I think that writing a good song or designing a nice chair is a skill you can learn. The problem is that learning to write or design is not like memorizing the capitals of the 50 states. For me, that sort of rote learning is like gathering up a good collection of bottle caps and …
Sometimes when I look at old pieces of furniture, I can convince myself that perhaps old-growth timber is like melamine. It just doesn’t move with the seasons like modern wood does. What else can explain the survival of so many pieces of furniture that defy the holy writ of hygroscopic activity? Tabletops are vigorously nailed …
Plate 14. St. Fagans. “Pura Wallia …” These three arm-chairs are all of similar type: (a) is from Caernarvonshire; (b) from Cardiganshire, and (c) from Radnorshire. They represent a total Welshness from the mid 18th century. This is an excerpt from “Welsh Stick Chairs” by John Brown. Tracing the provenance of individual country chairs is …
The full-size plans for “Chairmaker’s Notebook” are now available in both printed form and as a pdf. The electronic version is ideal for international customers or those who would rather have the plans printed out at a reprographics firm and get them rolled instead of folded. Rolling the printed plans and shipping them is simply …
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I experienced several surprising coincidences and discoveries while working on “Cadi & the Cursed Oak.” In the beginning, all I had was a short passage about the Nannau oak while working on “Honest Labour.” To turn the tale into a children’s book, I wanted the story of the oak to be so much more than …
The Romans used the square to layout the ubiquitous half-circle arc flutes along the length of their temple columns. You can too: Just set alignment pins at the start and stop points; hold the square against the pins; hold your marker at the apex of the square; and scribe away! — Jim Tolpin, ByHandandEye.com Share this: …
The Square Does Indeed Describe the Circle! – Read More »
A typical vintage iron. The coarse grinding scratches from manufacturing still extend all the way to the tip of the tool. I promise this post is not about sharpening. It is, instead, about what we read vs. what we see. When I learned to sharpen, the entire first day of my lesson was all …
Pantry Fields. The original house at right. The banana boxes at left. Photo courtesy of Anne and David Sears. When Welsh chairmaker John Brown put down roots in Pembrokeshire, Wales, he and his wife, Anne, lived in two railway cars – Fyffes Banana wagons – that had transported fruit around the U.K. up until the …
Stay at Pantry Fields, Where John Brown Built His Chairs – Read More »
The Sterling Historical Society presents PeterGalbert from Robert McKay Jones on Vimeo. With all the (well-earned) hoopla about our Roubo translation, we haven’t been talking as much about the other projects coming up from Lost Art Press – including a fantastic book on chairmaking by Peter Galbert. The book is essentially written, and now Peter …