Like an Open Book

     For your reading pleasure I've just book matched these beautiful boards that are destined to become glasses cases.  For the refined and quiet look there is a piece of Spanish Cedar on the right.  This is a popular wood for making cigar humidors.  For the more flamboyant reader the wood in the center is African Paduak.  For the discriminating reader that just wants that quiet elegance the board on the right is Goncalo Alves.  I went to Woodworkers Source in Phoenix last Wednesday because they are a good source for exotic species like these.  I also picked up some Walnut for an upcoming commission -- more on that later.
    At this point it is still speculation but after my meeting with the folks at Obika I feel pretty confident that this will be a marketable item.  In the foreground is the template that I've been working on for the cases.  With this configuration, the sides are 1/4" thick  and I've left the maximum amount of space for the glasses to fit into.  At this point, the wood has been book matched and planed to exactly 3/4" in thickness.  I should be able to yield 10-12 cases.  Next step will be to make a drill press jig to locate the Soss hinges, this has to be precise because there is absolutely no adjustment on them.  They either fit or it's scrap!
     I've just been commossioned to make a side table that will feature a heirloom piece of Marble that was quarried by the great grandfather out of a quarry located in Vermont.  The piece of marble is beautiful and about 12" square.  Soon as I draw up the design I'll get started on it.  It's pretty awesome to be entrusted with this heirloom and have the responsibility of creating a piece of furniture that will preserve it for generations to come.

Reckoning went Well

     The meeting at Obika went very well yesterday.  Diane and I went to there and met with the manager, the controller, a salesman, and the lab technician.  Everything was very positive, when people admire your work it makes it all worthwhile.  As an artist/craftsman, your reward is not so much financial as it is an appreciation for what you do.  They are very interested in them, more as a gift for their special clients rather than a standard inventory item.  They are a specialty optical concern, located in Tivoli Village which is an up-scale shopping, restaurant, and office complex.  Future tenants includes the type of cliental that they attract.

Day of Reckoning!

     I hesitate writing this blog because I'm not sure of todays outcome.  Will it be successful or another disappointment as I try to find a marketable item in our current economy.  The salesman at Obika showed the Zebrawood glasses case to one of the managers but ..... he's not the one who writes the checks!  That manager is supposed to be in today so she's my target to approach today.  Here's how the current model of the glasses case looks now:

Zebrawood Case

     I made a larger opening to accommodate more frame sizes.  Still really like the way the grain seems to curl into the recesses which it actually does since the interior is routed away.  Should I be lucky enough to have the store carry this case on a trial basis I need to get a new bit to rout out the recess.  Currently I'm using a core box bit and it requires a lot of finishing on the bottom of the recess.

The thing that's always been appealing to me about wood is the grain pattern and coloration.  This is how the case looks when it's closed.  The technique used to make it is referred to as a "book match".  The easiest way to explain that is you take a board, cut it down the middle of its thickness, and then open the two pieces just like a book.  One side is a mirror of the other.  When you reassemble them the grain pattern is continuous, the only slight break is from the material removed to smooth out the saw marks, this is done with a hand plane.

Bits & Pieces

     In this final photo you can see the sequence of the main steps for this project.  At the top is the initial piece of Zebrawood, it's about 1 1/2" thick.  In the middle is the template used to rout out the recess.  This is made of 1/4" MDF.  The bottom shows the two halves of the box, shellacked, waxed, and ready for assembly.  Well, just about time to see the folks at Obika --- no matter what the outcome is, this project kept me off the couch and mentally stimulated as I tried to solve the problem of how to get a good looking glasses case without succumbing to the mass produced, imported stuff!!

Anyone Still Read Books?

     Seems as if everything is getting more and more technologically oriented and less personal.  The last piece I made was the reading glasses case out of Zebrawood and I'm currently working on another to present to the place where I bought my glasses as a possible inventory item for them. The salesman seems to think it's a sale-able item but I have some reservations.  As I was doing some research on the web (how else?) I came across very few, custom, one of a kind, wooden glass cases.  That either means that there isn't a market or else the individual craftsman, like myself, simply cannot compete with the mass produced items.  I guess I'm eternally hopeful so I'll find out and share the adventure with you.
     That brings me to the subject of actually reading books.  As I was doing my research I came across a book titled The Encyclopedia of Furniture by Joseph Aronson.  Love the technology of being able to log in to my library account, search for the book, and then have it brought to my library branch.  This book was published in 1965 and goes A-Z on any subject related to furniture and the major influences of various countries.  There's just something about sitting in a comfortable chair with a book and cat on your lap, sipping a glass of wine and turning the pages to discover new things!  Although I use the internet a lot, turning pages just has a better feel than clicking the mouse and watching the page load up.  It's a large book with lots of black and white pictures for illustrations.  Much of it is things I look at and don't really care for but I can appreciate the effort and skill it takes to create the pieces. It seems that both Diane and I are trying to find our niche as artists/craftsman/designers/entrepreneurs/etc. in this down economy.  I belong to a woodworking group on LinkedIn and posed the question of how many one many shops are doing much business these days and the responses were pretty dismal.  So, another book I checked out is titled How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist.  It's only a couple of years old so maybe it'll offer some hints as to which way to go.
     I guess this is a rambling kind of post but the next one will have more substance on how I came up with the design and the process I went through to make the glass case.  Very interested in seeing how the manager of the shop reacts to them and what the market will bear $$.  As it stands now, all that's left is to rub out the shellac with 4/0 steel wool and some wax and assemble it.  I'll share the pictures and adventure of this next time.

Always More to Learn

Most of you have probably heard the statement that goes something like this -- the more I learn the more I realize what I don't know.  I've heard that stated in a number of different ways but the gist of it is that no matter what you think you know, there's always more to learn.  I suppose that's what drives people, like me, that aren't satisfied with the "status quo" and always want to improve their skill set.  That's definitely how it is with me and my work.  The frame I've been working on that has the art nouveau theme is finally complete, I think!  As someone who gets wrapped up in the details and appearance of my work a difficult concept for me is to gild a frame with 22 kt. gold leaf, see it all beautiful and shiny, and then deliberately make it look old and aged!  That's the nature of the beast, I've taken workshops in gilding and toning and the concept is to replicate normal aging you'd find on a frame.  It runs the gamut from using an ice pick to create worm holes to using chains and rocks to show wear and tear.  Here is the final (unless I change my mind) frame for a painting Diane recently completed titled Mother's Day:

Mother's Day by Diane Eugster

The way I achieved the patina on this frame, which is somewhat hard to tell in a photograph, was to use rottenstone to first take the shine (rub back) off of the gold.  Intentionally, I tried to leave the carved pattern brighter since I like that feeling of a ribbon of gold going completely around the frame.  This was sealed with shellac and allowed to dry.  Next, a thinned mix of Asphaltum and Naphtha was brushed onto one leg at a time, then wiped back to leave a brownish tone on the frame.  In some areas it was too heavy but wiping those with a Q-tip and wax lightened them up.  After several days, I used wax to remove some of the Asphaltum and add protection to the entire frame.

Here's a closer shot of a corner.  So far I'm satisfied with how things turned out.  We'll leave the painting out and knowing me, I'll critique my work every time I walk past it!

Made in China vs. John Made

     After using the same frame for my reading glasses for the last 7-8 years I came across a really cool, yet eccentric, pair at a "high end" (don't like that term) optical shop called Obika. They are engraved on the temple as  Handmade in Germany and the company name seems to be Schminckel.  Obika is in a new shopping district here in Las Vegas called Tavoli Village.  As a teacher I always preferred reading glasses that don't have a frame on the top so kids would never disappear from my sight, especially at the prison I taught in my last 11 years.  These are hard to come by so when I spied these I had to have them.  I was surprised when I picked them up that they came with a crappy, made in China box so I just couldn't let that slip by.

Side by Side Comparison

    Since I had some  8/4 Zebrawood remaining from the tops for the triangular tables I decided to use it for the case.  Love the grain patterns and striking coloration of that material.  The finish is super blonde shellac and wax.

Case Interior

    I was real pleased to see how the grain came out as I routed the recess for the glasses.  The first step was to make a template out of masonite that approximated the outside profile of the glasses.  If I were to make these for sale I would choose to make a more generic outline.  This template was attached to the blank with 23 gauge pins and then routed out using a plunge router with a guide bushing attached and a core box bit.
After routing, a small scraper was used to smooth it out.  Rather than glue felt into the recess Diane made a small bag out of the cleaning cloth that came with the glasses.  The grain is really stunning, almost the same effect you'd get if you cut Baltic Birch plywood.  Small Soss hinges were used along with a magnetic to keep the case closed.  I mentioned the possibility of selling these and I plan to show it to the store where I got them and see if they're interested.  Here's a picture of yours truly modeling the specs, I'm lovin' it !!

Joinery Options

Now that the decision has been made to use a 5/8" through tenon for the table legs I thought it would be wise to make a sample or two.  I choose that size since that's the largest hollow chisel bit I have and with the 1" square legs that'll leave a 3/16" shoulder all around.  I figured that by making it a splined tenon it would wedge tightly into the mortise plus make a nice design element -- I like the honesty of visible joinery.  Here's a practice tenon with a Maple spline.  The hole drilled at the base of the spline slot is to prevent the piece from splitting when the spline is hammered in.  I had a concern regarding the spline direction, it should go against the grain but with a square leg that's somewhat of a "crap shoot"!  I also wanted to put the splines at an angle on the rear legs and with the grain on the front leg, definitely thought it best to do a trial or two.

Tenon & Spline

Things went together well but I wanted to make sure the sides of the tenon were snug against the walls of the mortise.  Decided to do the test by cutting a sample apart on the bandsaw and see how it looked internally, that was kind of fun, felt like I was doing a research article like the woodworking magazines do!

Cut apart Joint

As you can see, the tenon is snug in the mortise and the spline is completely bedded in it's slot -- just like it's supposed to be.

I spent some of the day re-sawing the piece of Zebrawood, that is some  challenging wood to plane by hand.  I think the jointer plane needs to be re-sharpened since Zebrawood has what I'd term hard, sinewy grain.  To simplify it somewhat I cut it into the size needed for the three table tops and managed to make one panel this evening,.  The rest may come tomorrow after I get the stitches out of my knee and get ready for rehab.