let’s see if i can make this whole youtube thing work.
go.
hooray! i did it! so this is me playing around with some 1/4 scale models of the modular system. you can see that we made some tweaks since the ‘pink david’ pictures. we shrunk down the height a little bit to make them feel slimmer. we also extended the drawer and door fronts full length. these are in walnut. the extended drawer fronts definitely give a different feel. i keep going back and forth on whether i like the white lines or not. i do like that in this version you could make things look very monolithic without seeing that it’s made of lots of little pieces. or you could show gaps in between them to show that part off. i don’t know. thoughts? opinions?
we’ve also been working on some modular storage units. basically two sizes that can be bought and stacked to suit one’s needs. we really like the look of the white paint with wood grain. this is zebrawood. it’s hot.
It’s taken a long time, but Jeff and I have finally figured out this here end table. It began way back when I was making my tables and we thought that this kind of look would work well as a whole line, but we needed to simplify a lot of things. So we started with an end table. Very quickly we used the leg shape that I was already using in the dining table and came up with this.
Then Jeff started exploring bending plastic. Heating up a standard plastic sheet makes it pliable, and then on cooling it holds its shape. Much like the records I did a while back. As long as it’s a thermoplastic, it will do this. So we played around with draping and got this.
Then we started thinking about functionality and wondering if this plastic top thing could have some use. Immediately a tray table came to mind.
So we had a tray table, but we had lost the feel of the original tables. So we started working with the idea that the original tables looked like the middle part should come out. It looks as though you should be able to lift it up and find some magic underneath. So I quickly bandsawed up one of our original side tables and got this.
The functionality was there and now we just needed to finalize a form. So this is what our production piece is going to look like. The legs and base will be lacquered white, and the apron and top will be matching hardwood.
first of all, do you think this would be a cool clock? second, could you tell what time it is?
this is a flash file, so you’ll need the plugin if you don’t have it. also, i couldn’t make the script work perfectly so you have to wait one minute before the actual time updates, so watch the pretty lights move and then it should actually get the time right.
and once again, i am unable to embed the file so click on the picture to see it. man, this internet stuff can be annoying.
so for those of you who love that behind the scenes stuff i took some pictures while my family and i were hanging the threshold piece (did i mention how thankful i am for that?) and made a little movie and put it on a little thing called youtube. and supposedly i can now just pop some code into this here post and it will ‘embed’ said movie into this here blog. i don’t know if i believe all that what with the tubes getting clogged and such, but we’ll give it a go and see if it works.
here’s a link in case it doesn’t work.Update: well, i don’t know about you guys, but i’d say that’s not exactly success. the formatting on my computer in firefox just went all to shit. it works in safari. the shop computers with ie are formatted correctly, but the embedding didn’t work. how is it on your computer?
Update 2: i just can’t handle how it looks on my computer. so i’ve taken the embedding out. just follow the link.
and finally, what you’ve all been waiting for, some finished pieces.
the dining table.
both tables together.
some details.
here i am with my baby with my name conveniently on the wall behind me. just in case you were wondering who made them.
and here’s what my corner of the show looked like. we rehung the threshold piece and had it wrap the corner and it looked really good. thanks to my family for helping me hang it while i was sick as a dog!
and now some process shots. first i cut out the pieces for the coffee table.
here’s a detail of the top of the coffee table after some edge routing.
lots of clamps.
the clamping of the big table. i had to do this one all at once. talk about a nightmare! i was sure that it would come out terrible.
here’s the veneer work in progress. the glued the veneer down in one big rectangle and then cut away all of the excess. because the veneer is so thin and so fragile i couldn’t use a router so all of this was cut with an xacto knife. sounds fun right?
ok. so i know that it’s annoying, but i’m going to fill you in on the past 2 months all in one shot. we’ll start with some sketch models. i decided to make some tables and i went through numerous designs before i decided on the final ones. here is a selection.
this is the very first square table that i made. quite intricate.
next i tried simplifying things a bit.
then i went back to getting a little crazy. the top of this one is based on a map of the san francisco bay.
then i decided to go for more of a rectangle table that would comfortably seat 4.
here you can see the dining table with the coffee table that i had planned.
then i went through some color explorations trying to decide what the final ones might look like. i decided to keep them just straight up black and white.
i wasn’t thrilled with the black table, white inlay look, and then i realized that with the construction methods i was using, i could actually do some veneer.
in the next post i’ll get to actual construction of the pieces.
