The Big Three

 1.  Wood Engraving.

Sat down at some place to have a bite in Chile last month and there on the wall was a woodblock print. So that started this.

Annie looked at a print I pulled and said, "Your block is over inked."

She was correct.

Wood engraving is very small composed movements on the end grain of a block.  Woodcuts tend toward bigger movements on face grain blocks. (Over simplified)

So far there's nothing I feel confident about to show.  Still learning how to crawl.

 

2.  F. O. G.

Fraternal Order of the Glass

Held another meeting of F. O. G.   This time we tasted rum.  Great insights and inroads made into just about every facet of life through these unabashed romps through the wonderful and wide world of Alcohol.

Setting up the bottles in order according to a inscrutable logic of Casey's.

And a legend of Tony's bar comes out of the back for a taste.  If I remember the story correct.  A friend of Tony's gifted him the bottle just for being an all around good guy.  The friend was a bartender at the Playboy Mansion in LA for many years and had "spirited away" this bottle when the place was sold.

3.  A very Saucy Lamp

Converted one of my wooden lamp shades into a floor lamp for Taylor and Nick in Sausalito, California.  I knew where I wanted to put it in the house and so designed it to fit in with the large plant.

The uprights were made by bending four square sections over a form and gluing.  But the bend was along the corner of the blocks instead of the face side.

There are three uprights, one carried the wire.

 Worked the joining of the top while it was standing up, the rest was done laying it down to a good working height. 

Finished it up, had a little dinner party here for it's first showing the night before taking it over to Saucy.

Photos for the archival material.

Seems like a lot of photos here but according to my publisher, the readers love them more than the words.

 A perfect example of Early Century Modern West Coast Warehouse.

Black White Gray

Leather-holder-together of the top three.

B-Roll stuff

Whoah!  Wait a minute, a wide angle!!??

And finally in situ in Sausalito in with the big plant in the corner.

Photo courtesy of Taylor Kirchner

The King and The Court Jester

 

The King is upright, the King is stout.  Rules his subjects truthfully and fairly.

The Court Jester is all askew and caddywhompus.  His costume is slipshod and mis-tailored.

Somewhat lovable, somewhat laughable.

The second chair has been bugging me to finish it and get it out of the studio.  So I did.

It will be a great example for the future curator of a posthumous show of mine to somehow put into context.  "He was at the top of game but still put out pieces of questionable status.  MU was once quoted as saying, 'I'm ok with things that miss the mark slightly.  They're like the one knot in the carpet that isn't perfect'."

The court of two.

Just as a refresher.  These two chairs are made with the exact same bent elements.  I used a couple of the pieces differently from one to the other.

And before you go, I'd just like to issue a small apology for the photos.  I would usually shoot something like this on the medium format back but instead shot it on the little Fuji mirrorless thing.

Huge huge difference between the two in studio work.

In Case

 

Just in case you want to see photos from the past month.

Part One.

Part Two.

Chagall, Matisse and Sycamore

 I thought the polished copper pulls made the piece look mid to early late Danish Modern.  They needed to be funked up a bit to bring it back to Early Century Modern West Coast Warehouse.

I temporarily attached one of the newly polished pulls to see if I liked it like that.

So to knock it off it's horse a bit, I took a propane torch to heat them up real good then dipped into boiled linseed oil.  Torched them again until the oil started to dry and turn color.

I think the darkness helps to bring the pulls into balance with the Sycamore.

Coat of wax applied to the drawers the night before delivery.

One final look before wheeling it out of the studio.  Keen eye will notice one missing pull.  It was proving to be a malcontent that needed some attention.

And it's now in it's resting place.

I'd take and show some more photos but I won't be around the computer for the next month.