Slide Shows

I have mostly known that it was possible and easy to post slide shows to the web, but I didnt know how to do it ... Ive seen them up there. I had a pretty mellow day Saturday so I took a couple of hours and figured it out .. It is, actually, a snap, once youve got it ....
I think to communicate a sense of depth and variety of work there is probably nothing more immediate and grabbing than a parade of projects, both completed and in process flashing by on the screen. Ive got one scrolling across my website homepage that sort of annoys me by now, but its there to stay for now Im afraid ... Try the links below for an idea of what Im talking about. Almost all of these photos (except the Greene & Greene photos) have a corresponding blog post and if I take the time, I can add captions with links to the photos ... Try the search box above for more info ... The amazing thing is that you can scroll through these full screen images as fast as 1 second per image and the quality remains excellent.
2010 and a few stragglers This show is some/most of the stuff we have made so far this year
160 photos .. it takes zero time to load ...
2009 and a few from 2008 This ones got a few pieces from late 2007 and 2008, but mostly its 2009 stuff ... 192 photos
A Trip to the Gamble House, Oaklawn, and The Huntingdon Museum in Pasadena ... a collection of random images of Greene & Greene design and Pasadena downtown ... that I took on a visit in 2003 .... 77 photos
If you would like to do this for your own work, heres the deal ...
go to picasa.com ... download the program ... (surprisingly quick)
tell the program to search for photos and it will make a browser display with the folders on your computer that contain photos. (I had 1091 folders with photos in them on my six year old office computer) !!!!
click on the folder and upload or sync or something ... (the help section is good here)
when its synced, push slideshow and copy the browser link
paste it in an email or to your blog or website ...
you can then edit and organize the folder to get the photos in the order you want ... similar to facebook
heres a you tube video that was helpful
Pretty Slick Google ... Thank You ...

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Upcoming Shows

Couple things coming up ... Next weekend, again, in Woodstock is the Seventh Annual Vermont Fine Furniture and Woodworking Festival . I wont be having my own booth, but Lisa Laberge, of Lisa Laberge Interiors will be using a dining table and chairs of ours for her booth Out of the Modern Woods. Shes creating a 10 x 20 room decorated with all Vermont made furniture and might also have room for my skinny console, a new piece were working on that should be finished this week sometime ... The top is ready to finish and Sams welding up the base tomorrow .... Well also have a new steel and wood sculpture there in the Guild of Vermont Furniture Makers booth. (the Guild has a pretty slick new website at that link ... check it out) Havent started that piece yet but we have it figured out and hey, nothing focuses the mind like a fast approaching deadline.
Also in the last minute department, this week well be reworking a prototype bench Sam and I made last summer, for an upcoming show at the Southern Vermont Art Center. We had some furniture there this spring and they invited us to place a bench in one of the galleries for the upcoming fall shows that open October 1st. I worked on the bench for a couple hours this morning and I think I have that one figured out too ... Ive got four days to get it all together ... Ill keep you posted ....
as it is now
first attempt
thinner verticals, bigger circle piece
photoshopped in the back set ...
the skinny console again

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Progress on the Half Rounds

Will and I are making some progress on the half round tables. Hes not yet made any of these from start to finish and I havent made one personally for quite a long time so were both kind of feeling our choice here through whats next and how to go about it. Click the pictures to enlarge them...These posts will be helpful next time ...
Trevor routed a full size template in mdf from our cad drawing and we placed the male section of our glue up forms on the template on the inside of the apron curves. We than struck our angles on the form in pencil and moved the forms to the chop saw where we cut the angles on the bordered aprons.
Next we used parts of the female glue up forms to set up the multirouter to cut the mortises for the loose tenons we use for the joinery. The loose tenons allow us to adjust our angles slightly if necessary for the final fit up.
We clamped the back legs and then checked the fits. next step was to stain and paint and move those parts to the finish room before the final glue up. You can see the haunched loose tenons in the photo below.
While those parts were being finished, Will cut and glued up the pieces to make the inlay blocks (the very last photo in that post) in the drawing above. They were ripped on the tablesaw on an 8 degree angle, cut to length and glued up in the simple jig below.
After the center block was sanding to 3/8ths, Will added the 1/1th" plus shop made walnut veneers for the top and bottom and glued them on in the veneer bag.
The finished inlay blanks are below. theyl be sliced into 1/16th inch strips and inset in to a routed groove sometime in the next post.
We got a nice wide plank from Irion Lumber to make the 20" wide one piece tops and Trevor cut them to shape on the cnc. Hopefully our nex inlay bit will come tomorrow and we can inlay the tops, but in the meantime, will will dovetail the drawers and fit up the drawer fronts .. All for now .. Thanks for sticking with me ...

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Upcoming Shows Under Control

Well, we got er done ... Three new pieces this week, in time for the show tomorrow. This Skinny Console started out as a shop joke. The top is made from two bookmatched edge scraps from the English Elm oval table that we made earlier in the summer. They were too nice to cut up for kindling and I waved them around for a while until I finally glued them up ... I mocked up a plywood prototype base and the rest, as they say, was history ...
We can see many places where a table similar to this could be just the right accent piece ... use your imagination ...
Ahhhh ... Dancer #1 ... welded steel by Sam ... locust by Dan and Trevor ... Artfully arranged pieces that were also too good to throw achoice. the concept on the board ...
the critical eye ... the base is a rough cut locust slab and the steel is unfinished so this sculpture is good to go, inside or out ..
The finished bench ... I kept trying to add stuff to the base, but, in the end, less is more as Meis, I think said. Hand hewn chestnut from a sleeper log, also good to go inside or out ...
red was the wrong color for this one
nixed the bridge like elements
too fussy for a rough thing ... all for now ... fun stuff in person, all of it ....

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Moving An Old Friend

We got to visit with an old friend last week ... It was a pool table that I built and installed in1993. The owners have recently sold the house and the table will be arriving at its new home at their sons house in Connecticut this Wednesday.
Its an antique table that I bought, planning to use it in my own home for myself and Sam and Will to enjoy. They were 8 and 10 at the time ... But, like the one before that one, a client came through as I was involved in the restoration and bought it before we finished. After losing two that choice, I bought a more homely one that I painted and refelted and still own today ... Its how we got started in our pool table career ... I think weve made 14 or 15 now .... This one was #2. click the photos to enlarge them ....
It was in a beautiful home, which called for a really nice cue and accessory rack that also made the trip out ...
If youve never seen one in pieces, heres how it goes ... You unbolt and disassemble the pockets and rails, pry the million staples from the felt and you are left with the three pieces of slate that are screwed to the wood frame below.
Then the wood frame is unbolted and broken down into its various parts ...
And youre good to go ..
Youve got a bunch of pieces when youre finished but it all makes sense if you take it a step at a time ....
The house is a beauty, designed by Jeff Barnes, a Manchester architect noted for his style and attention to detail ... Here are a few images just so you get the idea ...
The main entry
Coming into the kitchen from the garage
We were making this table when the client saw the pool table we were working on at the same time ...
Detail of the ebony and abalone inlay
A classic Sam Ogden turning piece ...And, a nice place to entertain ... great house !!!

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Gettin Er Done

Actually, the claro walnut table above is not quite done, but we did put a polishing coat over the final brush coat of finish today when we got back to the shop. That one will be finished up by the weekend. Will and I were in Grafton most of the day finishing up the This Old House project that we have been working on off and on for over a year. We had two missions today: the first was a small adjustment to the big tv cabinet to get one pair of the folding doors sliding smoothly into the cabinet when it was open. When we left it a month or two ago, it was on a couple of furniture pads and the tv and audio equipment had not yet been installed. Happily, all the stuff fit in nicely and the door adjustment went smoothly. We got a demo from the owner of a short segment of the Roy Orbison Black and White video and the surround sound really rocked !!!! It was close to feeling like a live performance .... The TV was not too shabby either ... Click the photos to enlarge them .
Figured cherry, curly maple panels and walnut moldings ... Getting started info on the construction of this cabinet at the link above ...
Looks good closed too ... another post on the construction of this cabinet here
The other cabinet in the family room was fine and the tunnel we created for the cable box installation worked slick .... This cabinet needed no adjustment ...
Post on this cabinet here ...
Our main mission today though was to install the shutters above in the family room across from the cabinet above. This project was a little nerve racking because it was added at the last minute and we had to construct and finish the shutters in the shop without checking them in the opening before we finished them ... Will was relieved when they fit like a pair of gloves and even complimented me on my hinge layout jig, which I forgot to take a picture of and did work slickly...
Pretty dark in here with the shutters closed ...
The lights were on in the fireplace cabinet (scroll down), and it had a nice glow ...
And the front door, which Im pretty sure is the original, looked happy to be back in place ...
Tthe cabinet we wrestled into place the last trip was full of stuff and looking like it was designed to be there from the start, which it wasnt ... Over all, its a great felling when you finish a large project with a client you have particularly enjoyed working with for an extended period of time .. I hope hes not completely finished though the house looks good, and Im sure hes ready for at least a deep breath ...
We even had time to stop for a late lunch at The Wood Fired Pizza Company where Peter Moore built the oven and Sam made the doors ... Yum ... All for now ....

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