Pecha Kucha Night, 7/18/10 - Portland, Maine

A couple weeks ago, I presented at Pecha Kucha Night, here in Portland at the Rines Auditorium in the newly redesigned Public Library. Volunteer's from Pecha Kucha Portland gave me a video that offers my talk along with the slide show. CustomMade.com picked it up for their blog. This was my 3rd time presenting and this one worked pretty well. The story seems to hold the pictures together.

New Location

I'll deliver this chest tomorrow. It's going to Pretty Marsh, here in Maine. A long drive but it is beautiful.

The commission for this cherry blanket chest grew out of my article in Fine Woodworking, issue #203. I changed the shape of the battens and the ends of the lid. I'll continue posting here. Please join to watch the daily developments in my shop.

Beauty shots

Here's a shot of the finished piece on a nice grey background.

I chose this shot for my next batch of postcards, due to arrive within the week.

boxseat

I chose to do 3 coats of Tavern Green milk paint, topped by 2 coats of Minwax wipe on poly. The milk paint is pretty forgiving. 3 coats, with sanding between each, still lets a little bit of the poplar show through.

Using 3mm braided hemp cord for a woven seat is a bit of an experiment. I found examples of it being used in 2 German chairs. This is a standard Danish cord pattern with L-shaped nails to catch the loop.

box + seat = boxseat

Here's one from the backside. I'm almost out of postcards and would like to use one of these last 2 angles for the next batch. I haven't decided which one is the winner.

Getting close

The frame and panel top is glued-up and I profiled its edge and the edge of the frame. The blue tape protects the legs as I hand sand the frame edge.

The rounded edges help the frame and top in relating to the legs. I like how this is coming together.

End of the Day

The legs and rungs are glued together and into the frame. The small off-cut from the through tenon is on the floor. I used a white oak wedge with the white oak legs. The endgrain is enjoyable.

The sizes of the components seem to relate well to one another. The frame is 60" long, to fit at the end of a queen sized bed. This was the last photo of the day.

Progress

This is where I was 2 days ago. I had just finished making the parts for the frame and panel top and had to see how it all worked together. Just the box is glued-up at this point.

The rungs fit into stepped mortises. They enter the leg cleanly and bear against a small internal shoulder. Very tidy.

This is a test to figure out the hole size for the threaded brass inserts that go into the bottom of the box. The poplar box will be held to the frame by bolts that fasten to these inserts. This system allows the box to be easily reversed so that the seat can be to the left or the right of the box. This choice might become pertinent once the piece is where it will live. It is definitely worth buying the dedicated driver that fits these inserts.

It still amazes me when holes in one piece line up with their receiving hardware. With the box successfully attached, I can move on to connecting the legs to the frame. It is getting closer to being a piece of furniture. Once it can function, it's there.

Latest Piece

Here are a couple clam stools; 16" high, white oak seats with green milk paint legs, the approximate color scheme for my next piece.

For the past few weeks, I've been making poplar props as illustrations for Blanket Chests, the book that Scott Gibson and I are working on for the Taunton Press. Some of the props will be part of my next piece.

I plan on a woven hemp seat that will pass through these grooves. I am curious about the best round over radii to protect the cord and offer maximum seat comfort.

Here's a sketch with my sample corner. I'll use through wedged tenons to join the legs to the frame. The asymmetrical, simplicity of this piece appeals to me. This one is built to fit the foot of a queen-sized bed. It will have 2 interior, sliding, dovetailed, 4" deep poplar trays.

RISE to the Occasion

Here's the poster for my next gallery show. It will be a diverse mix of art and craft. Rise Photographic Gallery is right here in South Portland, near where Elm Street intersects Broadway. A portion of the proceeds will benefit Big Brothers Big Sisters of Southern Maine.

I'll have a few pieces of furniture in the show, along with gift items like these charming rolling pins. These are curly maple with green milk paint.

These clam stools with green legs are pieces that I just finished for the show. They have white oak seats and painted maple legs. If you're near South Portland and free Friday night, please stop-by the opening.

Holiday Sale

This Friday and Saturday, I'll have a booth at the SEA Holiday Sale. If you're free, please join me to see my new work and a wide array of unique gifts. Please click here for a list of participating artists.

thanks, Peter

I love pie!

A couple years ago, our old rolling pin with the red handles started to fall apart. I made a rolling pin, similar to these, to replace it. These are native hard maple, displaying both heart and sapwood and have green milk paint in the small coves at each end. I turn each one to its diameter, sand and cut a small cove at each end, then turn off the lathe. I rotate the piece by hand to apply the milk paint to both coves. The pin comes off the lathe and I chop both ends to remove any trace of its having been attached to the lathe. Finally, the edges are sanded smooth, prior to 2 coats of walnut oil.

I call them green pins because of the green milk paint and because the maple is native and fairly local. The red handles of the old pin gave me the idea of adding some color to the ends.

This batch is curly, soft maple. They're all about 1 3/4" in diameter and about 18" long. With my palms on the pin to roll, I feel the dough respond to my movements. The length of the pin makes it easy for me to transfer the rolled dough to its pan.

I ask $32.00 per pin plus about $5.00 to $10.00 for shipping, depending on how far away you are. Please contact me here for more information. Green pins were just featured on a blog dedicated to exploring and highlighting flavor. Please go to www.flavorista.com for more. Pie is Good!

Work of the Hand, 20th year

Welcome to the Center for Maine Contemporary Art in Rockport, Maine. In early October, I'll be exhibiting in their 20th annual Work of the Hand, craft show. Please click here for more about the show. I'll be there Friday evening for the opening as well as volunteering Saturday morning. Approximately 50 fine crafts artists will be showing.

Furniture Masters' Auction

This Sunday, September 20th, is the annual Furniture Masters auction. This year it's in Manchester, NH, at The Currier Museum of Art. Our silent auction and reception go from 6 - 7:15 pm. The live auction starts at 7:30. This ash, hickory and Danish cord bench is my offering for this year's auction. To see all of this year's pieces, please click here.

On Friday, Saturday and Sunday the 20th, the Currier will be offering programs related to the Furniture Masters and the auction pieces. For more information on the tours, slide shows and demonstrations, please click here. This is an opportunity to see some wonderful furniture and the auction is great fun.

Ryan's Blanket Chest

I recently discovered that Bessey makes these angled clamping pads to fit their K-Body REVO clamps. They offer plenty of clamping power without a hint of slipping. They tilt from 0 to 15 degrees and saved me from having to make a set of angled cauls.

I had to make 2 small cauls to focus pressure at the ends of the lid divider.

With everything glued and cleaned-up, I can rout for the hinges and attach the lid. This shot shows the wedged through tenon for one foot. The frame and panel bottom goes in later.

I did a little splicing, attached the eye straps and now it's off to my friend Carl for stain and a lacquer finish.

The finish is 2 coats of stain and crystal lacquer. This color corresponds to the color of 2 lamps in the room that this chest will call home.

Laying-out angled through dovetails

This is the front of the lid of my blanket chest. Its ends are angled at 18 degrees. I remembered reading that angled dovetails need to be centered along a line that is parallel to a long edge. Laying-out off the angled end can lead to short grain problems at the tips of your tails. I start by striking a base line.

Using my small double square, I draw the centerlines of the sockets for the full pins.

I center the width of the base of the socket where my pencil line meets my base line.

For the top of the socket, I center its width where the pencil line meets the angled edge. I chose to make my sockets 3/8" at the bottom and 3/16" at the top. These measurements echo the pins in the chest.

I set my bevel gauge to connect the dots. You'll need a second gauge because the other side of the pin is at a different angle. With all the sockets marked on this side, you can square your lines across the end then angle them down the opposite face.

After sawing and paring, here's a finished end showing the 3 tails. If you cut a scrap to the same angle and lay-out typical dovetail as you would if the end were square, the difference will be clear.

Back at it

Here's the first of 2 photos of the bench that I built back in April. This one adorns my latest batch of postcards. This was shot by Dennis Griggs. Dennis shot all the photos in my portfolio.

This one was shot by Bill Truslow. Same piece but very different effect. This photo will be included in the catalog for this year's Furniture Masters auction. I love the way his lighting has worked its way through the woven seat and into the shadow.

This is a drawing of a blanket chest that I'm working on currently. Carol Bass designed it for clients of ours who have the live-edge trestle table in my portfolio. This was an early drawing and the feet ended up being from one piece. The box will be stained blue-green and the curly maple feet will remain their natural color.

Here's my progress, so far. In my next post I'll show how I laid-out the lid's angled dovetails.

Pecha Kucha Night - Portland

I'll be presenting, Thursday evening, May 21st at SPACE gallery, 538 Congress St., Portland, Maine. Doors open at 6:30, presentations begin at 7:20; $5.00. There will be about 10-12 presenters, each will offer 20 slides and speak for 20 seconds about each one. For more about this perfect concept, please click here. For more about SPACE, please click here.

I'll be revealing the secret of where ideas come from. Also, how this table ...

turned into this table ...

and how this blank ...

turned into one of these legs.

I hope to see you there.