill be on it's way south ...Can't wait to see the whole thing finished ..
Here it is 6/26

Finished means like, in New York, with the real stone top and the sink and faucets installed ... Next week


The inspiration photo

Ready for paint and leafing. The 'top' in this photo is painted mdf.

The original turning sample

Showing the duplicator template and the steady rest.
The Vega duplicator attaches the to lathe ways between the drive center and the tailstock.

The "Lotus" Bed

5/16/08 I've been talking with a client about a queen size bed for the last couple of months and we finally got underway this week . We went back and forth for a while ... I got too fancy with the design and she sent me a simple headboard shape sketch and a sample "lotus" flower which we put together into the drawing and inlay sample below. I'm working on a finish sample that will lend the ash a "pinkish whitish tone" and we'll also be calming down the inlay either by tinting it whiter or by making the background outline and petals in say cherry and curly maple so they stand out less from the light color of the bed .... I think it's going to be very peaceful. Click the pictures to enlarge them ...

With short rails for photograph

6/13/08 ... All finished now ... story below ...

The client's guidance sketches

Working drawing, except for change to side view at footboard

Gluing in the inlay background

'Petals' glued in .... Ready to clamp

Second step on the finish samples ... The wood has been sanded lightly and oiled

... we're looking for something like the 'pinkish-whitish' tone on the left

Test cut of headboard in mdf to guage proortions and overall feel
It's hard to get all the information that you need from a drawing and this process doesn't take a lot of time and lets us see if we know where we are going. In this case, we're going to rotate the flower inlay slightly, move it so the bottom interesection is on the centerline and move it up closer to the top of the headboard....

Close up of sample cut

The top of the headoard to be cut, sanded and inlaid before gluing to the rest of it shown assembled below

The first rough assembly and dimension check

Several hours of jointing and planing rough lumber

Our first sample inlay The bubinga wouldn't lighten up with the white stain so we changed to ash