A New Custom Light Fixture

Plugged in in the shop .. On location it will cast light up,down and to the sides

Future home of the light fixture

Looking down into the top .. compact florescent 60w bulb

Sam just finished this custom light fixture to go with the Contemporary Railing he made back in the fall .... It's constructed from extra pieces of the hollow posts he cut during construction. The stripe down the front is a piece of figured redwood veneer on plexiglass which looks good whether the light is off or on ... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

Cool Item From The Metalshop

The flowers are flying ... Sam made three roses last week and this 'lilly' on Monday ... can't wait to see what he does with them ...

on the 'stem'

Sam has been checking out some instructional video stuff on the internet .... This, aparently, was a good one. Cool object ... Click the pictures for better viewing ... he's made a couple more since this one ..going for a bouquet I think ... each one gets better ...

No Time For Details

Think of this one as a sort of 'mother-of-all-posts' ... For one reason or another this month, I have been too busy to write in any detail. New requests for work are coming in .. Some of them are pretty involved design wise. Plus we're working on two different sets of chairs, a two chair addition to a set of 8 we made in 1991 (luckily we still had some patterns and jigs) .... and one set is a redesign of a chair we also made first in the 90's. Chairs, particualrly new deisgns require a lot of attention.
Last weekend, Will and I went to the Vineyard to set up a pool table and I am headed for NYC this Sunday to drop off the 'Art Deco' 'cabinet. Work has even slightly cut into my paddle tennis time. I am not, however, complaining, but figure myself as being kind of lucky for the moment ..... Here's what were working on ... Click the pictures for better viewing ...


A set of eight chairs based loosely on the green one which is the mockup from the originals

parts

There will by 6 sides and two arms in this set

This is one of the original set of 8 that we're making two more for ..

Carved 'Spanish' feet and a nice turned stretcher

An important original angle drilling jig for the side round stretchers. The bottom piece of poplar is angled on the same angle as the front to back of the chairs ... +/- 7 degrees I think it is .. Glad we saved this one ...

Will is signing the ebony cabinet, which mostly, except for Trevor's inlay work and my small assist hanging the doors, he did all the work on. This photo shows the nice shine ... It's off to the city Sunday ...

DCF 2008

Will and I set up the pool table and light fixture on the Vineyard last weekend. the clients were happy and after some good live music Friday night, we ...

toured around a sort of deserted Edgartown ... unbelievable architecture .

Spire on the Methodist Church ... columns are about 48" in diameter at the base

The doors are at least 10' high ... IMHO a 'perfect' piece of Federal architecture

We had a request for a coffee table with a base like the card table posted in December ...

We designed it, but the order is not confirmed

This is a new design project for a client in Weston ... we're still working on the designs for this wall and two others in the same room ... good project for a good client ..

Considered all closed doors

We're also reworking the mantle detail and considering stone for the fireplace

Still lots to do on the edesign for this one before we can start ... The carpenters are framing now though so hopefully it won't be long ..

We designed a coffee table with 'hidden' compartments ... a website request ... unconfirmed as yet

We did a field test for safety equipment to protect us from tablesaw kickback

A new railing project design for Sam .. a complex one to figure out with all the levels and corners.

Got it figured now and it will get underway next week sometime

Designed some simple mirrors for over the tapered cabinets ... unconfirmed as yet

Another web request for a custom cofee table based on one we built several years ago ..

Getting close but as yet unconfirmed

Got an order for two coffee tables like this one ...

http://www.dorsetcustomfurniture.com/ItemDetails.aspx?iId=181&mId=-7&pcId=

Rounding Up The Railings

Sam and I have recently had a number of new requests for metal railings, both indoor and outdoor. The pictures that we have on the web are scattered throughout our blog and website and I thought it best to organize at least most of them here for a good quick overview ...
Click the photos to enlarge them ...
Follow the underlkined links for more info ...

A contemporary railing with fabricated tapered posts and floor mounted post flanges.

A typical hand drawing for a railing project proposal

A typical CAD drawing for a stair and balcony railing

Plasma cut 3/8ths" thick tapered spindles

The Williams Store Railings

Railing from the CAD drawing above

One inch twisted balusters, 1 per step, with fabricated metal base collars.

The Rupert, Vermont, Town Hall

I just happened to catch these as Sam was painting over the primer on the back side... I thought it was a cool look ... We don't have a picture of the full railing installation yet ..

The JK Adams gas heater railing/guard

Straight, twist and repeat

This is an antique railing from Boyertwon, PA ...Cast elements similar to these are still readily available ..

While not like the railings above, the photos show some other metalwork Sam has completed in the last year ...

A custom steel and gold leaf window grill

A fabricated and gold leafed bench ... Wood parts by DCF

Some Custom Snowboard Event Trophies

Back to Work

Ok .. Holidays are over ... Back to work ... We finished three pieces so far this week. The first was the Art Deco inspired cabinet below ... see the previous post about it in December ...
The inlay from the Art Deco Cabinet ... Inlay by Trevor ... Ebony and MOP pulls by Will ... REALLY NICE SHINY LACQUER FINISH by Steve Holman of Holman Studios, just a mile down the road ... This piece is/was extremely hard to photograph .... Click the photos to enlarge them ...

The Art Deco Cabinet ... Macassar ebony, Gaboon ebony, mahogany secondary and mother-of-pearl ... Got it back from Steve on Tuesday and reassembled it ... All done ... and I'm glad. that one was A LOT harder then it looks ...

Tomorrow Will and I are off to Martha's Vineyard to install the pool table and the light Sam made below. If the pool table clients are close enough, we make the effort to set them up ourselves. They are always in nice places like, for instance, Martha's Vineyard. The last one was in Greenwich, CT ... Anyway, I've never been to the Vineyard in the winter but the client has a guest house for us and it should be as they say 'nice in the off season' ... No problem getting on the ferry I bet ....

The pool table ... Handhewn beams and recyled ?hemlock? rails and blinds ... Virgin timber whatever it was, with beautiful unbelievably fine grain .. I hope to update the Build Your Own Pool Table post I started in December at some point, but it won't be for a minute .... Surprisingly, there are quite a few new inquiries coming in since the holidays ....

Sam's latest from the metal shop ... nice green glass shades

Happy New Year !

I don't have any huge insightful things to say here today .... taking a break on the start of the 'New Year' .... A few words do come to mind though ....

Peace

Change

Thoughtfulness

Presentness ( I think I made that one up )

Compassion

Hope

And ... The days are getting longer

Tom Peters' Blog

I've known Tom Peters, the 'In Search of Excellence' guy, for 10 years or so, since he married a friend of mine back in the 90's. Lately, I've been reading other stuff that's out there on the web and I think his blog is one of the best for business related thinking ... It never fails to make me at least just stop for a minute (or laugh), and reflect on what's going on in the world, what I'm doing in it, and how I'm doing it. Soooo ... If you're in the mood for reflection (and who isn't these days) check out his blog here.. While I was reading there, he had a link to this inspirational and thought provoking post 'Nine Predictions for 2009' by Tom Asacker. All good reading ... enjoy! ....

and he claims he's innocent ...