5/1 12 ... ok, the curly maple island is ready to go ... were going to move it in one piece to the site tomorrow, weather permitting. it was an interesting project, more complicated than it looks, and were looking forward to seeing it later this week with its granite top and sink installed in its new home. we finished it at the clients request with a wash coat of shellac and two wipe on coats of waterlox. very smooth feeling and easy to apply. fast drying too ... good job trevor ...
end view with the open shelves for large pots
other end
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stool side ... still cant figure out this new blogger interface ... i may have to actually watch the video ..
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........................................................ 4/12/2012 above ...........
island update 4/11 ..... ok, were coming along now ... after working out the construction details with the full size corner mockup in the two photos at the bottom of this post, we started actual construction by building the kick space directly on top of our full size cardboard layout drawing. on this drawing seen below, (a bad image, poorly photoshopped to compensate for low contrast and glare) we laid out our cabinet and corner post lines, the sink, and inverted between the orange lines, our vertical section which shows panel and face frame details .. click the photos to enlarge them ....
from that drawing and the original mockup, we turned our round column bases that the octagon columns sit on. we then drilled the rounds for timberlock lag screws which we used to attach the round bases to the tablesawn octagons. the orange arrows on those indicate the sawn faces which came out ever so slightly smaller than the planed faces ... it seems impossible to get them all perfectly the same size but we wanted the face that our face frames attached to to be all the same size. follow that? good for you. we notched the octagons for the face frames and routed L shaped recesses in the round bases for the little bead moldings that allowed us to transition the beveled tops of the turnings to the panels. got that? really good ... i think you can see that detail in the mockup too.
i forgot to mention we also had to cut a freehand corner out of each round where it intersected the toe space on the bandsaw before attaching the whole deal to the kick with more timberlocks ... got that?... im trying not to bore you with all the details; but there were certainly a lot of things to think about on this project before we could even begin ...
now were on to the more straightforward part of the construction where we build the boxes and add the face frames and panels ...
one more shot of the base with its curly maple kick faces and all the columns in place.
and we had a moment where we stopped to appreciate mother natures veneer work with the naked lady doing a handstand ... fun!
part of the project was that the owner would supply the wood, but after struggling mightily to make silk purses from not so great material, the owner graciously allowed us to get a bunch of matched curly maple lumber from our friends at irion, and you just cant believe how much happier we all are ... piece after consistent piece .... beautiful panel after beautiful panel, matched drawer face with matched drawer face ... its a true pleasure to work with their stuff ....
tomorrow we will finish the frame joinery and assemble it all for a test fit before gluing all the panels up .... more as we move it along ... were liking it ...3/27/12
we have a new kitchen island project getting underchoice in the shop ... all natural curly maple with a stone top. open shelves,drawers, a recess for seating, pretty straightforward except for the octagonal columns on the corners .... finished my full size mockup today and once that is approved, well have at it ... click the photos to enlarge them ...
here are the cad drawings that we made from the owners graph paper layouts ... the plan view shows some of the complications where the octagonal columns meat the panels and cabinetry and open shelves but conceptually at least, i think we have it worked out .... were currently working from a full size 4 x 8 cardboard plan view which is a great tool for making cut lists and box sizes. we find the full size things can minimize errors and they dont take too long to create ...
since i sent these photos to the client, i thought i might add these examples of other islands we have built in case you are thinking about designing one yourself. the island above is in my home ... cherry counters with tile around the stove; the seating on the end is where we live, lunch and dinner, good for up to 5 people seated ...
and we built this one in 2007 i think ... it even made it into house beautiful ... actually, it was one of my very first blog posts in october of 2007
another view of it ... the rest of the kitchen and the reclaimed chestnut stools are ours too ...
and heres a nice walnut island for the same client who got the walnut paneled room in 2009...
another wash painted island, very similar in detailing to my own kitchen ... we did some tin punching on that project ... 
and then theres the big island ... almost a continent by some reports ... quartered white oak
and here we arrive at the mockups for our new project ... the octagons seemed simple until i actually had to add the kick spaces and the turned round pedestals ...
the base will be the first piece and it will have a 3/4" top that the cabinetry will be attached to from above ... like a really big puzzle ... more photos as we progress ....on site but the house isnt quite finished
Sabtu, 24 September 2016
the scott lenhardt show
well, you just never know whats next around here .... a couple years ago, at the last minute, we helped wills friend, scott lenhardt, get some stuff together for his first new york show .... scott is a graphic and fine artist and sculptor, most famous for his burton snowboard graphics. as you can see in the flyer above, hes got a show opening at the firehouse gallery in burlington this coming friday. below is a description of the part of the show will helped him with this time ... click the photos to enlarge them ....
scott had a rough prototype with him and some ideas for changes on his first visit a couple of weeks ago ... hes got 6 colorings and 6 birds so he needed 6 painted houses. we brainstormed it a bit and after some adjustments, arrived at the final prototype and the six houses.
naturally, the cnc was involved, as was mdf since they had to be simple, fast to construct, and easy to paint. they left thursday to be wired and painted and i imagine scott is installing the colorings and birds this morning as hes off to burlington later today and the show set up starts tomorrow ...
lots of details for a smallish object ... lights, cords, (groove down the back), discreet hanging on the wall, (french hook), ventilation (slot in the tops at the wall intersection), wiring accessibility, (rare earth magnets and 26 guage galvanized spray 90ed into place), frosted glass, hold the coloring (velcro), etc ... will got them all i think ... interesting project and were considering making the run to attend the opening ...we also made two sort of big mitered frames (3 x 5) that led to the creation of one of our best ever construction jigs ... next post ...
Kamis, 04 Agustus 2016
visualization model making and digital fabrication classes 2 3
saturday was the last class for my green mountain college students above. i thank trevor for helping me to pull this off. i had no idea teaching a one credit course in something that we do all the time would be the challenge that it turned out to be. of course, i didnt anticipate on the fact that both trevor and i would have to learn at least the basics of importing files from the 3d program google sketchup to our toolpathing program, or that since these werent our ideas, in our language, we would have to get into thinking about their projects from their points of view ... anychoice, we made it through and got all but one japanese puzzle box project pretty much finished. i think we all learned something ... i for one, learned that 15 kids in a class with five different projects is fun, but a lot of work ... i had to have a nap when they all left ..click the photos to enlarge them ...
chessboard concept, above and below
during the second class at gmc, we got to see and use lucass one sheet design tables that we cut on the cnc for him back in january ... (scroll choice down) .. they worked great, both as singles and arranged in a block to form larger work areas ... very clever design .. 
the photos above are from the second class on march 24th at the on campus design studio. in that class, the groups finalized their project choices and they all worked up a rough cardboard mockup that explored their paper based ideas. that was fun
and while we were there, we got to see another design class project ... i forget the technical name, but it is on the line of the micro houses you may have seen in the news .. very cool ...
i wish i had had more time to take photos as the models progressed, but i didnt ... the group above learned that they had to do a little more research on angles and dimensions for comfortable seating ...
and the boys above had to do a little more research into lighting ...
there were adjustments on the fly that trevor handled with ease ...
the puzzle box required some fussy assembly and we came up a little short on getting that one working ... well make some revised pieces and send them up so it can be finished ...
im pretty sure a good time was had by all ...Rabu, 13 Juli 2016
Furniture Making and Interior Design
let us now talk about interior design and furniture making. they are related .... i have alchoices thought them to be separate disciplines, but in looking through my on site photos folder recently, i realized that making a piece of furniture, particularly a piece for a particular client, for a particular spot, with their design input, is more than furniture making. if you get it right, not only have you manifested their vision, but you have created for them a special place, a place where they too can see their vision. powerful stuff, when you think about it .... so, that said, i will be adding a new category to my blog, interior design, where occasionally i will post a few photos of successful collaborations that i feel meet the criteria above. like the sideboard above, some are from my own home, where the realization began; others from my local clients homes.click the photos to enlarge them ...
this is one of my favorite before and after rooms ... the challenge was to take a little used guest room/fly tying spot and turn it into a husband and wife home office/fly tying spot ... lots of conversations, lots of drawings, lots of changes ... before above ...
after
we did, in the end, receive a couple of design awards for this one ...
