Final Delivery: Treasure Box Series II

Proud Parents in Delivery Room

If you have red this blog for some time you are aware we have been working on the series of Treasure Boxes, designed to show off our marquetry skills (and make some money!).

As I recall, Treasure Box Series I started on the drawing table in November 2011 and we made 4 copies.  Three of the series had olive, kingwood and tulip wood interiors and the forth had custom trays for jewelry made of ebony and lined with parchment.  All of these boxes were sold and paid for before they were done and the last was delivered in January 2013.

Treasure Box Series I

Treasure Box Series I was 440 X 340 x 140mm in size and I am holding one in the photo above.

We immediately started designing Treasure Box Series II and by June 2013 had the final designs, which were presented to clients and, as a result, two were sold and paid for.  We had to raise the price since the design was more complicated and the box construction was more involved, with a secret release that allowed the gilt leather writing surface to open.

Treasure Box Series II with Gilt Leather Writing Surface

We used white bone from Paris for the inlay and flowers and thanks to Don Williams were able to tint it green for the leaves.  On both the boxes we used sawn Gabon ebony which we were lucky to purchase in Paris.  This pure black wood is getting very difficult to find and we have a fairly good supply at this point.  We don't know what we will do when it comes time to replace it.

Treasure Box Series II

By the time we completed polishing the second series of 4 identical boxes, they were all sold and paid for.  We are pleased that our clients are willing to support this craft at this level, as it is not cheap to do it this way and we insist on producing an object using exactly the same methods and materials as would have been used at the end of the 17th century.  We are proud that we are making the finest examples of French marquetry in this country, as these boxes demonstrate.

Treasure Box Series II Top Design

Treasure Box Series II is 410 X 340 X 100mm and Patrice is holding one in the photo above.

Patrice Lejeune has spent a lot of time documenting the process of creating these boxes on his blog and on Lumberjocks.  You can see his post here:Patrice Lejeune Blog Post: Treasure Box Series II

I would be excited to see your comments on our work.

Teaching at MASW Soon

Two years ago I was invited to teach at Marc Adams' school in Indianapolis.   It turned out to be a great experience for me and I got a lot of positive feedback from the students.

As I mentioned in this blog previously, I had some reservations about asking Marc to build 8 chevalets and thus limit the class size to 8 students.  I knew this would not be profitable for him and was surprised when he agreed to take a loss in order to introduce the process of French marquetry to his students.

The down side for me was transporting two 50 lb suitcases on the flight full of materials and tools for the class.  I wonder what the TSA people thought when they scanned those bags?

Now I have confirmed my flight and return to MASW next month.  I will be there for two weeks, starting Monday, August 17.  The first week will be French marquetry, Stage I, the Boulle method.  That class is full.

Over the weekend following I will offer two different classes.  Saturday, August 22, I will demonstrate methods to veneer turnings and columns, using protein glues.  Each student will be provided with materials and glue that they can take home for further practice.  Veneering columns is a valuable part of my furniture building and I have worked for years to perfect the process.  I think you will find this interesting and by adding veneering to your turned work, open up new avenues of design.  There is still room in this class.  Here is the link: Veneering a Column

Sunday, August 23, I will be teaching about geometrical marquetry, and that class is full.  I am excited to be able to show how the French were able to do amazing things with small pieces of veneer.  Also, this class will demonstrate how to make an assembly board.

Starting Monday, August 24, I will again return to the chevalet and offer a class in Stage II marquetry, the "piece by piece" method.  There are still openings in this class.  Note that the Stage I class does not require any previous experience with working on the chevalet, as you do not have to exactly follow the lines.  By contrast, Stage II requires a bit of experience as you have to accurately follow the lines when you cut for the pieces to fit.  There are many posts on this blog which explain the difference.

However, since the class is not full, I would also accept any student who wishes to start Stage I (since the first week is full), or wishes to do an exercise in Painting in Wood, since I am able to teach all these methods simultaneously.

Here is the link for that class: Piece by Piece Marquetry Class

Finally, I am very proud of the popularity of the tool, "chevalet de marqueterie."  I was the first to introduce it to the American woodworker some 15 years ago, and it has become a recognized fixture in many workshops.  To that end, MASW is offering, for the first time, a class on building your own chevalet.  Amazing!

Obviously, you need to plan for this and I believe bring your own wood.  However, it is a wonderful opportunity to use the facilities at his school (every woodworking machine ever made).

Here is the link:  Build Your Own Chevalet

Hope to see you there.

Treasure Box Series II Progress

Treasure Box Series II Nearly Complete

The day Kristen and I left to fly to Winston Salem, Patrice finished cutting out the ebony background packet and was ready to start putting it together.

This Treasure Box is twice as difficult as the first series Treasure Box, and it includes subtle complexities that makes it even more challenging.   Patrice and I have worked together on this project for an entire year to get it to this point, and we hope to complete the project, with four identical boxes by the end of this year.  Or sooner, if possible...

After the success in selling all four of the first series, we were encouraged to start working on the next series.  I selected the original box from a web search and began working on the box construction.  You can search back in this blog to see how long ago it was that I was cutting the full blind dovetails for the corners.

We decided to do the interior in bloodwood veneer and we found a nice large and colorful bloodwood board in Oregon to cut down for the solid partitions to match.  The design includes three birds, each different.  Two are sitting in trees inside the box itself.   One is on the top outside center, surrounded by bone inlay.

Patrice refined the overall design using illustrator, which produces a line composed of very small dots.  It is essential to use a dotted line to cut the pieces properly.  That is because we are using the Classic Method to produce these boxes, and, if you have been following this blog, you realize we are "cheating."  What I mean by this is that the original box, made in the late 17th century, was made using the Painting in Wood process.  With this process, you only are able to generate one copy of the design at a time.  In order to made these boxes "affordable" we are using the Classic Method, which the French perfected in the mid 18th century, and with that process we can make multiple copies all identical.

They look like Painting in Wood, but the fit is perfect since the saw kerf is eliminated, so an expert would be able to determine that they are not "of the period."

To cut out the background for the top, Patrice had to first cut out the elliptical bone cavity around the center bird.  Then he had to take apart the package and install the bone strips in each background.  Since the four backgrounds then had to be put back into a packet absolutely perfectly, with a new design placed on the front of the packet, there had to be some way to keep the alignment of each layer without any error.  I suggested using pins which would be placed in holes that were first drilled through the first packet.  Then Patrice was able to keep the second design in the right position by locating these pins.  It worked perfectly.  Absolutely zero error.

For more about this part of the job visit Patrice's blog here:Patrice's Lumberjocks Post

So, after cutting the packet for over three days, full time, he was ready to start putting the pieces together.  We flew to Winston Salem on a Wednesday.  On Thursday night we were looking for a place to eat and walked into a crab shack around the corner from the hotel.  As we looked at the menu, we were dismayed to find everything was fried.  When the waiter arrived and asked us what we wanted, we said "anything organic and anything not fried."  He kindly said, "You are in the wrong place.  You need to go down Liberty Street on the other side of the interstate and eat at Willows."

Boy, was he right!  We ended up eating there four nights in a row and enjoyed every bite.  For example, here is the "Grilled vegetable Napoleon -layered puff pastry, with grilled asparagus, grilled portabella mushrooms, grilled artichokes and fontina cheese, finished with roasted red peppers."  I had it twice!

Excellent Food Properly Presented

So, as Kristen and I sat and enjoyed our delightful dinner together on Thursday night, I received the first photo of the marquetry that Patrice had just put together.  Kristen actually cried when she saw it and I stopped breathing for a few moments.  It was just too beautiful!  I know how the masters in the 17th century felt when they looked at their work.  One part of the brain (the technical side) focuses on the slight defects that are always present.  The other part of the brain (the artistic side) just smiles, knowing the satisfaction of a job well done.

To quickly review how we got to this point, I will briefly summarize the process we used.  After Patrice had completed the drawing, I laid out 32 different packets of sawn veneers and coded each part of the design with the appropriate wood.  The top has nearly a thousand separate pieces, and each had to have a color, keeping in mind the overall goal of making it look authentic.  I then glued each piece of the paper to the packets and fed them to Patrice, who was kept busy cutting 4 layers of each element over nearly a month of work.

He is responsible for placing each piece in hot sand to create the artistic shadow, as I no longer have the patience to do that part of the work.  It is an essential part of the process, but very tedious.  Patrice has the eye and understands exactly how the final result will look.  He did a great job.

At this point all the sides for the four boxes are assembled and all the tops are nearly ready.  The inside marquetry is done and glued down.  There is one last issue to resolve: green bone.

If you look closely at the marquetry you will see that a lot of the places where leaves should be are empty.  These spots will be filled with green bone leaves.  Also, in these places you can see small strips of ebony crossing the empty space.  These strips are "bridges" which are a feature of the Classic Method.  By leaving "bridges" in the design, the various elements of the background can remain exactly in the proper place until the worker is ready to install the proper element.  The worker just cuts out the bridge and installs the leaf, in this case.  We will do that as soon as we complete the process of dying the white bone a proper green.  Green bone elements were a very popular feature in late 17th century work.

I am so proud of this recent work that I want to show you some closeups, even though the work is not completely done.  Note you are looking at the back side of the marquetry, which is being assembled with hot glue on an assembly board which is covered in stretched Kraft paper.  When all the parts are in place, any gaps which remain will be filled with mastic.  Then we can remove the panels and finally glue them in place on the outside of our boxes.

We are very fortunate that three of these boxes have been sold and paid for.  That means that there is only one Treasure Box Series II which remains available.  It is our hope that we will find a patron who is able to purchase the last box and perhaps donate it to a museum.  We believe that this work is worthy of being in a museum where it can be enjoyed by the general public.  I think it is very important in this modern disposable world that the public has the chance to view objects which will stand the test of time.  This work is equal to that produced centuries ago, as we have been very faithful to the craft.

A Simple Painting In Wood Etude

Always Start With The Basics

When I decided to open up my marquetry workshop to students, I had to decide what kind of curriculum to follow, knowing that I would have a wide range of students with a wide range of abilities and experience.

Therefore, I followed the musical format which I learned during the decades I was involved with classical music.  At the age of 12, I saw a kid playing the violin on the Ed Sullivan show on TV.  I immediately told my parents that I wanted to learn the violin.  Fortunately, they were able to buy me a moderately good quality instrument and find someone to teach me.  I went every week to get a lesson and made a good effort to practice daily.  I was not always successful, and my teacher would always know when I had practiced or not.

There were fingering exercises, bowing exercises, scales in every key, and very simple practice etudes. It was all about technique.  My teacher was a very old man, and had learned himself from a Russian teacher.  He insisted that I learn the basics before I even thought about playing anything by some composer.  He was right.  I was soon able to join the Civic Youth orchestra, where I sat first chair, second violin section.  (I never had any aspirations to play first violin.  That takes a certain ego.)

In college, I naturally took music and had the good fortune to study with Bert Turetzky, a famous double bass player.  He listened to me play my violin and immediately said, "Forget it.  I need a viola player.  Can you learn to play the viola?"

I went back to my teacher, who was in his 90's and retired and asked him if he could help me.  He was generous enough to show me what I needed and I spent my college years playing the viola in the UCSD quartet.  Some of the most rewarding days of my life.

My point is that, if I had not been shown how to hold the instrument, how to tune the instrument and how to execute the most basic technical aspects of it, I would never have been able to perform Schubert's string quintet in C major successfully.

Thus, since I only teach two weeks of classes every quarter, it is essential that I teach the basics.  How to fit the chevalet to the worker.  How to hold the saw frame and set the tension.  How to make a packet and cut it. How to execute simple etudes over and over.

The first week is the Boulle method, where it doesn't matter much if you can follow the line.  Most students are able to learn fast enough and have enough control to stay on the line by the end of the week.  The second week is the Classic Method (Piece by Piece) where it is essential that you not only follow the line exactly, but are able to cut away exactly half the line consistently.  That takes good eye/hand coordination, and that takes much more practice to master.

There is an etude which is in between these two methods: Painting in Wood.  With this method, you do not have to follow the line exactly.  The pieces always fit, since you are basically using the Boulle method of cutting the layers of the packet in super position.  That means the elements of the design are cut at the same time as the cavities of the background, which is in the same packet.

With the Classic Method, the elements of the design are cut in a separate packet and the back ground is cut in a separate packet, so if you are not careful, they will not fit.  The French developed the Classic Method and were able to keep most of the secrets of this process in Paris.

At the end of the 17th century, the rest of Europe began to evolve the Boulle Method into the Painting in Wood method, as the desire to create more naturalistic marquetry designs became the fashion.  With Boulle, the packets were usually layers of ebony, pewter, brass or tortoise shell, and the overall design was either a positive or negative form of the design ("premiere-partye" or "contre-partye").

Boulle Marquetry Project for Art Institute of Chicago

When the fashion began to change, and the desire to include more types of woods as well as more naturalistic images of flowers and birds became popular, marquetry artists developed the Painting in Wood process.  Instead of solid sheets of material in the packet, they began to include smaller pieces of exotic wood veneers, strategically placed in ares of the design where they were needed.

I wrote an article explaining this process in detail in Woodwork, February 2008, where I show how I made one of my tall case clocks.

The success of this method depends on making sure the elements of the wood you need for the design are exactly in place inside the packet, and that you are able to include as many different species of woods as possible in the fewest number of layers.  Generally, using 1.5mm sawn veneers, I limit my packets to 8 layers of veneer, plus the 3mm back board and the 1.5mm front board.  When using 0.9 sliced veneers, it is possible to include as many as 12 layers of veneer.

I first make multiple copies of the design.  Using those copies, I begin to place my woods in each layer where they are needed.  Then I fill in the gaps with a scrap veneer so there are no voids inside the packet.  I am careful to keep the outside corners of the design for proper orientation.  I usually include at least two different species of woods for each flower, which gives me the option at the end of selecting the proper woods for the best effect.

Working from the back of the packet, I first start with a 3mm back board and a layer of grease paper.  The back layer of veneer is always the back ground, which in this case is ebony.  Note I have colored on the design those parts of the background which are isolated and would tend to get lost if I didn't pay attention while cutting.

Layer F (Background Veneer)

(Note there is no ebony veneer in this photo, since it was used in the project.)

Each of the following photos shows the design for that layer on the left and the layer of the packet on the right.  Since this example is one I use in class, I have covered the layer of veneer with clear packing tape, and you are looking at the back of the layer for clarity, since it is covered with veneer tape on the face which holds everything together.

The next layer is generally either a layer of green or brown for the branches or leaves:

Layer E

Here is the next layer in the packet:

And so on, each layer with its design:

Layer D

Layer C

Layer B

Layer A

Note that I have colored the design with yellow for the parts I need.  That allows me to quickly visualize the final result, making sure I have the desired woods in every part of the picture, before I assemble the packet and begin cutting.  As you can easily see, this process allows for efficient use of small pieces of veneer which otherwise would be discarded.  Plus you can place the grain direction the way you want for the best result.

I make a final drawing and use it when I cut out the packet.  This design shows me all the information I need to select the proper layer of wood from the plug of veneers, each time I cut them out.  The rest is discarded.  I keep only the woods I need for the picture.

Cutting Guide

There are several reasons I like Painting in Wood.  Since I am not very good at drawing, but I am very good at cutting, this process allows me to "improve" the design as I work.  As I said already, it also allows me to use very small scraps of my sawn veneers, which are expensive.  I also find it very stimulating to mentally create the final image and "see" the picture while looking at the layers of the packet.

One of my students, Paul Miller, seems to have also found this process interesting.  After he returned to his workshop and built his chevalet, he sent us a card with the photo of this etude on the cover:

Paul Miller's Card

I really appreciate it.  Soon he will be performing Schubert!

Jewel Cabinet Backstory Revealed

A Little Pride Showing

When I started this blog, I selected one of my favorite pieces to use as the Banner.  The Jewel Cabinet I made nearly 10 years ago has an interesting story and I often use it during my lectures on Painting in Wood to illustrate my favorite method for decorating surfaces.

This Jewel Cabinet was first exhibited in the SAPFM member's exposition, "Contemporary Classics: Selections from the Society of American Period Furniture Makers," at the Telfair Museum in Savannah, Georgia, and I distinctly remember it as being the only piece of European furniture in that show.  Subsequently, it was also on exhibit here in San Diego, at the Mingei Folk Art Museum, as part of the "Forms in Wood and Fibre" exhibition.  I must say it also stood out from the rest of the show, as being from another planet.  My good friend, John Lavine, editor of Woodwork Magazine, was kind enough to place this cabinet on the back cover of issue #101, October 2006.  It is in a private collection today, and I get to see it from time to time.  The last time I looked at it, my first comment was "I could do much better today!"  Then I realized that my thoughts should best be kept to myself.  This craft is an amazing thing: you spend 45 years working every day trying to master it only to find out that there are still many more things to learn.

The art of French polish is a good example. Once, in the most prestigious restoration shop in Paris, I approached a worker who had spent 10 years in that shop and his only job was polishing.  As he was working on a beautiful mahogany table, rubbing away, I watched his darkly stained hands moving expertly over the surface and asked, "Can you tell me some of the secrets of French polishing?"  As I understood his response, in French, I heard, "I've been doing this every day for 10 years, and I still have a lot to learn."

As the photo of this Jewel Cabinet is an iconic part of this blog, I thought it was time I should explain what led me to make such a thing.  Also, since Paul Miller just wrote me and asked if he could use my piece as an inspiration for him to make something similar, I want to post some more details for him to use.  I have no problem with others copying my work.  I have done the same thing all my career.  The difference is that the craftsmen I choose to copy have all been dead for a couple centuries.

In any event, I first saw this cabinet in London, at one of the most well known and expensive antique dealers in that city.  I will not name the company, for reasons which will become obvious in this post.  As I walked through their showrooms, I was impressed with the quality of the objects and the perfect condition they appeared to be in.  In one room I was stopped in my tracks by a wonderful marquetry cabinet with ivory feet and pulls.  I asked the salesman for more information, as I "might have a buyer" and he obliged by handing me three glossy 8 x 10 photographs and the price sheet.

Here is the description on the price sheet:  (Dealer name covered by blue tape)

Name Deleted to Protect the Dealer

There are several points raised by this sheet to consider.  First of all, it is attributed to "France, circa 1690."  Secondly, it is called a "Cartonnier."  Third, it is very strongly attributed to Boulle, without exactly saying so.  (The word is "comparable.")  Forth, it is 116cm wide (this fact will soon be recognized as very significant.)  And, finally, it is 18,500 British pounds.

As soon as I was able to return to my library and do basic research, I found this document:

The Evidence Exhibit A

The type is hard to read, but it says: "Flemish..Antwerp, in the manner of Van Soest..." This page is from an auction sale around the same time as I saw the cabinet in London, and the auction estimate was 7-10,000 British pounds.  I do not know how much it sold for.  I do note that the top section is"a removable superstructure of inverted breakfront form, with a central cubgoard door inlaid with a vase of flowers, flanked by eight drawers..."  More importantly, the width of the cabinet is 116cm.

I doesn't take a lot of conjecture to imagine a person buying this desk, throwing away the base section (since it needs a lot of work), adding ivory feet and pulls to the upper section and calling it French.  The motive is simple: you double your money.

My first suspicion that something was not right, was the term the dealer provided for the object: "Cartonnier."  I know from my reading and visiting museums that a cartonnier in French furniture is a different shaped cabinet which stood at the end of the bureau plat.  In simple terms, it was a filing cabinet for the paper work.  Generally quite tall and shaped to match the Louis XV forms popular at the mid century.  The dilemma faced by the dealer was what to call it, since it no longer was associated with the Flemish desk that used to support it.

In any event, here are the photos supplied by the dealer and what I did with them:

"Comparable to Outstanding Boulle Marquetry"

This first photo is of the central door and two of the small drawers.  The marquetry is very crudely executed.  My process is to trace the designs, rather quickly on tracing paper, so I can begin to memorize the details.  This is the result:

Rough Drawing of Original

At this point, I was convinced that I would not use any of the marquetry designs on the piece.  I could do much better by adapting some of the traditional French designs that are included in all of Pierre Ramond's books.  So I kept the same dimensions and form and redrew the designs completely as follows:

Final Drawing of Marquetry

You might notice that I am not afraid of cutting very little pieces.  The eye of the bird, for example, is less than 1mm in diameter.  I prefer the way the flowers stand in the vase and the perspective of the table top supporting the vase gives depth to the image.  I like to use olive oyster sawn veneers for the vase, as it lends a look of marble to the object.

I cut out the solid woods for the carcase, using quarter sawn white oak and beech.  I rough out my stock and set it aside, with stickers, for a season (at least one year) to adjust to my climate.  I cut out more pieces than I need, so I can pick the best ones when it comes time to build the piece.  While the wood is set aside, I turn my attention to cutting out the marquetry panels, using the Painting in Wood process.  I remember there are 18 panels plus the running bands on the face.  Several of the panels are identical in design but inverted in polarity so as to appear different.

For example, the two large panels on the top ends are the same design, but mounted left and right, with the individual colors of the elements selected as opposite colors.  The 8 drawers are made from only two drawings.  One has an orchid in the corner and the other has a rose.  By flipping the images left and right and changing the woods, it appears that there are 8 different designs.  There are 32 different wood species and all of them are natural colors, except the blue and green woods which are tinted using traditional methods.  Of course all the veneers are sawn material I purchased in Paris from Patrick George and are 1.5mm thick.

Here is the top of my cabinet:

Top of Cabinet

I needed ivory for turning the feet and pulls, so I contacted my friend, David Warther.  He kindly sent me the proper pieces of ivory along with a legal "Affidavit of Origin" documenting where he purchased it:

Legal Ivory

I included this paper with the cabinet when I sold it.  You may check recent posts on this blog to see how current legislation is affecting the trade in ivory, both legal and antique.

I might mention that I like to use full blind dovetails for my cabinets and boxes which are veneered.  This way the dovetail pins do not telegraph through the surface over time.  I did the same for this cabinet.  Everything was hand surfaced and toothed so I could press the veneer in place.  After the panels were laid down, the cabinet was glued together and the ebony and boxwood banding applied.

Here is the front of the original cabinet:

Made by Hand in Antwerp late 17th Century

Here is my cabinet:

Made by Hand in Southern California 21st Century

Here is the back of the original piece:

Back of Cartonnier

Here is the back of my cabinet:

Credit for Design to Louis XIV Coffer 

When I applied the shellac polish, I found myself being detached from the object in a very strange way.  As I stepped out of the job of making the cabinet and transitioned into the job of polisher, I began to wonder "who made this?"  It sounds strange, but when I am in the middle of a project, I can think of nothing else.  But when it is done, I forget all about it and move on to something else.  So, as I polished the ebony and marquetry surface, all I could think of was how amazing this object was, and how lucky I was to be able to work on it.

All told, I spend 800 hours building this cabinet and it sold the day it was finished to the first person who saw it.  Life is good.  There is still a lot to learn.

Mr. Lecount Ready For Adoption.

Meet Mr. Lecount

Over the years I have lectured to groups, large and small, thousands of time.  Public speaking is easy for me.  Just tell me how long you want me to talk, pick a subject, and let me go.  I never talk over the time allowed.  I can easily tell a story which is adapted to the audience with facts and anecdotes, letting the questions from the audience direct the presentation.  If you were to ask me how I do it, I would tell you a few basic rules:  have the confidence in your material, speak clearly and vary the delivery to "sell" the story with enthusiasm, and, most importantly, maintain eye contact with everyone in the audience.  As you speak, there will be those who nod in approval.  That means continue on that topic.  Also there will be those who nod off in sleep.  That means change the topic.

Original Works from 1690

It is important to use humor at times to put the audience at ease.  Knowing what kind of humor is the secret to success.  Having a joke fall flat is perhaps the worst type of mistake a speaker can make.  I have a good selection of humorous remarks that fit nicely into my presentation, and I am never afraid to use them when it feels right.  For example, when I am talking about making furniture and the amount of time it takes to do it by hand, they always have a question like "That must take a lot of patience!"

I then quote from Toshio Odate, a wonderful woodworker who says, "Why would I do something in 10 minutes that I could do all day?"  In other words, it is not "patience" but "passion" that drives me to work the way I do.  When you are passionate about your activity, it is not "work" but a "lifestyle."

As I remember from Be Here Now, the bible of the 60's, life is a journey, you better enjoy the trip.

Olive, Yew Wood Oysters, Marquetry

At times I am speaking to a small private group of mature individuals and I can use a  metaphor which exactly explains how I feel when making a piece of furniture.  I tell them that I enjoy being pregnant, what I don't like is kids.  In a crude way that illustrates that I enjoy the creating process, giving birth to a new form, but I don't want to take care of it when it's done.  I just put it up for adoption and then start over.

This is where I am with Mr. Lecount.  I have labored over it for over a year to get it to stand up on its own and be ready to face the world.  Now that he is finished, I hope he finds a good home.

When I returned from my vacation, I finished applying the shellac finish, installed the glass and gold mounts.  Then I fixed the hinges for the upper door and installed the latch which keeps the glass door closed.  I rubbed out the shellac and applied a coat of Kiwi paste wax, which gave a nice patina.

Bullseye Bellybutton

The last thing I did was install the hand blown glass bullseye in the lenticle.  The lenticle is an oval window in the door which allows the owner to see if the pendulum is moving or the weights are down a certain length.  When clocks evolved from the marquetry period to the Georgian period, for some reason the lenticle was no longer popular.  I like it and think it is an attractive feature.  With the bullseye glass, in my mind, the lenticle becomes the belly button of the clock.

It seems appropriate that, as a parent giving birth, the belly button would be the last thing to do, since cutting the umbilical cord is the actual last act of separating the child from the parent.

Now all I need to deal with is the postpartum depression.

Blue Birds of Happiness

Mr. Lecount Gets First Coat

First Coat of Shellac

As I work to create tall case clocks, I am constantly reminded of the human characteristics that we share with this form of woodwork.  It is not just a coincidence that the clock stopped, never to run again, when the old man died.

I am also deeply in love with the first generation of time pieces, from 1650-1700.  During this period, I imagine it was like when Jobs introduced the iphone.  Before we had one, we didn't need it.  Once we got one, we wondered how we lived without it.  That is what it must have been like back then.

Before 1650 there was no real accurate way to measure time.  Knowing what time it was meant that you were within an hour or so of the real time, and that was fine.  However, once the pendulum clock was perfected, by adjusting the length of the bob by a slight amount, you could accurately determine the time to the minute.  Where would we be today without that invention?

These "new" clocks were so important that the clockmakers searched out cabinetmakers to make cases which justified the expense and verified the importance of their work.  The last two decades of the 17th century saw the most highly decorated clock cases ever made, and I am sure they commanded a place of importance in the rich man's home, announcing to the world that he was a "modern" man, who knew what time it was.

Only Missing Glass and Mounts

So, with this in mind, it is curious to think about how human characteristics were transferred to this type of woodwork, unlike any other piece of cabinetry.  For example, the clock case has "feet" which is not in itself unusual, since most furniture has feet.  However, it also has a "face" which "tells" the time, in a kinetic way, whether you want to know or not, since the bell strikes on a regular basis.  The case also has a "waist" which might make it more attractive, and perhaps more feminine.

It has "hands" which are strangely attached to the "face" (strange).  The works rest on the "cheeks" of the side boards.  The average height of the "face" is at eye level with the average person.  The top case is a "bonnet" which of course represents the hat covering the face and protecting the works.  The "backboard" is similar to the spine, in that it holds the clock upright and straight.

To regulate the clock, you set the "beat" which is analogous to a heartbeat.

A tall case clock requires regular attention to operate fully.  Without human support it stops.  That means that every week or month the owner needs to adjust it and reset the weights.  No other piece of furniture requires regular attention to survive.  It is like owning a pet; you need to feed it often to keep it alive.

I am comforted by the sound of the ticking and reminded every hour of the passing of time, when I am near one of these wonderful objects.  It reminds me that I, too, am human, and my time is measured and finite.  I should make the best of it while I am able.

That is why I am leaving tomorrow for a well deserved vacation at my cabin on the Madison River in Montana.  Leaving time behind and following the stars.

Blue Birds of Happiness

Mr. Lecount Gets Fitted For A Bonnet

Le Count Ready For Fitting

I have spent several days this week fitting the Lecount works to the case, which is assembled without the bonnet.  I prefer to make the bonnet last, as I don't work from plans, and need to see where the works end up to actually put the top together.  It is important the bonnet fits exactly right, since its primary purpose is to keep the dust away from the works, and it needs to be a relatively airtight fit.

As I said in earlier posts, my method for making tall case clocks is to start with the back board. This becomes the spine of the clock and all measurements are taken from its center line.  Then I build a lower case (just a box) and fit it onto the back board.  That allows me to cut and fit the sides and front frame, which makes it easy to fit the large door properly.

The door itself has a wide overhanging molding around it, which needs to be carefully measured so the the edge of the molding clears the case when it opens.  That is why these doors have a unique type of hinge that has an offset pivot.  Also the door has an opening, the "lentical" which allows the owner to see the weights and pendulum from a distance.  In my case I am having a glass blower make a bullseye glass oval to fit in this space.

The last job for the lower case is to make and fit all the molding.  In these early cases the molding is short grain, so it is usual to cut and glue sections of short grain wood (olive) onto strips of beech or oak and make the molding lengths this way.  I am also using cherry molding which is ebonized to provide contrast, like the original clock.

Initial Fit 

Now that the case is assembled, I set up a thick piece of wood on the floor and make it absolutely level.  Standing the case on this floor allows me to properly fit the works.  I have lots of lead weights on the floor to keep it stable.  Placing the works on the cheeks of the case, I can then adjust the fit and set the crutch to make the beat even.  That means that it works perfectly in an ideal flat and level location.

However, not all homes have that ideal flat and level place for a clock.  I have made a special modification for this clock, which is not original to the 17th century.  The works are old and some of the gears are worn slightly uneven, so the beat is not always regular.   Also, the works are designed to run for 30 days, so when the weights are low enough to reach the pendulum bob, it sets up sympathetic vibrations which can act to stop the clock.  That took about 2 weeks to happen when the works were running on my test stand, which is not that stable.

I solved this problem and also the problem of making sure the case is level with a modern solution.  The round feet are turned from cherry around a large bolt.  This bolt is set into the bottom of the clock with standard "T" nuts, so the feet can be screwed up or down slightly to fit the floor.  At the same time, I made a large hollow space above the bottom board and covered it with a second "false" bottom board.  Inside this hollow space I added a fair amount of lead shot.  When you look inside the case at the "false" bottom, it looks fine.  You cannot judge the distance easily so it just looks like a standard case.  However, the addition of lead shot provides stability for the case and the loose shot absorbs any vibrations which may affect the operation of the clock.

As soon as I put the works into this case, standing on the level floor, they ran perfectly, even though the weights were all the way down into the case.  Problem solved.

Today I was able to glue together the basic bonnet, which fits nicely to the works.  During the next week, my attention will be to add all the veneer and molding which will dress it up.  I expect that the clock itself will be ready for the finishing process in a couple of weeks at most.

I cannot wait.  Either can Mr. Lecount.

The Bonnet Assembled

Painting In Wood Packet

Guide To Species and Green and Mahogany Layers

I promise to make a video soon about this method.  Those of you who have issue 109 (February 2008) of the magazine Woodwork, will be able to look up the article I wrote then about it, with good photographs.

To illustrate how I make a veneer packet for a picture using the Painting In Wood process,  I took apart the packet waste, layer by layer, after I finished removing all the pieces I needed for the final picture.

Most important is the initial layout and proper orientation of the individual species of veneer.  I use the four corner edges of the design as a locator.  Each layer, no matter how roughly put together, must have all four corners match exactly with the drawing.  From that reference, I can confidently locate the elements inside the design so there are no errors.

Note that I usually have at least two different species for each flower, and sometimes three.  That gives me a colorful flower, and, since I keep each of those colors for each flower as I cut them out, I can change my mind when I put together the final picture on the assembly board.  For example, if I have a flower with a light and dark selection, I can decide to have a dark flower with light edges or a light flower with dark edges, depending on my mood.  What is not used is discarded, but not until everything is done.

At the top of this post is the layout design with my notes on the woods I selected to use.  The yellow highlighted areas are isolated pieces of ebony background, so I don't forget to keep them. The layer missing from this photo is the ebony background, which I used and can be seen in the last post about this.  Note the green and mahogany layers are usually full sheets, since leaves and branches are all over the design and too much trouble to try to place individually.  The pieces of veneer tape are left over from taping all the layers together securely.  Always tape each layer one by one to be sure nothing moves.

I try to use the smallest piece of veneer possible for each element of the design.  These pieces are usually small scrap pieces from previous projects, so, in the long run, this is an efficient use of surplus material.  In between each element I place a cheap scrap veneer of the same thickness as the others to fill up the gaps and prevent the blade from tearing up the veneer when I saw.  Since all the veneers I use for these jobs are sawn material, I can use the 1.5mm Sipo wood that I have on hand for the front of the packets.  It is cheap and easy to saw.

Layers 3 and 4 Face Down

Looking at these two layers, note that they are face down, so you can see the woods more clearly.  The white wood areas are the Sipo and not important.  Going down the left side first, you can see the two woods I selected for the Tulip, the two different yellow woods for the next flower, the two woods for the next flower, and so on around the packet.  There are no woods for the second tulip on the top right as they are included in the first and second layers sown here:

Layers 1 and 2 Face Down

The first two layers in the packet are shown here.  Now you can see the two woods I used for the top flower, again on the right hand side the two woods for the tulip and so on.  In the center are the two woods for the blue bird, and at the bottom are two woods for the central leafy motif.

Note that I can select the grain direction for each species to correspond with the design.

It is true that all this wood is thrown away, after I select the single piece from the 7 or 8 layers which I intend to use.  However, I gain a lot of time, as the cutting is very fast.  For example, I might take 4-6 hours to construct a packet of this size, and another 8 hours to completely cut it out.  So in two days I can go from design to assembly, and produce a picture which some may think is complicated.  I just think it's a fun and rewarding way to pass the time.

To see the final picture check out the last post.

Lecount Clock Project

Not your typical "Cut List"

I'm not very good at keeping records of my work.  I guess that is because I enjoy so much the actual process of working by hand at the bench that I just don't think of taking time to photograph or record what I am doing.  I go to sleep thinking about what the next steps are.  I get up and walk to work visualizing my job.  I start the glue pot, walk over to the bench and start working.  At the end of the day, I go home and start over.  I guess I still have an abundance of enthusiasm for my job, even after doing it for over 40 years.

In any rate, I have decided to try to post some photos of this project, as I think it is interesting on several levels.  It is the fifth tall case clock I have made in the past decade.  As usual, I start building these clocks for my own house, and as usual, they get sold before I can get them home.

To start with, I gather some wood and make some notes about overall dimensions, using metric measurements.  I never took wood shop in school and never learned about a "cut list" or "plans."  I am an analog thinker, so I just imagine the job, select some nice wood from the wood pile, and start cutting.  With the clock I just build the case directly from the back board.  Starting with the lower box, which I posted earlier showing the full blind dovetails, then clamping together the middle section after that.

Everything so far is dry fit and held with clamps.  The reason is that I now need to take it all apart and glue on the marquetry surface, using the press.  Once the marquetry is in place, I can then glue together the case and cut the moldings.  Once the lower case is assembled and the works are set on the cheeks, I can take some final measurements for the bonnet, and start building that.

Lecount born again on the bench

Last week I got the oak case clamped up fine.  This week I spent drawing the marquetry panel for the lower front box, and building the packet, cutting it out and putting it together.

I like to capture the style and use the process that was used during the last decades of the 17th century for these clocks.  Typically, the design has large flowers placed all over the panel, with leaves and branches connecting them.  No attention was paid as to whether the same branch had different flowers or not, and it was not supposed to be a realistic picture of nature, as was done much later in the 18th century.

The Painting in Wood process requires that all the different species of wood are placed in their proper position in the packet, in different layers, and cut at the same time as the background.  The blade is at 90 degrees and leaves a gap.  Inside the leaves and flowers the gap is decorative and filled with a mastic.  On the outside of the elements, the gap is generally not visible, as the background is usually ebony during this period.

Working with scraps to determine the color placement

This process is somewhat wasteful of material, so the pieces of veneers are cut only slightly larger than the design element requires.  The area between the veneers is filled with a cheap species of veneer so the layer remains flat with no voids.  Usually a design with 10-20 different species can be assembled with a packet using less than 8 layers.

Typical layers with different species in place

Note I am using sawn veneers, as usual.  These veneers are 1.5mm thick, and including the 3mm back board and 1.5mm front board, the total thickness of this packet is 13.5mm.  The packet includes (from back to front): 3mm back board, grease paper, full layers of ebony (background), green dyed veneer (leaves), mahogany (branches), three layers of multi species veneers, and 1.5mm front board with the design.  All these layers are taped together to make a solid packet.  No nails are used; only veneer tape.

Using the chevalet, I cut out all the elements and keep only the wood species I need for the design.  The ebony background is then placed on a board covered with blue masking tape, face side up.  Note: this is a "modern" idea that I got from Paul Schurch, a good friend and very talented artisan in this field.

Burning the elements in hot sand, with coffee

The individual elements are carefully burned in hot sand to create a shadow according to a drawing I made.  This is the boring part, but without it the picture looks flat and lifeless.  Sawn veneers take more heat and much longer in the sand to properly shadow.  I use a very fine sand I purchased in France and an industrial hot plate made in Germany.  You need at least 1500 watts or more, and the sand needs at least an hour to reach proper heat.

Ebony background ready to place on blue tape

By using the blue tape to temporarily hold the background in place, I can assemble the picture face up, so it is much easier to follow the design.  This also allows me to exchange any pieces which I think are not the best choice of material before everything is glued down.  As most of the flowers and other elements have at least two different colors, I can change the composition of woods as I want.

Front of Panel held on blue tape

Then I make an assembly board using Kraft paper.  I put hot glue on this assembly board paper and place it down on the face of the marquetry in one motion.  I then put the entire panel into the press, using a layer of 10mil plastic and a 1/2" piece of wallboard (Homosote or Celutex material at Home Depot) and a plywood board to distribute the pressure.

What this does is that, since I am using sawn veneers of slightly different thicknesses, my goal is to push all the material forward into the hot glue on the Kraft paper.  By pushing from the back (where the blue tape is temporarily holding everything in place,  the relative softness of the wallboard reaches into all the different pieces and pushes everything forward properly.

The nice thing about the blue tape is that it comes off even after being in the press.

Back of Panel on Kraft paper ready for mastic

Now the panel is ready for mastic.  That is the job for today.