Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Steve Jobs: How to live before you die | Video on TED.com

Good advice Mr. Jobs. Rest in peace.

Snake Cabinet

The semester is over, and it was a busy one! Whew!  Glad its done.  I finished the snake inspired tambor door cabinet, and am pretty pleased with the result.  Granted, this one has some issues that need to be resolved, like the space between the wall and cabinet (more of it) and a more resolved handle/intersection of the doors, but besides that, it is a great prototype.  It looks like the funky shaped tambors could be a very interesting aspect of furniture work to explore in the future.  Here's how the real one turned out hanging on the wall:

The cabinet is made out of plywood and is painted with milk paint.  It's dimensions are approximately 42 inches in length, 15 inches deep, and 12 inches high.  I think the next one will have more elaborate curves in the individual tambors, an increase in scale, and a variation in the dimensions of the two compartments (the right compartment might be taller than the other compartment  which will break up the big flat boring space on the top.)  Also, the next one will probably be veneered with something better looking than rotary cut birch.  This project has given me a lot of different ideas on how to employ tambors.  Considering my interest in working with CNC technology, tambor doors could start to get real crazy pretty fast!  Oh, I'm excited...

In other news, Sarah graduated!   Though the ceremony was not the most exciting, it was still a wonderful memorable day.  Congratulations!

Absurd!

Got work in some shows...

 This weekend the San Diego Art Department is having it "Artists for Japan Relief" show where local artists, mostly those with connections to SDSU, have donated work to be sold.  The proceeds will go to the American Red Cross to support disaster relief after the big earthquake in March.  The final day to make bids is this Saturday, May 14th, from 4pm until 7pm.  Great cause, great work in the show. 

I donated my Karesansui Table which is inspired by the dry landscape garden at the Ryoan-ji Temple in Kyoto, Japan.  Here's the table:

Here's the garden in the temple:

Around the corner, back to the right, is a beautiful little mossy garden space.  I thought this place was magical when I was there last summer.

I also entered two of my pieces in the San Diego County Fair's Design in Wood Show in Del Mar put on every year by the San Diego Fine Woodworking Association.  These pieces will be shown:

Snake in the water!

I am going to make a tambor door cabinet with curvy tambor slats--kinda like a snake!

Here's what made me think of it.  Sarah and I went for a hike in Mission Trails just south of the 52 near Santee this weekend.  On our hike, we stopped in the shad of a massive tree near a stream to eat the lunch we brought.  While we were sitting there eating and chatting, I noticed a snake in the puddle near by.  It was a small garter snake that would periodically poke its head out of the water to breathe and hunt water bugs skimming across the top of the water.  Neither of us had seen anything like that before and for whatever reason it made me think of my tambor cabinet.  I went to the river bank near by and drew in the sand what I wanted to do with my tambor door.

As you might be able to see in the picture, each strip of the door is an 's' curve with the same radius on both sides of  's.'  The top and bottom of the strip is straight where fabric will be glued to the back.  It looks really cool in the model, and I think it will work.  There will be two sliding doors that meet in the indented part. I think there will be a divider inside for structure and to divide the interior space. If the inside of the box was lit, the light escaping from between the slats might be cool too.  And funny enough, the source for the idea came from nature, watching a snake chase bugs in a puddle.  This imagery could also be used to make a pattern of some kind in the top, maybe ripples of a wake or a snake skin texture.

Good Times at the Rodeo!

 

Yeeeee ha!  Here are some pictures.  Great idea B.A. !  Happy Birthday!

Lakeside Rodeo… Awesome.

Dad sent a page from the WSJ

I thought this was really funny because I was looking at Ruhlmann when I was designing the Lingerie Chest.  Thanks Dad!  The article on Ruhlmann talks about a new book that has just come out on him.  He is one of my favorite designers.  He was designing these pieces in the beginning of the 20th century, “a time when furniture makers were kings.”

Here’s a link to that article pictured below:  All Hands on Art Deco

 

The Ruhlmann’s black liquor cabinet with the wood burl doors at the top of the page next to the picture of his face sold for $2.1 million at a recent auction according to the article.  Whoa.

On the other side of the page was a blurb on what was going to be at the Milan Furniture Fair--very designer-y.   Here’s a link to that article:  The Furniture Frontline