Celebrating 50 years in business!

Patrice Lejeune and I show our Treasure Boxes

When I started my business in June of 1969 it was because I needed furniture for my new house and it was obvious that old or antique furniture was a bargain.  You could find nice hardwood rockers, tables and chairs and other antiques in thrift stores and used furniture stores, which were nearly everywhere.

I remember the first "antique" I bought was from the used furniture store just two blocks from my house.  It was a very ornate oak parlor pump organ made around 1880.  I think I paid $125.  It did not work (as the bellows were damaged and the works were dirty).  I immediately took it apart to see how it was made.

(True fact: all my life I have taken everything apart as a first step to fix it.  Not all of these efforts proved successful...I'm thinking of carburetors in particular, where you always end up with extra parts and no place to put them.)

In any event, I was soon playing music on my pump organ, which was very loud.  The dealer who sold it to me was walking by my house and the door was open.  He was surprised to hear the organ working and made me an offer to buy it back.  I think the offer was $250.  I had doubled my money!

AND I had a lot of fun.  I thought this would be a good way to pay for college, since I was making only minimum wage working 20 hours a week in the Physics Department at UCSD.  I was able to make much more than that restoring antiques on the side.

As you may know from reading earlier posts on this blog, the physics thing did not work out and the antiques thing just kept getting more fun and more profitable. First I opened an antiques store and called it "Antique Wholesalers."  My motto was "Quality Pieces at People's Prices."  I went back and forth in my truck from San Diego to the Mid West and East Coast and bought nice things.

After about 6 months in business I lost the entire inventory to theft.  I don't want to talk about it...

I quickly opened another business and called it "Antique Refinishers."  My new motto was "Here We Save the Past for the Future."  Business was great and, after a few hurdles, my reputation started growing and I began working on finer and finer pieces of antique furniture.  I specialized in veneer and marquetry repair.

In 1991, when I met Dr. Pierre Ramond at the Getty Museum, I was ready to graduate to the next level.  He was so impressed with what I had learned on my own that he invited me to study with him at ecole Boulle, in Paris.  That changed my life.  I owe a debt of gratitude to Brian Considine, who introduced me to Dr. Ramond.

I was fortunate to have spent much of the 1990's with Dr. Ramond and other craftsmen and educators in Paris, and when he retired, I opened my school, the American School of French Marquetry.

I am responsible for introducing the French method, using the "chevalet de marqueterie," to North America, and happy to see its general acceptance.  It is a wonderful tool and you can accurately saw the finest pieces of material in comfort and with confidence.  You can order a custom chevalet from David Clark.  Chevalet Kits

Soon after I opened the school, I was contacted by Patrice Lejeune, a graduate of ecole Boulle.  He wanted to work with me, and I ended up making him a full partner.  He has an amazing talent for the craft, and an educated eye.  Most unusual, he is not offended by my personality.

Working together, we have created many wonderful pieces of furniture.  Starting in 2011 we decided to produce a series of Treasure Boxes, in a process which allowed us to make four identical boxes at the same time.

To better understand our methods, you can visit our YouTube channel: 3815utah.

Here is a short video that illustrates a typical assembly process.  This is Patrice working on the marquetry for the inside of Treasure Box II.

TREASURE BOX I

The inspiration for TB I came when I was searching online with Google images.  I spend a lot of time using "images" as it provides an amazing wealth of information.  I discovered a marquetry box that was made late in the 17th century and sold at Christies in Monaco for 18,000 British pounds.  I thought it was perfect and the price indicated a certain demand for such an object.

We spent the next 18 months producing 4 identical boxes with a similar construction and design.
The background for the marquetry was some wonderful absolutely black Gabon sawn ebony veneer that we obtained from J. George in Paris.  The interior was veneered in sawn olive with king wood, tulip wood and boxwood.

Treasure Box I

Interior View (secret compartment)

We were able to sell all four boxes before we had finished construction.

TREASURE BOX II

Encouraged by the success of the first series, we began to design TB II.  Again, Google images provided examples of marquetry that we adapted for our use.  The inclusion of birds was a goal, as we find collectors really like them.

The detail on the second series is much more complicated than the first.  Also, we included bone inlay, both white and green.  It took some research to find out exactly how to color the bone green.  I want to thank Don Williams for help in that search.

Treasure Box II

Interior (secret tray released)

Instead of a hidden compartment, we designed a system for a gilt leather writing surface to be released.  In one spot on the interior the wood is slightly flexible.  By pushing down in that spot the tray is ejected by hidden springs.

The interior is veneered with sawn bloodwood, kingwood, tulip and boxwood.  In total there are three birds on the box and marquetry on all sides.

As before, we sold all the series before construction was completed.  One was purchased by a kind client who donated it to the permanent collection of the Mingei museum, in San Diego.  That represents the first time one of our creations found its way into a museum collection, although I have participated in several different museum shows in the past.

TREASURE BOX III

There are several objects in the Getty museum collection that Patrice and I really appreciate.  One is the ivory and horn table attributed to Gole.  One of my students, Aaron Radelow has succeeded in making exact copies of that table, and they are wonderful.

Ivory and Horn Tables by Aaron Radelow

The other object that we admire is the marquetry coffer.  It is a basic box, resting on a gilded stand (not original?) and covered in marquetry.  We decided to use it for our inspiration and reduced the scale by 33 % to make it more manageable and salable.  We also decided to design custom made hardware and include drawers.

For the background we selected ferreol.  This wood was rare, even in the 17th century, and found in South America.  It has the density of brass and is very hard to cut.  That said, it has a wonderful chocolate brown color and really shows off the marquetry elements.  We added pewter and brass inlay to set off the border.

For this box we used nearly 50 different species of exotic hardwood sawn veneers.  I must say that I was fortunate to have purchased the bulk of my veneers in Paris during the 1990's, while I was in school.  These veneers were very expensive then and, unfortunately, are not available today.  Thus, it is essential that I use the material I have very carefully.  It cannot be replaced at any cost.

I Love Wood

Selecting the Material for Treasure Boxes

That is why making the Treasure Boxes makes sense.  These are perfect objects to show off the last of the rare woods from all parts of the world.

We immediately sold the first box to a long time client and he asked "could you make a stand?"  We had not considered that, but his suggestion was taken to heart.  We created a stand in matching material in the same late 17th century style.

Treasure Box III and Stand

Interior (three drawers, writing surface, secret compartment)

In fact, the stand itself is something that "stands on its own"  (sorry, I had to say that!)

Here's Looking at You, Kid

Louis XIV Stand

The interior of Box III has several interesting features.  The key that locks the box also serves to open the secret compartment located behind the mirror.  The front lid is released by pushing two buttons on the sides. The writing surface is covered in French silk and lifts up to reveal a tray veneered in satinwood.  Inside this tray is a small brass button.  Depressing this button allows the drawers to spring forward.

Three drawers, Silk writing surface, Secret compartment

Drawer Release System

Here is a photo of TBI, TBII, TBIII and the stand sitting in the veneer cave.

Words escape me....

As you can see, what I have learned in 50 years of business as a furniture conservator in private practice is how to convert hardwood logs into rare veneers into decorative marquetry surfaces into money.  And it all started with a pump organ...

Top View Treasure Box III

PS:  We have sold two of the boxes and stands at this point and are looking for nice homes for the rest.  I am thinking of a new motto for these boxes:  "Limited Quantities, Unlimited Quality."

Two Exciting New Videos!

Treasure Box Series II

I have been away from my bench for some time, living in a cabin in Montana.  When I am there my life is completely changed.  There is a simple artesian well and all the water needs to be collected and carried into the cabin several times a day.  There is also a need to chop wood and keep the stove going, from morning to dawn, so you don't freeze this time of year.  The only concession to modern life is that we put in electricity to operate the 1950 refrigerator, and at the same time we have lights, which is a big improvement over lanterns and candles.

Then there is the outhouse, situated at a safe distance from the cabin.  Since I am now at a "certain age," I recently put a light and small electric heater in the outhouse, so that provides me with the most comfort possible.  Still, running outside in freezing cold to get there takes a bit of courage.

During my absence, Patrice was working hard on his upgraded computer to produce a video promoting our recent projects, the Treasure Box Series.  Upon completion of the Second Series of boxes, we had the good fortune to borrow back one of the First Series from a client.

Thus, we had an example of each of the Boxes to show at the same time.  Patrice and I took some time to shoot video of how each box operates and what the "secret" internal mechanisms were.

In the First Series boxes, there is a simple button and lever which releases the lid.  In the Second Series we used springs and an invisible button to release the writing surface.  This video allows us to demonstrate how each works, as well as what the internal veneer decoration looks like.

We are very proud to have produced a limited series of four copies for each design, and that all of them have found good homes.  A sincere "thank you" to our clients who support our work.

Another video I found interesting came in by email just this week.  I am excited to see that Joshua Klein is getting close to completing the first issue of his magazine, "Mortise and Tenon."  When I first heard of his efforts I immediately placed an advertisement with him promoting Old Brown Glue.

We discussed at some length his "mission statement" to combine the philosophy of furniture conservation with furniture creation and restoration, and that is close to my heart.

Mortise & Tenon Magazine from Joshua Klein on Vimeo.

I hope you enjoy these two short videos, as well as others we have posted on our YouTube channel, "3815Utah."

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.

Treasure Box Déjà Vu (Again?)

Patrice has been sick for a few days. Sinus headache. Not a pleasant situation, so he stayed in bed. Today he showed up, but is still not running on all cylinders. While he was home, he had a chance to read my recent posts about the box photos.

Since we worked very closely together to make the box, he was anxious to fix the problem with the photos. So, this morning he crawled into the shop and sat down at his computer and, within 10 minutes, seemed to fix the problem.

Here are his versions of the photos. This is the closest to the real thing so far. I probably have spent way too much time on this digital photography thing, but I have discovered that a lot of woodworkers who read this blog are, in fact, very talented professional photographers. I have learned a lot from their emails and comments. Thank you all.

Treasure Box I (Encore)

I got a lot of comments on my questions about digital photography. I need to confess that, over the years, I have carried my Nikons and hundreds of rolls of film all over the museums of America and Europe, and that I am, in fact, an analog thinker. I mean, what kind of person has 18,000 slides of just furniture catalogued in conservation boxes? Each piece has a front view, 3/4 view and detail close up shot. The weird thing is that I can remember exactly where I was when I look at a shot. Talk about a strange talent...

In any event, my good friend Chuck, did some work on the photo I posted and sent this one back. Although it is still not exact, it is an improvement on the "professional" shot. Next week I will see what I can do to correct the original and post it.

Thank you to all the kind readers who sent me their opinion. I appreciate that others have found my work interesting.

Treasure Box Series I (Part D)

I am not sure about digital photography. Just not sure. I do not trust something that can be manipulated so easily. So, anyway, I paid a photographer, with a lot of expensive equipment, to take a picture of the box. I will post it here.

However, since it is made of exactly the same materials and has the same finish as the jewel box at the masthead of this post, why does it look different? Trust me, I will find out what is wrong with this picture and repost it as soon as I can get it right.

In the meantime, here is a shot of the outside and inside of the finished box. Enjoy.

Remember, I have three more just like it...

Treasure Box Series I (Part C)

Cutting out the background, using the Classic Method is actually fun. Kind of like the homestretch run in a race. If you have done your training properly and paid attention to the basic details, the final distance in the race is an endorphin high.

We first glued newspaper to the face of the ebony veneer, so that it would hold together in the fragile areas. Then we made a packet, starting with 3mm backer board, grease paper, 4 layers of 1.5 mm ebony (paper side up) and a 1.5mm front board. On the front of the packet we glued the design, using hot protein glue. Then we taped the outside edges and nailed all the interior elements together with veneer nails.

Drilling a hole in the design, we began cutting out the pattern, following the edge of the design, going counter clockwise. That is the genius of the Classic Method. You cut all the inside elements following cutting around each in a clock wise direction. You then cut the back ground in a counter clockwise direction. By this simple change of direction, you can cut away the outside (or right side) of the line exactly each time. The result is a tight fit, without any saw kerf visible.

When the entire background is cut out, the packet is taken apart and the result is 4 identical backgrounds, ready for the pieces. To assemble the project, we have made an assembly board with Kraft paper (90gm/square meter) and set up the work table with the tray of parts, assembly board and glue pot.

Each piece of the picture is laid down into the appropriate cavity of the background, which is laid face down in hot glue on the Kraft paper. You need to be sure all the parts are well glued down, so fresh, hot glue needs to be added as the work progresses. Since all the parts are very tight fitting, it is necessary to use a special veneer knife to lever them into place. A lot of the success depends on compressing the wood elements enough to press them into place. It can be a challenge sometimes, but the results are amazing.

Since we are making 4 identical marquetry boxes, we decided to create variations in the interior fittings. The first box has sawn olive, kingwood, tulip and boxwood inside, with a secret panel for hiding treasure. I designed a brass release and lever to allow the user to open the panel. Inside this panel we put our label: "Edwards and Lejeune". The beech wood box is assembled with full blind dovetails at each corner, to prevent the joints eventually pushing up through the marquetry.

The marquetry panels are glued to the beech ground, which has been toothed properly, using Old Brown Glue. After the glue has dried, the Kraft paper is soaked with cold water, begins to dissolve, and gentle scraping removes the paper and glue from the surface. The marquetry is scraped flat and the polishing begins.

Once the hardware is cut in (lock and hinges), the box is ready to deliver. The first one is sold and we have three more.

I will post better pictures in a future post.

Treasure Box Series I (Part B)

There are several things that are essential to the French method of making marquetry. Surprisingly, the use of the chevalet is not one of them. By that I mean that there are many French workers who make great pieces and do not use the chevalet. In fact, the workshop at ecole Boulle has generally replaced the chevalet with Italian jig saws. I discussed this in an earlier post, and showed photos of the new workshop.

In my mind the essential ingredients of a French process marquetry workshop are: hot protein glue, Kraft paper and trays. Lots and lots of trays. Large trays for all the parts for the design. Smaller trays for the cutting work and tools. Cabinets to hold the trays and tables to place the trays on. It seems that most of the work building these pictures involves moving parts from one tray to another or within the same tray, using tweezers and trying not to disturb the pile. With 4 copies of sawn veneer, it is fairly easy to keep them stacked up. With 8 copies it gets more difficult, as the stacks keep falling over and mixing up.

I found a coated paper which is blue and has a low flocking surface of some kind that works great. I don't know where I got it and I don't know where you can find it, so don't ask. However, since it is blue, it is easy to see the wood on the surface, even the small elements. Also the parts seem to stay in place and not move around. I just used spray adhesive to line the trays with this paper. The larger trays are from an antique typesetting cabinet. The smaller trays are just something I made from pieces of wood with an edge frame.

So, as the pieces from each packet are cut out they are placed in the small tray, which is at the chevalet. When that is full, these pieces are then transferred to the larger tray and placed in their respective position, according to the exploded design. It is very important to keep them in exactly the proper location, because it can become confusing in a hurry as the design gets complicated.

Now, looking at the design which has been shadowed, each piece is carefully placed in hot sand in such a way as to create the desired effect. The sand is very fine and uniform and heated as much as possible. We purchased a rather expensive hot plate, made in Germany, since the hot plates made in China did not create enough heat to do the job. The sand is about 1 inch deep and heated for at least an hour or more to create the proper temperature. Do not stir up or disturb the sand, as you want to use the even heat distribution (top to bottom) to your advantage for the proper look.

Only after all the elements of the picture are properly cut out, placed in their proper position and burned in hot sand do you begin to cut the background packet.

That is another post. To be continued.

Treasure Box Series I (Part A)

I love Google search using "images". I can waste hours sitting and scrolling through page after page of images. It is amazing. Add to that the Google "alert" feature and I am in heaven. How did I ever survive life just a decade or so ago, when the computer took hours to load up any image and, before that, I needed a CPM operating system just to read the screen?

I am one of the Boomers, who are the first generation to grow up in a home with a television (black and white). When you turned it on a white dot would appear in the center of the dark screen, gradually expanding to fill the entire area, as the tubes in the set warmed up. Often the picture would scroll up or down, and you would have to reach around the back where there were several control knobs to adjust the horizontal or vertical hold. Not to mention that there were 13 VHF channels. Period. No UHF. No cable. No reality shows. Just news and the Disney channel, and Gunsmoke and, the most wonderful show of all: the Twilight Zone.

Just to put into perspective (for the younger generation) how cool it is to just put a word into the search box and, as quick as you can press the "return" key, the world of information is in front of your eyes. And you can do that on your phone while sitting in a cafe having a coffee or walking on the beach.

So, a few months ago, when I received an alert on "marquetry," I found a wonderful marquetry letter box for sale from the late 17th century. I thought it would make a nice project, so I captured the image and sent it to Patrice for digital manipulation. He corrected the perspective with photoshop, using edit>transform>skew. then, using illustrator ( you can also use inkscape), he created a vector drawing. We prefer to make this line a series of small dots, using the stroke feature. It was important for us to have small dots, since we decided to use the Classic Method ("element par element") in cutting this project, ultimately making 4 identical copies. (Needless to say, Patrice improved the original design tremendously, as you can appreciate by comparing the pictures.)

The reason we draw with dots is because, even if you use a fine pen (0.01mm tip) you still have a line. Trying to see if you have cut away exactly 1/2 of that line is difficult. If you have a series of fine dots, then you can more easily see if you have cut those dots in half or completely cut them away or left them whole. This type of accuracy is important for the pieces to fit properly, and the "chevalet de marqueterie" is the only tool I know of which makes this possible.

Printing out multiple copies of this design, we proceeded to the next step: choosing the colors and woods. We wanted to make this box using authentic materials, so we went through our veneer cave and selected a wide range of sawn veneers, typical of the species that were used at that time. We selected some wonderful sawn Gaboon ebony for the background. I love this period of marquetry and had a lot of fun filling in the design with exotic hardwoods, choosing from a rich and diverse palette. These woods included: holly, hornbeam, bow, sycamore, lemon, cherry, pear, "my lady", olive, walnut, padauk, bloodwood, satine, and other tinted woods.

We put together 22 different packets for this job, with each packet consisting of a 3mm backer board, grease paper, 4 layers of sawn 1.5mm hardwood veneer, and nails at each corner. After cutting the pattern into individual pieces of paper, for each element of the design, we glued the appropriate paper pieces to the selected packet, numberes 1 to 22. Finally, we held the packet tightly together, placing veneer nails in between each of the paper pieces.

I assembled the packets while Patrice worked on cutting out the elements. Each cut would produce 4 identical elements, which were returned to the tray and placed in their respective position, relative to the design. This project contains about 1325 individual elements in the design, for the top and sides. Thus, with 4 copies, we needed to keep over 5,000 different pieces of wood in order, without loosing any during the process. Just cutting out the pieces took two weeks.

After all the elements were cut out and placed in the tray, we turned on the hot sand and drew the desired shadows on the design. Following the drawing, we placed each of the 5000 pieces of wood in the sand just in the right angle and for the right amount of time to create the burn we wanted. Since some of these pieces were microscopic in size or extremely fragile, this requires a lot of focus and attention. It is also rather time consuming...but, without adding the shadows, the picture looks flat and unrealistic. The goal of this work is to create fine art: Painting in Wood.

(Post to be continued)