On the studio floor

A sampling of unusual projects now being created in our custom services department

July 2002

"Summertime and the living is $#%#@!"

Well, the heat has arrived. At least, we're told that it's somewhere above the overcast that rolls in every morning over the shop. Ah, beach living...

Heat isn't what we worry about here, anyway. Not when it seems we have to shift stylistic gears everytime we take a step.

Sometimes it feels as if a textbook on "the history of furniture design" exploded on the shop floor, and different pieces from 400 years of design are scattered everywhere. Take a look at just a few...

Prepping for high gloss finishes

	Nothing glamorous here -- just hours and hours and hours of work. Each and every square foot of this project will have over 90 minutes of time lavished upon it to create the mirror finish that by all rights shouldn't be put on something as ornery as wood. Imagine spending an hour and a half sanding on a piece of wood no bigger than a floor tile-- and now do it to a hundred more tiles -- and all to achieve a look whose highest aspiration is not to be noticed! Okay, enough talk -- and enoughitalics!.

Showing off


	I admit it. Every once in a while we do a little job we know we're going to lose money on just for the bragging rights of having done it. The trick here was to make a perfect match for a destroyed, irreplaceable molding. No, we won't recoup our costs. And no, I don't have a picture of the original. But trust me, the picture of the original wouldn't look any different than the picture of the new one. After all, that's where the bragging rights come in...

More Art Nouveau...

Forming and gluing the 14 pieces that go into each motif

Carving the sinuous lines and profile of the motif

COMPLETED
7/10/02

Could it really be genuine gold leaf?

Ahem. Of course.

Padauk Dining Table (with butterfly leaf!)

	This picture shows what happens between coats of finish--a complete sanding (thus the cloudy-looking appearance). And you're wondering how (or maybe why) we made the white lines. Sorry, we can't take credit. That's all Mother Nature-- this is a clear finish. Not a drop of stain was used. Just the shocking beauty of Burmese Padauk, with it's outrageous color change between the heart- and sapwood. And just wait 'til I post pictures of the table with the butterfly leaf installed...
	COMPLETED 8/15/02

Come on back, they'll be more next month, or sooner if the mood strikes me!

Last Month's On the Floor