A year ago, looking back to 2013..

Well..

It's been an interesting year. I managed to get myself a workshop within The Ruskin Glass Center part of the Ruskin Mill Trust set-up..

I spent a little while getting things set up.. Benches and tables to be made, some organising of the workshop space and getting to chat to some of the visitors to the center. With just a few jobs to do for people, the work started to come in, with a few of my college pieces on show and other jobs on the go, I'ts easy for visitors to see what I can do. With more work going on my blog, then came work from all over the UK..and my work started to go oversees too..wow

I'm still in my first year, but I have made an impact on the center and with others on the internet, and through Interior designers and stylists..

I restore, re-make, re-build, re-use, recycle.. re ..all of it.. I just make things using wood and any other medium..and I love doing it. If I keep doing what I have been doing, and keep going in the direction that I want to go in, then I believe I will make a very successful little workshop, where I will be happy to work and people will be happy to visit and trust me with their pieces.

I really look forward to 2014, It will be one of more interesting commissions, more projects that I have on my todo list, and more one-off pieces that go into peoples homes, catalogs and magazines..

Here's a few of my favourites..

Thanks for looking

All the best

Jamie

LA Photo frame..Maple and Ebony

Sue Parry, one of the glass artists in the centre, stopped by a couple of weeks ago and asked if she could commission a photo frame.

"The only thing is" she says "I need to take it to LA next Wednesday"

Out comes a blank sheet of paper and we're off...designing the frame that's going to be flying through the sky over the pond, before the finish has had plenty of time to cure...

Sue and I are going through all sorts.. then I'll be back in a minute. In she walks with her laptop, on Flickr going through some photos of the furniture and home of the person who will be receiving the frame... brilliant, this really tells me a lot about this guy, what he likes and dislikes...

So back to the drawing board, and it's then I say," why don't I just make it like the inside of my cabinet door, I think that would suit.."

 

So Here's the Sycamore, Maple & Ebony Cabinet

 

 

and this is the inside of the door shape..

 

 

 

Here's the lock mechanism and the corner 'key's in Ebony

 

 

Back to the drawing board, within minutes we've sorted the design, and now we're onto the sizing.

Out comes the cardboard, I cut up the card to the size of the photo, and start drawing around it until Sue's happy. "There we go, done".

Not quite, the Maple is only at 14% moisture. So I rough cut the Maple and took it home for a couple of days. Sitting on top of the wardrobe, then after each time I worked it, it was back home in the warmth easily down to 8-9 % before it was jointed.

 

This is the mock up on the wall..

 

 

Patterns and Maple cut...

 

 

The inside edges were cleaned up before assembly,

and the outside were done after the frame was dry...

 

 

Here's one joint from behind.. showing the kidney plate too..

 

 

It really started moving along now, I fitted the Ebony keys, rebated the back to take the glass, fitted some mount board to the photograph and some board for the back. Note the use of the kidney plates to hold all of the parts into the rebate. I like to use a hole for the method of hanging, that way the frame will sit tight against a wall, and I stamped the back board.

 

 

But..before I fitted the back board..

 

 

I placed one of my cards, dated and signed.

 

I gave Sue a nail and another card, folded in my tea stained recycled paper envelope..

It's just one of those things I do...saves paper and I like the stained look that a tea bag leaves

( I know...)

 

 

    

 

Showing the end and corners..

 

 

Done...

 

Sue was over the moon with it..and it jetted off to Los Angeles the next day.

 

 

All the best

 

Jamie