dorset artists 2012

its that time again .. the 2nd annual dorset artists show.   this year, there are (again) the regular dorset artist who are living and working here now, and, thanks to the vermont country store, there is an excellent selection of deceased vermont artists from their extensive collection.  last year, the show was all dorset artists, and it was great ... this year also looks like a good one. i cruised through today and took a few snapshots which are posted below ... the public opening is tomorrow, august 4th, from 4 to 6, and all are welcome. ill be sitting the show sunday from 11-6. come on by and have a visit if you are in town.  click the photos to enlarge them ...
georgine macgarvey and barbara melhado organized the show again this year, with assistance from penny and jim viscusi. they rounded up the usual suspects, including above and below, matt harding.  his painted steel sculpture is out the front door, on the town green.

inside, we have steve holman and dan with a couple pieces of furniture. thats our coffee table and steves chairs.

a nice arthur jones

a nancy howe russell  ...  alchoices fantastic

a bill laberge coffee table

an oil by georgine

more of steves chairs and some penny viscusis ...

our bethlehem steel bureau by sam, will and dan, and a handhooked rug by meliina wall, yet to be hung.

and several by brian sweetland

upstairs, there is an astonishing selection of deceased vermont artists. several by churchill ettinger ...

some nice gene pelhams. gene was a contemporary of norman rockwell, and they both lived and worked, for a time, down the road in arlington.
a room full of harry shoklers
and other fine artists too numerous to mention ... the show runs through september 16th ... stop in ...

Read More..

dorset artists then and now

this evening was the opening for a new show called dorset artists...then and now. an extraordinary selection of works by 22 artists living and working in the immediate dorset area, as well as an equally incredible assembly of works from private local collections that represent 26 artists from dorsets past. the works of the now folks were selected and curated by georgine macgarvey-holman, ( one of the nows ), while loans for the then works were arranged and assembled by barbara melhado. putting on a show like this is an incredible feat of organization and i would say this is easily the most impressive collection of works assembled and presented by unpaid volunteers that i have ever seen. my hat is off. the opening was well attended and people were extremely interested in both the variety and quality of the works on display. its impossible for me to cover them all here, and i would hate to slight anyone; essentially, these are the photos that came out the best as i casually strolled through the show with my camera late friday afternoon and today. you have to see this show in person to really appreciate it and youve got until september 8th to do it. come on by. 11-6 daily, except mondays. the show is located on the green, in beautiful downtown dorset, next to the dorset union store ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
an overview of the mission ...
some then folks ... cleade enders on the left... i think those are humphrys on the right
more thens ... remarkable stuff .. love the woman with the trumpet by lorenzo hatch ... also there, david parsons, john lillie and claude dern ...
a jay connachoice ... a local artist famous for his homer like seascapes, who was as good as they get
sam and jen, getting their history lesson
and sam and i on the bridges bench ... metalwork by sam, woodwork by will, inspiration by my grandfather ...
nancy howe russell on the left;
pam marron left, barbara rowles, right
penny viscusi
arthur jones
and, they were kind enough to include us furniture makers ... above, william laberge
and here, steve holman of holman studios .. also in this photo, john pitcher on the left and ace manley on the right. john and his wife sue westin are proprietors of the gallery on the marsh, just down the road on route 30.
and thats georgine, bursting on the scene, wrapping up the final details on friday. our table and chairs are in the foreground ...
and these are my woodburnings, out and about from the studio for maybe only the second time ever. im sitting the show sunday and ill try to capture a few more of the highlights then. come on by ...

Read More..

veneer bag storage

we finally bought a new veneer bag recently to replace our old one that had multiple, more or less, irreparable leaks. i got about 15 years out of it so, no complaints. part of our problem with the old bag was storage, so this time we took a cue from our friend steve holman and raised it up to the ceiling and out of the choice. heres a link to a video of it going up, up and achoice ... it kind of blocked the light over wills bench when it was up so we had to add another light fixture, but the whole rigging is sweet. lower it down, load in a piece, and raise it up and out of the choice ... pump and all. click the pictures to enlarge them...

we got the electric hoist, good for about 1100 pounds, for about $100. on line ...

a couple pulleys from mcmaster-carr and some 1/4" safety chains and were all set ...

Read More..

a custom pool table

ok .. were getting close now ... as i wrote back on july 28th, theres a lot going on in the shop. for the last week or so though, trevor and will and i have been pulling the final pieces of the pool table together. pool tables are alchoices a challenge because, typically, we havent built one for a while. our last one was in 2008 ... holy cow, no wonder we couldnt remember what we were doing exactly, and they are all different ... were wrapping this one up, and, wonder of wonders, well be starting another one in a couple of weeks. hopefully that one will be a breeze. .. click the photos to enlarge them ...

like most things here, we took something and did something to it.

natural irion walnut and quilted big leaf maple

what we took was the pool table below, dropped the tapered legs, changed the inlays from baseball inspired to geometric and had at it. the proportions, moldings and palette are pretty much the same, but the result will be different ...
the one above we built in 2003, so no one working with me now was working with me then. but fortunately, that table is local and, coincidentally, the client requested that we level it up as it was exhibiting a slight roll to one corner. after studying the roll, (it took 3 or 4 racks), we determined that the one corner was in the dead center of a +/- 30 clear span and either the thick carpet there had crushed or the joist had sagged ever so slightly. a piece of 1/16th inch veneer and two playing cards under one leg and we were back to level. it was a bonus, as we got to check it all out and remember how to build it.

like anything, you start with a bunch of parts. i never counted them, but trust me, there were a bunch ... our trusty companion is still, after 23 years of pool table making, (15 tables total) an article by paul bowman that first appeared in fine woodworking in 1989 ... i give you the link here. pauls table was different than most of ours, but the information applies (still) and if you study it, i think its all in there somewhere.

we typically start with a leg mockup ...

and in this case, we made the mortises for the inlays and the inlays for the 16 leg pieces, but held off on gluing the inlays in until we were ready to do the finishing ...

our assembly system is a hybrid system of bolts and steel plates and captured nuts, (like for bed bolts), and i really need to document that for the future .. trevors got it dialed in now so as long as hes around, im good to go.

i have documented the rail process a series of steps below that define the playing area (44 x 88 in this case), and make the balls behave and the pockets the right size.

the rails are constructed in two pieces ... ive got a very detailed cad drawing with dimensions and angles and ill post it here at some point ... the steel plates you see in the poplar above are for the rail bolts that come up through the holes you see in the slate below and lock the cushions firmly in place so the balls bank properly.

after we add the profiled rails to the polar subrails, we cut them to length using standard dimensions for each size playing area.

first we install the inlays, spaced in all cases at 1/8th (long rails) or 1/4 (end rails), of the playing area. in this case 11" starting out from the center of the side pocket and the middle of the end rails.

then we add the rubber using yellow glue and masking tape with the goal of having the point of the cushion one and 13/32nds (1.40something) of an inch above the surface of the felt so that they are not too high ... (ball does not rebound with life and kind of thuds) .. or too low ... (ball rockets off the table when struck too hard). .. a vitally important detail ...

then you have to figure out how to drill the holes for the pockets .. we do em like this, except on a full size table where we have to raise the drill press up on a platform.

then you have to drill for the bolts that hold the pockets in place ...

then you get to put it all together and bolt it all to the slate and mark out the pocket angles ...

above, i give you the keys to the kingdom ... the order in which to do all this stuff. this is my 3rd and hopefully final iteration of this list.

after marking the angles using the standard measurements and angles from pauls article and a couple of jigs we have made, we cut them on our chopsaw, all on compound, fussy angles. the ends of the rubber than get different rubber cushion facings and then the felt is applied ... well cover that when we get to it ... soon

update 8/22

i still havent posted the felting of the rail details, but i hope to get to that tomorrow or maybe over the weeked. the table is finished now and it will be leaving for virginia next week on tuesday

we set it up for a final check yesterday, using a piece of blue felt left over from another project. i only wanted to stretch the real camel piece once, when the table is set up for real ... plays great and im happy with the new design.

Read More..