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.

Our Evening at the Masonic Temple

Morrigan came and helped me set-up. Colleen joined us once the event had started. This photo shows the display I pulled together for the evening. I borrowed the 10 1/2' riser and repainted it with this robin's egg blue that came from the "mis-tint" table at our local Maine Paint Store. I was lucky, at 1/10 the cost I found the exact color I was after. One of the sample legs, behind the far end of the bench, is painted to simulate a candlepin. 

The evening was sponsored by The Maine Center for Creativity. One of their larger projects is the design competition and execution of painting 16 oil tanks in Portland. For more please click here. Morrigan took this arial photo of the model of the project that was on display. The roadways in the photo represent I-295 as one approaches Portland from the South. 

Creativity invitation

After selling the last bench out of my shop, this one is now my piece for the Furniture Masters' auction in September. Next week, it will get its seat and be ready for the May 12th photography session for the catalog. This is #5 and is the prettiest yet. As one continues to make a piece , it becomes lighter. I love these glue-up photos.

I'll be traveling with the above bench, an ash rocker and an ash side table to this opportunity tomorrow night at the Masonic Temple in Portland. Please stop by. I think it will be a wonderful get-together.  For more, please click here.

Nicely written profile

The day I returned from the show, photos were taken in my shop for an article that appeared in the 4/5 edition of the Maine Sunday Telegram. Bob Keyes, staff art editor, did a wonderful job in assembling our conversations into a very positive article. To go to the article, please click here.

thanks, Peter

Off to the Show

Here's the glue-up of the frame. It looks like an ad for Bessey clamps.

Time was tight in the final phases so I missed photographing how the rockers went on. They are mounted in their slots and pinned in place using a 3/16" diameter, straight grained dowel that I make. This is the final shot of the finished rocker with its seat in place. I leave for the show tomorrow at lunchtime. Wish me luck.

Home stretch

This is the first dry-fit with all the rungs, arms and the front and back in place. The cauls are mounted on a 1/4" MDF base and are cut to an angle that compliments the angled sides. This gives me square, parallel surfaces for the clamps. 

Before disassembly, I rest the curved backrest blank on the top of the back legs to catch the angle for its mortise. 

This is the last dry-fit before glue-up. I cut the slots for the rockers and shaped the tops of the legs and backrest. Here I'm checking the fit of the backrest in its angled mortises.

Break-neck pace

I'm marking the sides of the shallow sockets. This face is rounded so I cut a shallow socket to bear against the end of the rung. I use the flat face of the leg to register the blade of my double square. The thickness of its body gives me an offset straightedge that locates the sides of my socket. 

I use 2 identical routers, with different bits. One to cut the socket then another for the deeper mortise.  This shot shows a leg with its joinery completed for this face. I use a 5/8" bit to cut the sockets. This 5/16" bit cuts the mortises. I work from the flat top against a stop to locate my heights.

All the rungs are milled slightly oversized in both width and thickness and given a centered mortise.

Fitting begins with shaping the top to match the socket and adjusting thickness to tight. Here I butt the top of the rung against the top of the socket and mark the bottom of the rung on the leg. This outline shows me where the rung is larger than the socket and where I need to remove material. 

Prior to fitting each arm I need to glue together its 2 pieces. These came out of the same board. Its thickness was the width of the rung. I rip off the rung, then re-saw the offcut to get the thiner wing. Then the finished arm looks as if it were shaped from a single piece.