776 days ago
by Mark A. DeCou |
23 comments »
Over the past few years, I have had the chance to build my own door handles out of copper for several commissioned art-furniture pieces. This is something I enjoy doing, and it gives my work another niche to offer.
I would not say that I am a coppersmith, as there is a lot that I don’t know about the process. I am almost completely self-taught, so there is bound to be a lot I haven’t learned yet. I bought two old reprinted books on the subject of coppersmithing, and I think ...
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690 days ago
by Mark A. DeCou |
15 comments »
I have a client that lives close to me, and we have had a lot of fun designing and building things for their home. They sort of “pushed” me into quitting my day job by offering a long term commission to transform their home with functional-art pieces one at a time, according to an overall game plan. They had a general idea of what they wanted, but needed someone to turn the dream into wood.
They were willing to adapt their ideas to mine, and vice versa, and I have really appr...
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777 days ago
by Mark A. DeCou |
16 comments »
I’m in the midst of finishing up a project I have really enjoyed. Sure, it has taken me two times the hours I bid, but I am happy with the result. Actually, it has come out better than I expected, which is always a nice surprise.
This is a functional-art piece I wish I wasn’t selling, to be honest. But, I have already spent all of the down payment. So, giving the money back is not possible, so the customer will get her desk.
There have been a few pieces I wish I could ha...
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573 days ago
by Jeff |
14 comments »
As mentioned in the previous entry, at the suggestion of my instructor, I modified the design such that the whole top would be a torsion grid. This approach did present its own problem though. Since the design called for the ‘leg’ to act as a massive tenon seated in the underside of the top, I would need a lot of bulk around the leg. I considered laminating solid wood pieces to build it up. I decided against that; I can’t recall why.
Instead, I opted to take what I call t...
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783 days ago
by Mark A. DeCou |
22 comments »
Several have asked about what I am working on now, so I thought I would take a minute and post some progress photos.
My current work is a Kitchen Shelving and Desk system in Birch to match the styling of the exisiting cabinets built in the early 1960’s. Seemed like a fairly straight forward project for a past customer, and I like working for them. They “discovered” me, and that “Rates” in my book, regardless of what they want me to do.
During the planning...
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513 days ago
by Todd A. Clippinger |
24 comments »
Like most individuals, I consider myself to be self-taught. I have no formal training as a woodworker, I did not apprentice under anyone, nor do I possess any formal education in design or art. But it would be dishonest to say that I have not had any teachers. Like anyone else, I read everything that I can get my hands on and I have inflicted myself on many a hapless professional craftsmen.
I want to introduce the LJ community to one of my mentors. His name is Mike Blatnick and he lives in...
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282 days ago
by JMB |
2 comments »
This is a quick commission I landed last week. The gal asked me to finish it asap so she can open up her new store. Cabinetry is one of those wonderful things which is really easy to do when you’re properly setup, and make a lot of money doing it. I’m not gouging her, but I’m definitely making my minimum hourly on this project.
The design is simple enough. Divided storage areas for a reciept printer, wrapping paper, shopping bags, etc. The larger of the two lower left cub...
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578 days ago
by Jeff |
8 comments »
The next week of class was consumed by each student presenting and speaking to their design what their main tenets would be for the project. Part of the previous week’s assignment had been to pick your tenet or tenets and be prepared to stick with them. My main tenet was to see the design through and devise a way to pull off the cantilever. I knew it was going to be tough just by all the drawing work I had put into SketchUp. Seriously, there are only 6 90-deg corners (aside from all the...
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110 days ago
by CaptainSkully |
2 comments »
Thanks in large part to WhatTheChuck, I’m giving serious thought to changing the design of the underbody of the table. With all due respect to Schroeder's table, which I prefer the looks of in many ways, I think the lack of a footrest underneath is a good thing, and the spindles underneath are magnificent, yet kind of a waste of time, energy, effort, and lumber as they’ll be hidden by chairs. I think the trestle-style design might be more pragmatic, and still embody the simplici...
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864 days ago
by Damian Penney |
16 comments »
So my next project is going to be a desk that I’m currently designing in Sketchup. I’m a big fan of the Art Deco & Streamline Moderne style so I’m trying to incorporate aspects of that aesthetic in my design.
This is the first pass..
I’m going to try and sneak a small form factor PC (perhaps a Mac Mini running XP) into the center drawer of the hutch, and have no visible wires.
I’m also going to use elements of my entry bench in the design i.e the...
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