Sunday, September 30, 2012

mistakes and moving forward


My brother over at Mechanish crafted these great steel legs from some drawings that I made.  I routered out a spot in the bottom of my window bench to allow the plates to sit flush with the bottom of the bench. 


Ahh...a nice fit.


Testing out the t-nuts that I installed so that the brackets can be removed for shipping.
Unfortunately, as I started work on installing the t-nuts to the other side, I discovered that I had routered out the area for the bracket on the wrong side of the line I measured—time for some repairs!
A reminder for the future.
I started working the transition piece for the shade of my Through The Forest Lamp—it's made from a vintage jello mold tin that I cut and bent to form the shape-I had a lot of fun experimenting with this.
I've posted a couple peeks of my new studio space over at CoRK, but thought I'd post some more pics of the space-it's still a work in progress, but it's great to have plenty of room to work amongst so many talented artists.
A wide-angle shot of the studio-I'm slowly cleaning and replacing the windows to let in more light and enjoy the view-when I moved in, there were all completely covered in grime.
Here's that great view—and the trains run by regularly :)

Another side of the studio.
I found this old door in the corner of the warehouse space and turned it into a spot to hold some of my hand tools.
Here's my area to draw and plan out projects-I painted the wall with chalkboard paint for sketching.

Here's the before, midway through the chalkboard wall repairs, it was a mess.

My wall of treasures...oh the possibilities!
More treasures, I found this ladder on the curb one morning while walking the dogs and carried it all the way home.  I think my free MDF shelving is going to need replacing soon though, it's really sagging (darn that Florida humidity!)
A little lath detail on one of the workbenches I built.

I can make a lamp out of those rulers, right?

Thursday, September 20, 2012

dye and wood

It's been a busy couple of weeks in the shop.  Much time was spent moving into a new studio location just blocks from the house at CoRK, where a flurry of cleaning, dry-walling, replacing glass, moving, and building has taken place.  While it took me away from my projects for a bit-it's wonderful to have more space to move about and not get stabbed in the side by some piece of wood or metal every time I turn around.  I am also looking forward to the opportunity to be in company with the many great artists in this community, and of course getting out of my own house is a big plus! 

I've finished up on my first lamp, the Textile Lamp.  
Each part of this piece has particular details which I appreciated and my goal was to bring them together as a functional whole, but in a simple way so as not to detract from the individuality of each part.  Incorporating elements of wood, metal, and fiber in raw form... the days of the booming U.S. textile factories. 

Drilling a hole for the lamp cord.
Time to wire everything up!


The lampshade is re-purposed from an old lamp.  Long strips of cloth from my collection were torn and wrapped around the frame.  I then dyed the shade in a turquoise ombré.
The light coming through the shade highlights the ombré effect.

A few of the great details I love about the components of this piece.
A brass water hose nozzle makes an unexpected finial.
I've also been wrapping up on these mirrors.  Made out of lath from the walls of Jacksonville's Riverside/Avondale homes-I contrasted the rough, unevenness of the lath with glossy, modern white frames.

I cut some pieces of birch for the back of the frames (where the mirror will go) and papered them.  Just because it's the back doesn't mean it shouldn't look pretty!

A little peek at my new studio space, I thought the old sampler was quite apropos to the pieces that I create.