After the presidential display case I went to work on a series of plaques. The first pair shown here is for The Nurses Quarters at Old Parkland Hospital. Both were designed by Jim Guy Design Studio.

The wood he chose was Pecan to match the room walls 

                                            Here are the basic frames. A real simple profile.

This pic shows a completed frame.Although there are carving chisels in the picture I soon realized I would be trading them for a Dremel for the carving of the vine and leaf to come.

This shows the relief i did on the table saw earlier in the process to get the carving positioned where I wanted it on the frame.

Here is he finished pair before the installation of the bronzes.

The finished plaque with bronzes installed.

Next up a really nice Mahogany plaque.

Finally some shots of the finished display. This one sitting on the worktable before delivery.

   

                                     This shows the hidden drawers in the back compartment.

                                  The Butlers slide with the hidden compartment for the key.

                                                      Delivered in the clients residence.

Well it's been awhile since I've posted. Had a little vacation time in upstate N.Y.
Now we're back in the Texas heat.

I had just started veneering before my vacation so here are a few pictures of the finished product.

The eagle inlay is from Dover Design. I have work on various marquetry pieces over the years, mostly replacing missing and damaged designs on antiques. I enjoy the challenge but the guys at Dover can't be beat.

This is the butlers slide. I took a nice oval fan and veneered it to a piece of 1/8" mahogany

Routed out a little cove with a core box bit and created a great place to hide the key.

This shows the butlers slide pulled out with the octagon glazing bars in place.

I have some beveled glass to go in place after the finish is done.

that brings up the process I came to in order to keep it light in proportion and strong enough to be lifted off to allow the presentation to be changed.

This is the detail of the upper and lower glazing bars. The upper has a rabbit for the top glass. with the dado to accept the side glass.

This shows the corner glazing bars with the tenon that houses in the glazing dado. the top and corner bars are glued together with that assembly screwed to the lower glazing bars that have been splined together as a unit. I just couldn't see another way to do it and keep it all looking clean.

Glue up with 1/4" MDF as glass to keep it all lined up.

  

 This is what Emily at Emily Owens Design Group sketched for me as her idea for this display case.
It will showcase a client's presidential memorabilia.
You can see it showing a drawer in the front along with a butlers slide for use when changing the display.
The drawer will be setup with rows of angled supports for various objects. It will be lined with Pacific Cloth I think.
Each side has a fold down tray with display area.
The back will hinge out to reveal  a set of 6 drawers for storage.
The pedestal will have storage in it also.
At this point we haven't decided on a leg.
The area on the top was going to be drawers with sloped tops. that has been changed to be an elongated octagon done in beveled glass with Mahogany mullions.

 This is a picture of my full scale drawing.
It shows a leg choice, basic pedestal shape, and the design for the top.

 Detail of the upper part showing the Quartered columns and the hinged sides
The Quarter columns later changed to full fluted columns with Brass capitols and bases.

This shows the base details and the leg choice. we went with the Regency style leg on the right.
The basic design of the base has an Amboyna Burl field with a Mahogany cross band separated by a 1/16 ebony line.
This detail carried on to the shaft and upper display.

Will have more progress soon I've been veneering my butt off!!

A little more progress

 Here I have added the rosettes to the legs and started the veneer and banding on the base.

The field is Amboyna burl with Mahogany cross banding with a 1/16 ebonized line separating them.

This is a view of the upper display case  The column will be fluted. To the left of the column is a flip down display that will be lined with fabric and set up to display buttons. there is one on the opposite also.
To the right is a drawer that will have beveled glass. You can see the butlers slide above it.
The back will have a series of hidden drawers that pivot out. The top will be covered by an elongated hexagon of beveled glass with Mahogany glazing bars.
As you can see still a lot of work to go!

This is my current project. It is a display case for Presidential memorabilia for a private client.After getting a feel for what the project parameters was, I drew a full scale drawing for approval.With this particular client the project usually evolves as it proceeds In this case we change the upper drawer display area from the original concept. More on that later.

The base being routed for sliding dovetails

One of the legs after shaping and fitting the caster Rosettes to come

Close up of hairy paw caster
Thanks Londonderry Brasses You Rock!

A little dry assembly to check the progress.

Just Starting

This is the first post on my blog that I hope to create to show my business of producing antique reproductions some custom display cases and some special projects I get to be involved with from time to time.