Bluestone Development Wall - Collaboration with dKiser Design.Construct

My friend Doug, from dKiser design.construct, and I finished a collaborative project for Bluestone Development's new office this past weekend. Bluestone's new space is located at 13th & Webster, in the same location that was formerly the Empty Room. After finishing our ORGANISM installation, the fine folks of Bluestone asked us to create a unique installation for their newly added south wall to add some additional character and warmth to the space. Doug and I brainstormed some ideas and came up with a shared vision that would utilize lots of separate wooden panels of different sizes, shapes, depths and tones.

Doug took our vision forward and created a specific scale design. We applied 4 different stains to the pieces, plus the natural color of the ash plywood we used as the base for all the pieces. There are a few panels and shelves that stick out from the wall a little to give it some depth and additional texture too. We filled the screw holes with a variety of hardwood plugs of different lengths to add even more dimensionality as the lights in the space cast shadows over them. After cutting, sanding, staining, lacquering and installing over the course of the past few weeks, we're finally done.

Stop by Bluestone and give it a look sometime after the holidays, and be sure to check out Bluestone's hip downtown developments, including 22 Floors, the Rows at SOMA and Joslyn Lofts.

Fall & Winter Stars - 2 Experimental Tables

Before my friend Doug and I got rolling on the Organic Chair in November, most of my attention was concentrated on further exploring the repetitive, geometric technique I developed while working on my "Ark" chair. The two tables shown below are inspired by the recent transitions to Fall and Winter, respectively, and both follow the same symmetrical, 45-degree angle model. However, with these pieces, I concentrated on the star pattern that naturally emerges when using triangular-shaped pieces.

The tops of both these pieces might be the first thing that catches peoples' eyes, and I'm happy the fabrication of each worked out as well as it did with the number of variables presented with using so many pieces for each. They were somewhat tedious and time consuming to put together, but the base and legs for each proved much more challenging to put together. I should quickly mention that the fabrication process for the tops of each are not "inlay" as several people have commented. They're not stained either; the colors you see are the natural colors of the woods (mostly walnut, paduak, canarywood and redheart), with only a topcoat of semi-gloss polyurethane. Inlay involves insetting thin, non-geometric (marquetry) or geometric (parquetry) shapes into another surface. These star tables are made by putting together hundreds of individual diamond-shaped pieces.

But back to the base and legs. These were more challenging - particularly the curvy orange (made of paduak) and yellow (made of canarywood) turned ones.











In the picture on the right side, you might be able to see a curved cut mark near the foot of each one. These wrap around each leg, again in a pattern, and were partly the result of an accident. I'm not sure if this is a common occurance of more seasoned woodturners, but I often get a lot of splintering near the top and bottom of my stock. In an attempt to combat this, I started off by cutting a 45-degree angle around the stock near the top, thinking this would preempt any splintering that normally occurs. As I was turning the area around the cut, I noticed a rounded, petal-like form emerging. This did fix my splintering problem, but also resulted in an innovative form that further highlights the botanical spirit of the whole piece.

Next up, I'm going to try to make a massive form using this pattern technique. My dad, who is much better than I am with math, reminded me that the angle of cut of the triangular/diamond shaped pieces would determine the number of points on similarly star-shaped fabrications: 60-degrees = 6-sided; 45-degrees = 8-sided; 30-degrees = 12-sided; etc. So next up, I'm tackling a project that will use a combination of 60- & 30-degree pieces. But this time, I want to make something that has a rounded or wavy top surface. Any fellow woodworkers, artists, designers or math whizzes out there who can help?

Epilogue to Empty Room

Doug, Matt and I brought ORGANISM - and with it, the Empty Room - to a close last Saturday night. It was an amazing, challenging, and ultimately, very fulfilling project. I had never done anything that approached an installation before, and came out with a new understanding of the collaboration, time commitment and work necessary to pull something like this off.

I entered the project apprehensive of how the various components would work together; after all, there's not much of an immediate connection between poetry and building. But after some initial trial and error, we reached a happy medium. In the end, I don't think it was so much a collaboration as it was an exercise in sharing. Matt hosted several successful poetry readings and slams in the early part of each week. Doug and I took advantage of whatever chunks of time (mostly weekends) we could to build the Organic Chair and recreate a venue in the space.

After we finished an initial simple structure we turned our focus to what we're calling Organic Chair #1, which was only unveiled at the closing.

One of our goals for the entire installation was to raise some resources for a nonprofit organization. Matt, who was recently named as its new Executive Director, decided on the Nebraska Writer's Association. Doug and I set our sights on the Kent Bellows Studio & Center for the Visual Arts. We realized we probably weren't going to have much luck finding a buyer for the Organic Chair installation. So we switched gears and began focusing on Organic Chair #1. Through our mostly unplanned building process, what started as a sort of kaleidoscopic tank slowly emerged as a curvy and somewhat more sophisticated stand-alone reaction to the installation. Though we didn't quite get the inside and outside finished, we hope to do so and sell it to benefit the Bellows Studio.

Thanks to everyone who was able to make it down to the space during November for a reading, slam, concert, or just to hang out. There's a list of related postings and links below about ORGANISM and the entire 6 months of the Empty Room.

Check out Andrew Marinkovich of Malone & Co's photo documentation of all the Empty Room projects.

Silicon Prairie News was gracious enough to do interviews and features about ORGANISM, 25 Days of Building, Clean Plate, 300 Square and the Empty Room concept itself.

For more ORGANISM pictures, etc., check out our Facebook page.

Amy Morin's (Beast Box) website: http://plaiderpillar.com/
Elle Lien's Clean Plate Website: http://clean-plate.com/
Mary Wees' 25 Days of Building Blog: http://25daysofbuilding.wordpress.com/
Jeff Hug's String Thing Website: http://emptyroomstringthing.com/

And a special thanks to 22 Floors, Bluestone Development, Secret Penguin & What Cheer for allowing such a unique thing to occur in Omaha!

ORGANISM @ Empty Room - Week 1 Recap & Upcoming...

Doug, Matt & I kicked off the final month of Empty Room one week ago with the opening of ORGANISM: A Festival of Words & Building. After a slow start building, Doug and I have made quite a bit of progress on the Organic Chair, and are looking forward to adding more elements over the next few weeks. We've mostly concentrated on building from noon - 2pm on Saturdays and Sundays, and during the weekly Wednesday Poetry Slams. If you'd like to join us, you're welcome. Just email us at organism1109@gmail.com so we can be sure to prepare. We also welcome guests to just come in and check out the space while we're working too. Here are a few pictures to show our progress:

Matt and his gang of wordsmiths are hosting events Monday - Wednesday evenings, with occasional events during the rest of the week too. To keep up with the poetry schedule, visit The Poetry Menu. Personally, I'm most looking forward to this Wednesday's Haiku Slam, and next week's Sock Puppet Slam. We also post updates nearly every day for fans of the ORGANISM Facebook Page to keep up with us. If you're coming down to ORGANISM Wednesday, you might also check out Doug's presentation at the next Pecha Kucha, which is just across the parking lot at Slowdown, starting at 8:20p.m.

Today also marks the first installment of 3 Share-a-Chair installations that I'll gradually be adding to the space. Learn more about this new ORGANISM element at Share-a-Chair.com.

I'd also like to remind visitors that we're accepting donations. There's no cost to attend any of the ORGANISM events, but there are a couple donation boxes set out. Matt is accepting donations that will support contributing poets and support the Nebraska Writer's Association. Doug and I have a donation box to support the growth of the Organic Chair installation and the Kent Bellows Studio & Center for the Visual Arts.  We're also donating a portion of the sale of objects in the Empty Room to the Bellows Studio, so your support for us also supports exceptional young talent. Bellows Studio Executive Director Anne Meysenburg is also presenting at Pecha Kucha on Wednesday, so if you're interested in learning about the organization, here's a prime opportunity.

Thanks for reading and we look forward to seeing you at ORGANISM!

Fleeting Thoughts like Falling Leaves

One of the reasons I usually enjoy living in Omaha is that I'm basically a small-town guy at heart. And let's face it, Omaha is kind of a small town. I want to think I'm a big city kind of guy; that I'm drawn to the largeness of movement and noise and action, but it's really not true. I travel for work several times a year, usually to larger cities, and after a few days, I usually can't wait to get back HOmaha. Even so, growing up in the midwest - first in Kansas, and for the last 10 years in Nebraska - I think I've had a tendency to take for granted the richness of the midwestern landscape. Who isn't at least a little drawn in by a soft breeze flowing over wheat fields before the harvest? Or the simple pattern of rows of corn, soybeans, and whatever else farmers grow around here?

The leaves started turning and falling in my Benson neighborhood several weeks ago. Initially they fell fast and hard, pulled down by the weight of a premature snow. Soon a wet, yellow blanket was covering the ground.

Over the course of the last few weeks bursts of rusty reds and oranges have joined the yellow blooms in a dying explosion of color. I don't remember the colors being this vibrant before. Or being so drawn to the contrasting tones. I'm nearly overtaken every time I turn a corner on my drive home from my studio. It gives me chills to see the yellow leaves flutter from the tops of the trees after small gusts of wind pull the stems from their branches. I don't remember being this influenced by nature either - maybe marriage is making me soft.

As beautiful as the view is now, we all know the landscape will soon give way to a neutral wash of white and brown. But as with the rest of the natural landscape, the lines and contrasts of brown against the impending snow will display a subtler beauty that is harder to see.

These same past few weeks have been busy ones for me. I've been stealing as many hours in my shop as I can trying to turn these star fabrications into tables. They are also a simple gesture at both capturing and honoring the beauty of the Fall and coming Winter landscapes, respectively. The uniform shape of each piece - both in the star form and each contributing diamond shape - echoes the symmetry and simplicity of the fallen leaves. And like a leaf, the simplicity of their form sometimes masks a design that is more complicated the closer you look; it was not easy cutting and fabricating between 200 and 300 individual, uniform pieces of wood together. As I mentioned in my previous post, these pieces are my attempt to - dare I say - turn over a new leaf, in attempt to make work that is more environmentally sustainable than I've attempted in the past. I like to think that with each successive piece of furniture or art or whatever you'd like to call them, that I'm honoring the materials as much as I can.

These tables are also part of my contribution to the ORGANISM project in the Empty Room. If you'd like to see how they turn out, please stop by ORGANISM throughout November and help us grow the space. Don't forget to bring your hammer.

A "Star" of Sustainable design? Probably not.

My involvement in November's "Organism" project in the Empty Room is mostly about chairs. And design. And building. However, sometimes it will only enhance the project by providing tables on which to rest your favorite beverage, book or both. To that end, I've created the beginnings of what will be two small coffee tables. I've been a little under the weather the last couple days, but was able to work on these over the weekend. Both follow the construction technique I developed with the "Ark" chair. However, with these tables I've focused more on the overall pattern and shape in the fabrication process. The larger piece measures about 3-feet from each star point to its opposing twin. The whole piece is about 3/4" thick. This will be the table top, which will be paired with a set of thin, spindly turned legs. The fabrication of the larger finished piece was made by cutting about 300 (288, to-be-exact) individual diamond shaped pieces that have then been glued together, one-by-one. The smaller piece will be the same design, but feature a modified wood/grain pattern from the larger one. The woods used in the larger piece included paduak and red heart (alternating in the center), followed by a layer of honey locust, with the remaining encasing made of different varieties of walnut. The smaller piece is red heart alternating with canary wood, followed by a pattern of red heart and honey locust.

For those of you who are interested in sustainable design, well... this doesn't exactly fit the bill. However, I do have an olive branch of sorts to offer, since each of the diamond shaped pieces is cut from the scraps of other projects. So, I've at least found a way to work with what would otherwise have been waste in a process that embraces the spirit of sustainability, even if the underlying wood I used was not. I look forward to hearing any of your suggestions about incorporating other sustainable design and fabrication processes.

Simple Box Complex lid

Continuing my experimentation with paper as a structural element, I made this simple walnut box with a fairly complex paper lid. Using snap fasteners in place of screws or glue, it took several tries - and lots of swear words - to get the cuts, folds and fasteners lined up correctly. It was worth it for such a perfect fit. It nestles in perfectly to create a contrast of color and composition.

Up next... a big announcement, and several new projects. First, apparently I'm getting hitched this weekend. Wish us luck!

Fake IKEA, Round 2

My original homage to IKEA, made for Niz a few months back, has gravitated to my side of the bed. Apparently, it was too short. So, I took another go of it - same basic design of exposed edge plywood, but this time veneered in maple. The pictures look pretty good, but I messed up the top of the veneer, so I'll have to redo that (bubble). This one is about 18" tall and 14" in diameter. I wouldn't mind going back to IKEA sometime - for the Swedish meatballs and lingonberries.

Oh, btw, if you're in the market for a solid walnut table that's, oh, I don't know, something like 4' wide x 14' long, I may be able to help you...

Clean Plate aftermath

 A lot of the time when people see the things I make they're very hesitant to touch or use them, treating the pieces more like they're in a museum than a functional space. So it was rewarding to be at Clean Plate a few times and see people gathered around the table, sharing great food and conversation. The 1-month Clean Plate residency, all the patrons, visitors and the food and drink, left their mark on the space and the table - literally and figuratively. I guess that's what it's all about with the Empty Room. Congratulations to Elle on such a successful and hopefully fulfilling (emphasis on filling) month!

Complete or Repeat? You (help) decide!

Recently I tried my hand at making Niz a cherry and walnut veneer table that I said was my attempt at something like Ikea. It turned out alright, but now we need another one that matches the style, but that's a little taller and a little larger in diameter. I also wanted to do a design on the top that challenged my parquetry skills (actually, lackthereof). I came up with the below design, to a "meh" reaction. I think it's pretty cool, particularly because the yellow veneer is called "myrtle burl", which just sounds funny. The darker wood is walnut burl. I can also imagine what it will look like finished, and think it will be cool. If I move forward on this one, I'll add the same style of half-tapered, cherry or walnut veneer legs as the first, and finish it with a semi-gloss polyurethane. What do you think? Should I move ahead and complete, or does it demand a repeat? Oh, and feel free to re-Tweet (this post).

Celebrating Others' Work: Kevin Jones, Doug Kiser & Mark Lane

I've had the good fortune to meet a lot of other artists, designers and craftsmen (and women) over the past couple years. I wanted to take this opportunity to highlight a few of those folks' - friends and acquaintances new and old - with this post. Hopefully, none of them mind me putting them in the limelight for a bit:

Kevin Jones does all kinds of photography, but I think his passion seems to lie in capturing the spontaneity and energy revealed in screams, sweat and spit during the live acts of touring and local punk rock and indie bands. I've also been lucky enough to have Kevin take photos of several of my pieces of furniture (i.e. the coffee table at the top of this page, among others). He also does portraiture and other event-related work. Check out some of his work on KevinAndrewJones.com. Rumor has it Kevin's also not a bad framer and drummer, and he's catching up with me in the woodworking department too.

Over the past year Niz and I have had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know Doug Kiser and his wife Geej. Quite honestly, Doug's a more experienced and talented woodworker than I am, and he brings a background in cabinetry and interior design. I feel fortunate that Doug's been willing to share feedback, skills, resources - and even his workspace once or twice - while not making me feel like an amateur or total ass. Doug's a full-timer who does it all - furniture design and construction, cabinetry, kitchens and bathrooms and more. I'm also looking forward to seeing more of Doug's paintings soon. You can see Doug's work all over town, including Secret Penguin headquarters, Film Streams and Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance. And if you're lucky, your own house. Doug's website is dkiser.com. 

Very recently Niz introduced me to Mark Lane, who has been designing and building furniture for quite some time, but just recently launched a full-fledged business, Mark Lane Custom Furniture. Mark draws inspiration from the Arts and Crafts movement, but puts a modern spin on it. I'm looking forward to checking out Mark's shop one of these days, and possibly helping him find a way to get his new thickness planer down the stairs. 

I know all three of these guys are going to keep pushing themselves forward in their respective businesses, and as they do so, hopefully their creativity, feedback and success will push me forward as well.

- Peter -

Babes 'n the Wood: Fancy Baby Rattles

I grew up with lots of wooden toys that my dad made, or my parents bought me at Art in the Park. Other than simple, traditional items like Jacob's Ladders, letter blocks and spinning tops, I don't see many of these kinds of toys anymore. Everything seems to be made out of plastic or rubber. Is it wrong for me to yearn for the days when a kid could get a splinter from a toy? I don't think so.

A couple of years ago a friend of mine had a baby, Simon. I decided I wanted to make a toy that would be crafty, safe and useful for kids, but would trump the clunky, old-school toys while appealing to the modern styles of parents. So I came up with handmade fancy baby rattles.

They're not something I've advertised much - mostly I've just made them for friends and friends-of-friends. This past week I made one for my sister's best friend, and I think I'm going to make some more. Each rattle is available in different combinations of colors and shapes to match the style of your new bundle of joy. They're lightweight and durable. And the smooth surface, finished with a baby-friendly oil, won't leave your 'tyke with any splinters.

My plate is clean: Final Clean Plate Sneak Peak

I've told a lot of friends and acquaintances during the last few weeks that this July has been the busiest time I've ever had, as far as I can remember. Now that we've reached the end of the month, I've finished all the projects I (over) committed to, with a day or two to spare. Among these, of course, is the 14-foot Clean Plate dining table. The picture below is from about a week ago, and should give you a better idea of its overall size. But in order to see the finished piece, you'll have to check it out at the Empty Room. All I can say is that it looks gorgeous, and I'm happy and proud I had the opportunity to do it. I'm also proud of the fact that my dad got to help me with it this past weekend. We hadn't worked on many projects together since my first couple, so it was an interesting experience coming full circle almost ten years later with this more massive piece. Check out all the wood shavings in the picture below; Jean and Renee, sorry for all the dust.

For now my proverbial plate is clean - sort of - for a while, but I'm back to work on a new chair next week. Should be interesting. You can follow my progress at the shareyourchair blog.

Oh, and if you haven't heard anything about it, be sure to stop by Mosaic Community Development this weekend. On Thursday there's a Tweetup, Friday there's live music/food, and on Saturday, myself and the other Just Rest artists, Leslie Iwai and Kjell Cronn, will be doing demos/workshops from 11am - 2pm. Learn more at mosaiccd.org.

So I guess my plate isn't as clean as I thought. That's alright - I like it that way. Adios.

Turning you on: An (over) simplified process for using a lathe

Last week I posted a couple pictures of an in-process project that involved making some display cases with spindles. Now that I've finished that project and caught up with (most) of my July work, I thought it would be both informative and cool to show some of the simple process for producing a spindle on a lathe. In doing so, I've omitted several pictures to get to the fun stuff (isn't that what we all want?). Check it:

Step 1) Cut a length of wood that is straight and square on the ends. If it isn't square when you start the lathe, you'll cause yourself irritation and potential eye injury trying to get it centered. If you've ever done ceramics, this process is very similar to centering the mound of clay on the wheel, except that if you don't do it right, you can't just remound the material - you'll waste an expensive piece of wood a tree died to give you. You might not think it, but the harder the wood, the easier it is too turn; soft wood chips and tears more easily, perhaps because the grain/wood fibers are not as tightly bound to one another. Generally, harder woods (maple, walnut, cherry) are much more expensive than softer woods (pine). Actually, come to think of it, perhaps leafy tree wood is softer than coniferous wood - something to think about at a later date... back to getting lathed:

When you have a length of wood that is square on both ends, mark an "X" through the center of both ends. You'll use these to center the piece on the lathe. If your "X" is off-center, you'll end up wasting a lot of material trying to make a cylinder, and probably split the wood or take off giant chunks as described above.

Step 2) Once you have the wood centered and attached to the lathe (again, there are steps here, but I'm trying to keep this relatively brief/simple), you attach your tool rest (a metal bar you place your chisel/knife against, which acts like a fulcrum) about 1/4" from the edge of the wood.

(Step 3) For my project, I was cutting spindles, but wanted to keep the ends of each square, so I cut a very shallow groove around the perimeter of the wood, about 1 1/2" from each end (see photo). If I hadn't done this, I likely would have splintered off a chunk on each end; cutting the groove helps keep the ends square. If you're going to turn the entire length of wood, this wouldn't be necessary.

Step 4) Next is the fun part - turning. Turn on the lathe (obviously). Place the tool firmly agains the tool rest and gradually move it toward the stock of wood, taking off bits/shavings of material very slowly. Proceed down the length of the material, cutting a little more with each pass, until you've turned a cylinder. Pretty easy, huh? It really is.

After that you can use all sorts of other chisels and knives with different ends to create different grooves and cuts in the spindle. For this project, I was given some general direction from the client, but they wanted each one to be different. This, combined with the "rustic" or "handmade" look they wanted, made the job incredibly easy. Typically I would sharpen my knives/chisels frequently, as well as sanding the piece with sandpaper from 60 or 80 grit all the way up to 600 grit or higher. I'd also wear a respirator, safety goggles and ear muffs (safety 1st!).

I should mention I've been doing this for a while now, but am nowhere near a pro. There are people who do this - and only this - type of woodworking as a passion, and produce some amazing things. With the exception of Christmas ornaments and baby rattles, turning is something I usually incorporate into a larger piece, rather than make as stand alone objects. If you want to see cool pictures of way better turnings, or learn more about the process, check out the Loess Hills Woodturners Club, a local club based out of Iowa. Of for more photos, check out the American Association of Woodturners.

Getting Lathed: A new project

I was recently commissioned to make 5 simple, pine display racks for a local artist. I sometimes do these projects to supplement my income a little and challenge me to interpret someone else's designs. They tend to be pretty simple, direct and good practice for my own work. In this case, the artist in question is also someone I highly respect and admire, so that's a bonus too!

The artist gave me dimensions and a general guideline for the pieces, which will eventually be painted nice and fancy and used to display some ceramic figures. The display rack (that's the best description I can give it) is 26 1/2" tall, 16" wide and 10 3/4" deep. I couldn't find any wood that was 16" wide, so I had to use one of my favorite tools - a Dewalt Biscuit Joiner (not edible) to join two 8" wide boards together for the back, top and bottom.

The fun part came in creating the front spindles. The artist wanted the pieces to look handmade and folky, which I sort of interpret as "rough". Therefore, I wanted the spindles to look kind of beaten up and chipped. I chose basswood - a soft wood often used by old men to carve boots, horses and the like - because I knew it wouldn't turn very smoothly on the lathe, and lo and behold I was right. Check out the lathe in action - the piece is turning really fast (not sure of the RPM, so just accept that "really fast" means "really fast"). The section to the left looks stationary because it's already been rounded. But the section attached to the lathe on the right side is still square, so it looks blurry - that's the "really fast" in action.

I plan to post a short video of my rusty old lathe in action pretty soon. A few recent conversations with the folks at Silicon Prairie News and ACuriousParty have inspired me to buy a video camera. Can you say Woodworking Podcast? Giving me wood just thinking about it!

It's all in the cut

Although I'm an extremely amazing designer and craftsman (please note sarcasm), I'm still learning quite a bit. That's actually one of the reasons I like doing this kind of work. Isn't it hard to learn new things when you're no longer in school?

For a very long time I had assumed that I knew what "quarter sawn" lumber was. I thought this meant that the wood was milled in exact quarter dimensions, such as 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, etc. I also thought this "style" of cut was sort of the opposite of dimensional lumber, such as one-by-fours and two-by-fours (which are actually only 3/4" and 1 1/2" thick).

However, I just stumbled on a great little article, which includes simple explanatory drawings, that highlights the difference... it's all in the cut...http://www.allwoodwork.com/article/woodwork/plainorquartersawn.htm

Clean Plate table sneak peak

I celebrated the majority of the July 4th holiday by not hanging out with friends and family; not relaxing in lawn chairs; and not blowing myself up with black cats and M-80s. I did, however, witness a pretty impressive fireworks display in the 2500 block of S. 49th St.

Most of my weekend was in fact spent on my back screwing... boards that is. I took advantage of an extra day off work to finish fabricating the first part of the Clean Plate table. I affixed the side rails to the 4 gorgeous solid walnut legs and created a sort of interior skeletal structure from poplar (a very straight-grained, durable wood).

I joined enough planks to create a full top that screws onto the structure from the underside of the table. In the picture at right, I'm using bar clamps to join the pieces laterally, and squeeze clamps to keep the board from buckling upward under the immense pressure of the clamping. This will also ensure that the piece will remain a flat surface after the glue dries.

Drilling up through the poplar structure into the underside of the planks will accommodate any expansion or contraction that may result from changes in temperature and humidity; this also makes the top look like it's resting on the legs and side rails, without any fasteners, which is a "cleaner" look.

The next phase will involve a pretty extensive amount of sanding on the top. This is the part of working with wood that I wish I didn't have to do. Not only is it hard, tiring work; it's also very dirty and not particularly good for one's health. I wear a professional respirator (those paper masks are worthless, btw), but still come home with nostrels full of brown dust and my eyes feeling slightly irrirated, like I'm wearing contact lenses that are past their expiration date. It's worth the work and risk to health - check out the contrast in the richness of the section of wood that has been sanded and coated with linseed oil and the section that has not - it's pretty dramatic and makes me excited to see how the top will look when finished. Hopefully that happens by the end of the week. Time is running short... Elle starts the move-in to Empty Room August 1.

Clean Table - Sneak Peak #3: It's turning me upside down

After a short break to travel to San Francisco for work/play, I was able to get back in my workshop today. I made some pretty substantial progress on the Clean Plate table, including getting all the top planks cut to size, as well as the rails and ends for one of the 3 components. 

The picture on the left is one of two five-foot long sections laid out on a work table. It's pictured here upside down, because the pieces are not fasted together in any way. Hopefully you can get a sense of the basic design and size from the photo. 

This 5' x 4' section and another of equal dimension will bookend a middle section that is 4' x 4'. Two legs of each of the outer 5' x 4' sections will pull double duty by supporting the middle section

as well. I wish I had a better picture of the way I've arranged the top planks; the richness of color and diversity of grain patterns of this Silver City, IA and Nebraska-grown and milled walnut is significant.

To give you a larger sense of the amount of material in this table (and then, perhaps the size),

here is a shot of most of the end pieces I cut off today to square and cut to size the top planks. I save all these stubby pieces in a box with the intent of making a sculpture or fabricating a structure, but I'm not convinced this will happen any time soon. We'll see - maybe when I finish this, and another project and some chairs and...

She's got legs: Clean Plate Sneak Peak #2

"I need wood around me, Jerry. Wood. Wood." - Kramer, from Seinfeld

I have to drive to the Panhandle Wednesday/Thursday and then we're off to San Francisco for a few days starting this weekend. So, I wanted to make a little headway on the Clean Plate table. Tonight I was able to cut and square the remaining four legs. The table, now shortened to about 14-feet, will have 4 solid walnut legs that are about 2" square. All four of the legs pictured above are cut from the same 8/4 piece of wood, which is pretty cool (Most milled lumber is sold in thicknesses of 4/4, 5/4, 6/4 and 8/4. This means just what it sounds like in terms of math - 4/4=4 quarter inches, or 1 inch; 6/4=6 quarter inches, or 1 1/2 inches; and so on - don't ask me why they don't just use the standard inch measurement - must be a wood culture thing). 

Anyway, enough of the shop class lesson. You might not be able to tell, but these pieces all have a very distinctive grain pattern that's very swirly and marbled looking. Check back for more updates soon!

Clean Table - Sneak Peak #1

I have the distinct honor of being commissioned to create a dining table for the upcoming Clean Plate residency at the Empty Room in NoDo. Starting in early August, Elle Lien will bring her flavorful feasts to foodies and concert goers. And trust me, having sampled this past Sunday's Mediterranean-inspired brunch, Omaha is in for a treat. The Empty Room projects are meant to be community-based. In that spirit, I'll be sharing occasional updates and photos of the building process. If you're going to be around the Bemis Center or are interested in checking it out, lending a hand for an hour or so or just want to hang out drop me a line. Here are a couple pictures with the basic layout of the top. The long pieces of wood laying vertically on edge will actually be the supports on the underside, and the uneven pieces running laterally are the top.

After several conversations, Elle and I settled on a Parsons-style table, which means the ends, sides and legs are all flush with the top, eliminating any overhang or lip. The whole table will be 16-feet long and 4-feet wide. This is by far the largest piece of furniture I've ever made and has already presented me with several logistical challenges. Namely, the length and overall size has caused me to build the table in 3 pieces so it can be moved out of my workshop and easily transported to the Empty Room.

Niz's side table

My girlfriend fiancee, Niz, has a slightly different aesthetic than mine when it comes to furniture and interiors. For the most part, I like very solid, dark flooring, molding and furniture. She's sort of the opposite; I think she'd like to live in the Ikea showroom. I think she almost fainted when she saw the custom walk-in closet and cabinets my friend Doug K. made for he and his wife's house.

So, in my continued quest to make her happy, I decided I'd try to move outside my craft comfort zone and make something Ikea-worthy. It's not exactly an Ikea knock-off - that would go against my principal about copying, etc. - but I think I've channeled the simplicity in its use of plywood and veneer and relatively simple design. All in all, I'm pretty happy with this one. The top is made of 5/8" plywood that is about 12" in diameter. The legs are about 16" tall - also made of 5/8" plywood. The top surface is veneered in cherry, and the legs are veneered in walnut. It took all my willpower to keep the edges exposed, as I generally look at plywood with disdain. However, finally taking the time to make something sort of nice out of it might have converted me somewhat. It probably cost about 1/2 to 1/4 the price in materials to make this piece in plywood/veneer rather than solid hardwood, and plywood is a "greener" materials, sort of.

Jean's Drawers

Here's another recent addition I haven't had the opportunity to post yet. I designed and fabricated this and another similar drawer for my friend Jean, to be joined an existing table top she made from wood salvaged from the Falstaff brewery. 

The quilted look of the drawer fronts were accomplished by fabricating a series of small (1") diamond-shaped pieces of cherry and Spanish cedar together. This is very much the same process I used for the body of the "Ark" chair in my Share Your Chair blog. The center starburst is made of alternating pieces of cocobolo and redheart. The knobs are made turned from cocobolo and cherry. Though not really visible in these photos, the top and bottom are walnut veneered plywood; the sides are cherry and cocobolo. I finished it all off with a couple coats of semi-gloss polyurethane.