Finishing some last minute cleanup for a line of simple items at the Made in Baltimore Store on the inner harbor, things I can make without recourse to most of my workshop. These copper mini-pictures are mostly based on Hokusai sketches: some good practice in repousse, patina chemistry, and what works in ink that doesn’t and needs a different approach in three dimensions
Got called up for a great writeup from Regi Taylor of the Baltimore Times and Startup Stories! We discussed the business end of my woodworking over the past few years, some of the turns it’s taken and things I’ve picked up.
Also, unrelatedly, working on some upgrades to the chicken coop
a quick folding frame for a two-panel applique piece, keeping a somewhat rusticated effect with the saw marks preserved and copper rivets securing the tenons.
practical for what, I’ll have to figure out; these kinds of complex puzzle joints are really ideal for big architectural softwood work and I’m not planning anything bigger than a cabinet in the near future. But I’m sure an application for this class will present itself soon.
Sometimes you just gotta make a guy. per Hokusai, 4″x5″ copper and cherry
Just futzing around without any specific goal in mind, which tends to result in a lot of odd one-off pieces that are extremely annoying to find an actual use for. I have no idea what to do with this opal but it better be something.
People keep claiming I used to be good at this, I do not recall it and evidence is not bearing them out. I do remember that an a proper anvil is not supposed to go “clunk” when you hit it
Taking a class from a master coppersmith at the Arts and Crafts Conference and man have I been overcomplicating this. There’s something intensely satisfying about any craft that can be done well wherever there’s a nail and a hard surface.
Re-setting the stone in my first and probably last attempt at designing for gold.
The goofy two-sided setting has to be pressed on with a fair bit of force, the cool-looking inclusions on this aquamarine were the parts least inclined to tolerate being crushed in a vise, and there’s a limited number of times I can do this before it messes the whole ring up so for a few years now I’ve been serially exploding rocks until I got this impractically oversized one to hold up. Figure we don’t wear these on the job anyway so it won’t matter, we’ll see how long before it snags on something and pops out but it took the buffer trying to eat it pretty well
Greene and Greene styling is genius, looks fancy but extremely simple to replicate with a table saw and mortising chisels. The hardest part of these approximate Blacker House hanging sconces was sourcing the mica shade material.
