Orchid Plant Stand with Wine Bottle Storage

I love mixed media, (and trying new things), this piece is really one to be proud of. Amazing detail and texture. How great that you were able to add new skills to your repetoire.

-- The opposite of war isn't peace. It's creation. -- Wood T's: http://www.printfection.com/snbcreative

Thanks Scottb:
I’m no copper smith, but I was able to achieve what I had envisioned in my limited mind. I would like to do more copper work in association with my furniture, so I attended a meeting of the Wichita (Kansas) Sculptor’s Guild a few weeks back, as the artist demonstrating is a specialist in copper sculpture.

I learned a lot at the demonstration, and the artist offered to spend a day teaching a handful of us that wanted to learn more, and get to practice with her oversight. I’m hoping that I can do this soon. I think the copper may some day add an element of “collectibility” to my woodworking that purchased hardware doesn’t offer.

I also joined the Guild, so I am looking forward to the interaction and fellowship with this group of gifted people.

Here’s the link to the Guild group: http://www.wichitasculptorsguild.org/

Here’s a link to the lady doing the copper demonstration: http://www.wichitasculptorsguild.org/beth_van_natta.htm

Thanks for taking the time to comment,
Mark DeCou
www.decoustudio.com

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

Wow! I guess I missed a few of your older pieces. Talk about custom, a copper smithed hand carved Orchid growing wine cabinet.

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

Dennis: try to find all of that in a Restoration Hardware or Pottery Barn catalog!!

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

Mark that is true craftsmanship! So where did you buy the kit?

-- http://www.woodsongsfurniture.com

This site is just full of hidden treasures.

I thought that I had viewed all of the great projects at LumberJocks, but somehow had missed this. (Thanks, Dennis for bringing it to the surface again.)

Mark, when it comes to your work, I’ve run out of superlatives. This is truly the work of an artist craftsman. I affirm your just cause for pride. Just wonderful!

-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/

Thanks guys: This is still my favorite piece of my works so far. I have been hoping and praying for a chance to get a commission to build on this idea for someone else.

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

Mark -

I can see why this is one of your favorite pieces! Again, your craftsmanship is spectacular. What a pleasure to revisit this piece. As Dick mentioned above, this site is filled with hidden treasure! I really love the copper hardwarre. I am sure the beauty will increase with age and patina.

-- http://foldingrule.blogspot.com

Wow! Another masterpiece! Man, that is awesome! Such talent. How did I miss these?

-- Jesus is Lord!

Thanks folks for the kind words!

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

Mark. A great project that I guess I’d never visited. It looks great. I’d have loved to see it in person.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

Karson: this is one of the projects that is a mile North of my house at the neighbor’s. Maybe next time.

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan

Mark – Thank you for pointing out this project in response to my Light Garden project. I gotta tell you, this is really something you’ve made here. This will be a major influence to me as I’m interested in woodworking and orchids! I have both of the plants represented here in my collection. I can’t fully describe the appreciation I have for this work. The phals and cattleya carvings are absolutely extraordinary and remind me of old detailed hand drawn orchid illustrations. And another great example of coppersmithing!

-- Matt - Syracuse, NY

Thanks MattD: This piece is still my favorite of all that I have ever built. I have done some things that I am really proud of, but this is still my favorite. There is some of my past work that I think I like as well, or better, but it takes the “whole process” to leave a good memory for me. The final presentation of the work is part of the reason I like this piece, but a lot has to do with the “success” of the whole project and it’s entire commission of pieces.

This was probably my first really “art-furniture” piece, and the first time I could see my work taking a creative edge that it had lacked in the past. I have been trying to leave “engineering” behind, and embrace my desire to be an artist, and on this piece, it was the first time I could see it happening.

On top of that, the customer paid me the whole bid up front, with no progress payments (cool). I finished it just about in my bid hours and materials. The customer’s response was incredible to witness, the type of thing you might see on a tv show. All of those factors made it a great project for me. And on top of that, I like the way it came out.

For instance, I did one project a year ago that I spent an entire 9.5 months working on, and then at the end of it all, I got chewed out for it being so expensive, even after making only $12/hour plus the cost of the materials. I loved the work I had created, but I can’t get over the “situation” and we have struggled financially since, trying to make up for those months and the hole it brought.

The artwork for the doors on this cabinet, I did by drawing out by pencil from about about a half dozen magazines and orchid books the customer let me borrow. I picked through all of the photographs, and picked out components of each flower that I wanted to, and thought I could, capture in the oak carvings. My thought process was to use old Audubon style renderings with the root balls shown. I decided to do the doors in the same white oak as the rest of the project, so that it would all have the same appearance. I played with the idea of using basswood to make the carving easier, but decided against that finally to keep the wood looking the same.

The copper flower handles was a whim I had, and the customer liked it in my original sketches provided in my proposal. I honestly had no idea how I would do them when I bid the work, and figured that they would just tell me, “no thank you, they are too expensive.” As it turned it out, I had underbid them for the work involved, but I really enjoyed the process of learning how to do the copper work.

If you see something else you would like to see more details on, let me know. I took a lot of photos during the process of this project.

I put one new photo above, showing the door panels after the stain, ready to glue in the door frames. You can see in the background one of the books I had layed up in the carving cabinet to give me a reference.

-- Mark DeCou - Kansas Flinthill's Artisan