A Custom Window Grill

gold leafed and polished ... Click th epictures to enlarge ...

After a moment of temporary confusion, we 'got er done' and ready for paint and gold leaf below


We've actually been puttering on this project, figuring it out part by part over the last couple of weeks while the construction project that will be it's final home was idling along. We now have a delivery date so we're starting the push to get it together and finish it up .... It will be a grill over a piece of glass in a passage door, and it's based on a design by Gilbert Poillerat (French 1902-1988), known for his metal work. It's been fun so far and I can't wait to see it all come together.


The original inspiration page .. Unfortunately we won't be able to charge as much as Gilbert gets these days ...

The full size drawing and the parts ready to assemble
6/20/08

Getting the 'bows' cut and ready to weld

The joinery of the frame (round tenons in holes, welded from the outside, is complete and the arrow needs the ball on it. Unfortunatelym the forged ball we bought was hardened by the
manufacturing process and it's proving tough to drill ... we'll get it ... heat it, cool it, heat it, cool it ... The arrow is looking pretty cool ...

6/824/08 Home stretch .... 'Bows' assembled and located, twisted wire detail explored ....

Anatomy of a Wall Sconce

Front View CAD drawing

We made several of these fir and walnut sconces for a client several years ago and I have always meant to make some more. They look great on the wall, they're fun to build (though time consuming and a bit fussy) and they give you a chance to try some stained glass work if you're so inclined. The dimensions on the drawing are approximate and I recommend starting with a mockup and/or a full size drawing to lay out the joinery. You should be able to get lamp supplies and advice from your local lighting place or online. Be sure to check grounding requirements with your local electrician.

daylight with the light on

inside view .. note brass back plate against wall

side view .. dimensions approximate

joinery mockup showing space for glass and tenons ... the tenons were mitered and pinned ..
this sconce inspiration photo is from the G&G area of the Huntington Museum in Pasadena ...

Greene and Greene Style Inlay

Close up of the finished chair


My friend and golf partner, Bill LaBerge is a fine furnituremaker, inspired by furniture of Greene and Grene and the Arts and Crafts Movement, and we often share our skills and resources. In fact, within a two mile radius of my shop there are a total of four custom furnituremakers, myself, Bill, Steve Holman, and Bill Tate, (no website), all with employees and we all cooperate and help one another, sharing our tools, our lumber orders, and our particular skills and expertise. Bill recently had a comission for some Blacker House style chairs that involved 12 inlaid backsplats. To be more precise, 24 curved, through mortises, 12 inlay pockets and 120 pieces of pretty tiny inlay. After completing and photocopying his handmade prototype, he asked if we could do the preparatory inlay work for him on our CNC to speed the process along. We scanned his full sized photocopy into our CAD program, created the drawings and the protoype below, (with donut), made the improvements he suggested, created a second, more finished prototype for his approval and we were off. The splats were curved so we made extra deep pockets and thicker inlays so everything could be leveled off. He cut the through square holes on his mortiser after we were finished doing our work. There was still some handwork for him to do after we were through, but essentially, the inlay pieces fit right into the holes cut by our router. Total elapsed time per splat for the work described above including the prototyping and programming .... approximately one hour per splat. If you don't think the Hall brothers would have loved this machine, you never tried to make a set of custom chairs with inlays and make a profit at the same time .... Please contact us for custom inlay work and custom CNC work at
802 867 5541 ... Thanks ... Click the pictures for better viewing ...

Drawing Bill's protoype inlay on the laptop, creating the tool paths

Sample inlay pockets with donut

Stool and chair splats ... our inlays off the router, on the right hand splat

First three of the sixty inlay 'stems'

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