Doll Cases

These are some doll cases I made for a local client. They were gifts for her family. She handmade all of the clothes and worked with a local woman who is a traditional doll maker to pose and style the doll's hair. This first case - a gift for my client's daughter - is a geisha and her hand maiden.

The first case is Basswood, Cherry and Maple. I used traditional mortise and tenon joinery with pinned and wedged tenons.

The photos do not give a good representation of how amazing the details on these dolls are.

Each of the cases had a small stand. The doll below is mounted on a piece of Western Big leaf Maple Burl. 

Pinned tenon with ebony wedges as ornament and strength. 

This was one of the final cases. Cherry and Maple with a Quilted Maple back that I book matched.  

I tried to imply some small details of the surroundings of each doll with the burls and back panels, giving the illusion of rocky shoreline, trees and mountains. 

I am very honored to have been chosen to make these family heirlooms.  

 

Danish Modern inspired Console Table

This piece of sapele lumber was almost 24" wide and 20 feet long, and was only about half of the tree's radius. This lumber was plantation grown, but much Sapele lumber is not. I try to honor the tree with a second life that befits its grand previous stature.


The frame and panel bottom is a nice detail I learned from my teacher Ross Day. Once a student of James Krenov, Day is now a studio furniture designer living in Poulsbo,WA. He would always express his displeasure in seeing a beautiful piece, then looking at the back (as most of us woodnuts do) and discovering plywood nailed in the rabbet joint on the back.


This is a detail shot of the open drawers before the lower stretcher was added and prior to finishing. The legs in the square for were very sturdy for the width but once I put a 3/8" radius on the legs it would wobble slightly if the drawers were shut vigorusly. The client felt I was being a bit over critical, but I feel a piece should stand straight and tall in the same fashion that it once grew. I added the lower shelf in the picture below to add stability.


This is the completed piece with drawers slightly ajar. I really like the slender legs and delicate form this table.The lower stretcher adds a bit more presence to piece's form. It also supports a floating shelf which repeats the split top detail. The space between boards allows the wood to move seasonally without stressing the joinery.


I finished the console with six hand-rubbed coats of oil and a hand-buffed satin wax topcoat. The light in this picture reflects the warm glow of the finish.

Anatomy of a Board continued..

This piece is a Getabako, or shoebox, for a client's entry. I made it with the board I described in my previous post. To give a floating appearance, I designed the piece to hang on the wall. I finished the Getabako by hand rubbing a tung oil and wax finish.


The lighter wood in the shelves is Western cedar. I used this aromatic wood to make inserts so the moisture from our damp Seattle footwear won't damage the wood.


Above is a custom pull I made from a small piece of the same board and inlaid into a mortised drawer front. I love small details like this on furniture. They truly show the maker's hand.

The drawers are made from a piece of figured western big leaf maple felled in Lynnwood, WA and locally milled and air dried by AJ's Custom Sawing. This figure is called fiddleback, or sometimes curly or tiger. Like the name implies, it came from the beautiful figured woods used on musical instruments.

Little Boxes

This Shaker style box made from quarter sawn cherry is one of the most rewarding pieces I have made. It was made to hold the personal belongings of a local pilot whose plane crashed near Everett, WA. I modeled the piece after a blanket chest design.


His son brought me the remnants of a small cherry sapling that was burned at the crash site. You can see the branch here cleaned and debarked.


I sliced it across the grain, bedded it into black gelcoat, and sanded it flat. I then set that panel into a cherry frame and used it for the bottom of the box.


The inset lock allows for an authentic shaker look with the ease of a modern function. Like the box, the key is a bit more elaborate than most original shaker designs, but I like the updated touches.


The hinges are called quadrant hinges and work as both the hinge and lid support. These are manufactured in New York by Brusso, a company founded by a cabinetmaker frustrated by the low quality of furniture hardware.

The Anatomy of a Board

Large pieces of wood are wonderful for grain and color matching. For a small piece of furniture you can get most of the structure and then use the fall down for drawer fronts and panel rail and style stock. The down sides to large pieces of wood they tend to have a lot of strength and twist and bow as they are milled and, unless you have very large machines, they are harder to mill.


I have overcome this issue by splitting the large boardsinto smaller pieces and gluing them back together in the sequence they where split. This stabilizes the wood and allows me to mill them efficiently on my machines.


The three large pieces are for the side of an entry table and the diagonal piece at the top is for the two drawer heads. The grain at that end of the board dived off dramatically and the diagonal cut was to get a straight grain piece. The smaller diagonals and long piece are for panel stock for the shelves and back.

Closet Doors

This is a set of vertical grain Fir solid panel Shoji style doors that I made to replace a 60's style sliding doors in a small Seattle condominium.

I made flush inlaid Cherry pulls, and lined them up with the mid-rail for a clean, minimalist look.

The Fir has a honey tone that adds warmth to any space. The doors hide a washer and dryer and pantry that is next to the open kitchen.

Milled Parts

When I break down larger pieces of wood, I mill them to about 1/8 to 1/4 thicker than I need to net, depending on their size. Then I give them a couple of days to relax.

I like to store my milled parts is with clean dry hardwood stickers like the lighter colored beech strips you see between the walnut. I then weight the stacks down with larger pieces of wood.

The stickers provide a spaces which allow for circulation and the weight helps to keep the pieces flat.