Last weekend I hit Art Basel and spent the weekend pretty much on South Beach. 

Monday I started helping work on a set for a commercial. I’ve been helping out with the crew that is building it. It’s been daily getting up at 4:30 to getting home after 6 at night.

I’m not a set guy, but it’s been quite an interesting experience. Today we moved the set to the Greenwich Studios, an old studio that I guess could be likened to something like a tiny Hollywood studio.Building a set for a commercial is pretty complicated. I can’t even imagine what it’s like to do it for a larger production. Some of the carpenters and scenics (completely high octane painters) I’ve been helping have worked on films like Meet Joe Black and the Titanic. Everyday has been something new.

Anyway, thats the reason for the lack of updates on progress and studio happenings. I’ll probably be working through this weekend too as shooting starts Monday or Tuesday.

I might take some pictures tomorrow at the studio. 

Have a great weekend,

Cheers

I can’t believe it’s been a year since I headed out to work in the studio full time. It all started with a trip to the Boca Raton Museum of Art in …… Boca Raton. I saw a piece there that inspired the long process of putting together the things I needed to go solo. In the West African collection I saw a tribal bench. This is what that chance encounter produced:

I love this thing. I could sleep for days on it, but use it only now and again to catch a nap. Not sure what I’ll do if someone decides to buy it out from under me.

I still see the piece in terrazzo, a material that I’m still learning about and getting the feel of.

The new year is going to see the terrazzo piece and a whole bunch of new stuff.

Cheers and Happy Holidays,

Paul 

November is almost done and December is just around the corner.

It seems like things have slowed down but really they haven’t. The end of last month and the beginning of this month found me tooling around North Carolina in the snow on a motorcycle, down into North Georgia and then back home. 

The beginning of the rest of the month found me shooting new pictures for my portfolio and for some printed collateral that I will be sending out in Dec.  I now am the proud owner of a photo studio so to speak. I’ve always wanted one.

That all brings me back to the Carl Auböck table. Carl was a Bauhaus era designer that has this uncanny design that is similar to one of mine. Although I’d never seen his work till my wife sent me a link, I figure since he did it before me, he should get some credit. Anyway, here’s the progress of that table. It’s made from Swietenia Mahogany. It’s a mahogany native to South Florida. It’s also a wood that was salvaged from North Key Largo in the early 70’s during the construction of Ocean Reef Yacht Club and community. Where this once numerous species grew is now a fabulous golf course. 

This particular section is from the lower trunk and the start of the roots. This tree had been dead for many years before it was found. It was speculated that it had been killed during a hurricane flood of the area it was in.

Although I have only seen pictures of the Aurora Borealis, that’s what this section of wood reminds me of. Unfortunately this coloration will change over time as the UV rays darken the wood.

Here is a close up of this very unusual hardwood.

Scroll over to Oct. to see the first part of this post. Or Click here 

I plan on incorporating more of this material in my pieces in the future.

Keep posted and thanks for stopping by.

Cheers,

Paul 

Carl Auböck, an Austrian designer,

lived before my time. I just met him today. My wife sent me a link to a guy that she thought had designed stuff that was kinda like my style. She was right, or I’m designing stuff kinda like his style?

This is a project I’m working on:

Now my Mahogany root section has no legs but if you’re familiar with my stuff, you know I like tripods.

Carl Auböck’s table:

Sigh! History comes to bite me in the ass. 

Homage to Mr. Auböck: This is a cocktail table 17″h x about 58″ x 40″

The color pattern is natural to this wood; Swietenia Mahogany.

This is the underside detail showing the original crosscut chainsaw marks made by the sawyer that sliced this from the original root section.  

Foot detail: 

My wife’s reaction to this piece was “It looks like a bird house!” All I heard was “B I  R   D    H      O      U        S            E        ” slowing down like a record that has been stopped mid     s o  n   g.    All I could think was WWWWWWWWWHHHHHHHHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! She tried to fix it by saying “I mean in an organic way.” That didn’t help. So, without further ado; here is the B I  R  D   H     O     U      S       E lamp. Yes it’s a lamp. Deep sighhhhhhhhhhh!

The newest in the terrazzo line…..

So far so good. What are they? You’ll just have to wait and see!

The last Pedz top I poured and featured here was a real coooooooool orange. Orange with real nice red glass. The orange pigment I used was NOT specifically for cement. Now this little fact made a BIG difference in the cement curing. It DIDN’T. I waited about 6 days before attempting to pop the Pedz from the mold. It crumbled immediately. Good news was that I was able to salvage both the stainless reinforcing and the red glass. Both were installed in the new yellow Pedz top. (I really wasn’t happy with the “real coooooooooool orange” anyway)

I used the same  type pigment but yellow and added 75% less. The new Pedz top released from the mold great and will be ground on the 11th.

The new yellow top after grinding:

I’ve been working to get the Pedz out of the way so that I can get moving on Mrs. Wonky. Some people find working with stainless pretty difficult. I love working with the stuff. No painting needed; just a little polishing and some Sheila Shine to keep it looking nice and oil free.

My first threading on the lathe. The Pedz legs. Threaded and polished.

Pedz legs bent and welded.  

Polishing out welds and heat spots. 

Preliminary set up. The Pedz 

I’ve been messing around with different concrete mixes for the Pedz tops. I started by reading the book “Concrete Countertops” by Fu-Tung Cheng. It’s a great book that tells a lot about doing these kinds of things. As those types of books go, I needed to change a few things, like buying materials locally that don’t cost an arm and a leg. That meant a little trial and error. So below are the first tops that I’m am totally stoked about.  They are super hard and took a mirror shine at 1500 grit grinding. It took almost an hour to break through to the glass aggregate with a 50 grit diamond disc. They were ground yesterday after 4 days of cure. I’ll follow that up soon with a 3000 grit. Cheng says it’s not needed, but I have so much glass in the surface that I think it’ll really bring the shine out. 

Got the 3000 grit diamond discs. MAN what a difference. Those things are like glass. I did make the mistake of using a penetrating sealer. It dulled the polished/ground finish a little. Looks plastic like. Next one will be waxed with carnauba wax.  No sealer

In getting Mrs. Wonky ready, I needed to counterbore some holes into her seat. This required the use of a Forstner bit. Wiki calls the Bosch bit on the left a “Hinge Sinker Bit,” one of their silly misnomers as it fits the definition of a Forstner except for the fact that it has carbide cutting surfaces instead of high speed steel. The outer knives on the Bosch bit cut through veneer much cleaner then the traditional Forstner bits cutting edges. The Bosch bit is actually the best of the three bits as far as cutting smoothness, accuracy and heat build up. At twice the price though of the Porter Cable set I got yesterday, the Bosch bits will stay at the Bosch store. The Porter Cable bits do a nice job actually.

.

Bosch- Left, Porter Cable-Middle, and Freud-Right (the ragged edge on the hole is from my paper template)

Drilling the seat:

Special custom made stainless steel seat screw:

Mrs. Wonky opted for elective surgery while recovering. She wasn’t happy with her 10 ply seat so we’re rebuilding it to 15 ply. (you can see Mrs. Wonky hanging out in the background) 

West System Epoxy cold mold:

We’re still hoping to have her presentable by the end of the week, but she might opt for more stuff.