An Oak Bench

Here's an oak garden bench that was finished and delivered to the client recently.

Mahogany Bound Book

Here is the completed book Marysa and I have been working on.  This was a commission for a client who is passionate about Victorian boating and wanted a copy of the book bound to match his own classic boat.

Wooden Book Boards

Here's something a bit different.  A current commission is to make a wooden bound copy of Three Men in a Boat with Marysa.  Below is a picture of one of the boards, almost finished.  I learnt how to make this kind of board from Alain Taral, the well known French bookbinder who does really beautiful hinged wooden bindings.  Marysa and I stayed with him and his wife Annick in Toulon recently, where we had the chance to watch him at work as well as being spoilt with delicious food from their garden, including the best figs I have ever tasted! 

The boards have inlaid brass plates which are going to be engraved with the title etc.  They are veneered in (sustainbly sourced) mahogany and are French polished.  I don't do French Polishing very often as it's not a look I like very much on larger pieces.  On small items it can look wonderful though.  I usually avoid the use of non-native timbers, but this project really needed mahogany to work as it has to match the owners mahogany boat!

Brown Oak and Cherry Cabinet

The toungue and groove cabinet is now finished - here it is!

Two Oak Chests with Engraved Pewter Inlay

Here's a whimsical sort of thing I have been making in between some bigger jobs.  It's a simple chest in a contemporary Arts and Crafts style, with some inlaid pewter foliage as a finishing touch.  It is designed to provide a seat as well as storage.  I made two of these chests; one is already spoken for, but the other is for sale.  If you are interested, please contact us for a price and more pictures etc.

An Oak Dresser

Our latest piece is a contemporary oak dresser which is now finished and ready to be delivered to the clients.  The bottom half is for storage while above it is a display space.

Inside are display shelves supported on moveable custom-made walnut pins.  The central divider splits the space while giving added rigidity to the structure.  This allowed for a simple, cleaner construction and more flexible display options.

The single drawer is divided into two visually, but three internally, resolving the conflicting demands of aesthetics and practicality!

Handmade Glass

Glass is a subject you could be forgiven for not thinking much about: it's just glass, right?  Well, no – there are different types of glass available, and whether you are thinking about re-glazing your whole house, or just making a small piece of furniture with glass incorporated into it, it's worth taking the trouble to get it right.

Almost all glass sheet produced at the moment is 'float glass', which is made by literally floating the glass on a bed of molten tin.  It's a fast and practical way to produce glass which is cheap, convenient - and soulless.  It's amazing the extent to which re-glazing an old building with modern glass will spoil its character.  Float glass has none of the subtle waviness which is a natural feature of handmade glass.  Proper glass has a sense of life to it – it has a friendly quality which is lacking in the cold perfection of float glass.  Windows made from handmade glass add character to the exterior of a home – and gently modulate the light which passes through them making for a more restful feeling indoors.

I love to use Cylinder Glass, which is still made using traditional methods and helps to give my furniture the living, soulful feel I value.  I'm not stuck in the pastl; I just believe that 'contemporary' doesn't have to mean 'soulless'!

Red House

If you are ever in the vicinity of Bexleyheath in South London it is well worth calling in at Red House - the brick home designed for William Morris by Phillip Webb in 1859.  I had the chance to visit today and am glad I took it.

There is some interesting woodwork - particularly a heavily built, painted settle, complete with false minstrel's gallery on top of which Rossetti apparently used to sleep things off after a few drinks too many!  The joinery and furniture is mostly heavy, still with very overt gothic influence, although much simpler and less ornate than, say, Pugin's flamboyant Grange, built just 15 years earlier.  It is fascinating to see the direction that two of the great minds of the Arts and Crafts movement were working at this pivotal point in its history.  The gothic revival was starting to look to the present as much as the the past: a new simplicity and clarity was being born.

Sadly, as with so many historic houses that are open to the pubic, the original spirit of the place has been rather spoilt.  Being there is a bit like walking around a corpse, the life of which has long since departed, but it is interesting and informative non-the-less.

Unfortunately I was not permitted to use flash inside, so you will have to make do with a picture of the exterior until you get to visit it yourself!

Brown Oak and Cherry Cabinet

This is one of the pieces we are working on at the moment.  It is a wall cabinet in brown oak with a cherry interior.  Brown oak is darker than normal oak because the tree was attacked by a fungus.  The close grained cherry makes a nice contrast in colour and texture.  The finish is shellac and wax.

The dowels sticking up from the shelf are to secure it to the vertical divider beneath.  Once the glue had dried these were cut off, then secured in the shelf with a rosewood pin driven through the centre which expands the dowel.

Wooden Board Bookbinding

We have just finished our first joint project with Otter Bookbinding, which is a bookbinders run by my partner Marysa.  We combined skills to bind a copy of The St Brides Notebook (printed by the Incline Press).  The binding is based on Coptic techniques.  The boards are of quarter sawn brown oak with a shellac finish. They are link stitched onto leather thongs.  We are pleased with how it has turned out, so there will be more to follow!

Bookcases Now Finished

We have just finished and fitted a pair of bookcases, together with their matching mantlepiece. Here are some pictures.

The left hand bookcase looks as if it has four upper doors, but in fact there are only two. They were made to mirror the doors on the other one, which were limited in size due to the window.

Bookcase Details

Below are pictures of some of the detail on the bookcases - which are now nearing completion.  The handles in the pictures are mock-ups at the moment.

Careful detailing gives the shelves a feeling of "floating"

Adding a stepped moulding to the shelf front gives lightness and adds visual interest

Mock up of hand-carved handles. We have used this design several times before, and it has a nice tactile quality.  It feels as if it is becoming a bit of a trademark - if it ain't broke...