Little by Little

Posted on by gayle

Making some progress on the dining table for Kelly S. I have planed all the boards I think I will need for the table top (a bit more than 1 inch thick) and have begun to cut 4 ft sections that will be joined lengthwise with dowels to form the two halves of the table top. From the picture you can see there is some cool graining, knots, bug trails, and the some spots that have the scars of rough sawing. All of these will be very cool when finished. These are only a few of the 4ft sections I will need. Each of these has to have the edges cleaned up–I do this with my table saw since I do not have a jointer. Cleaning up the edges can be a pain in the $%** because pitch builds up on the blade and causes it to stick and sometimes stalls the saw. I have to clean the blade occasionally. But, little my little the pieces will come together and become a useful, beautiful thing—all from something that had a previous life holding up a barn roof.

Oak after planing

Fine Dining: Part 2

Posted on by gayle

I have been commissioned to build another dining table like the one I built for the Coastal Living Idea House in River Dunes, NC. I am very excited about it and asked Kelly S. (the owner of the finished table) if I could blog about it. So, it begins.

Yesterday, in frigid weather uncharacteristic of the South, I drove to Cullman, AL to pick up salvaged oak timbers from Southern Accents Architectural Antiques (see my previous post). These are the same timbers I used for the CLv table. The timbers came from roof supports on an old barn. The guys at SAAA pulled the nails and sawed the timbers in half (roughly) lengthwise. The wood has some really neat features besides old nail holes. There are bug trails and knots and some have really great oak figuring. My next step is to plane it to the proper thickness for the table top. As rough as this is now, it is neat to see what it will become and how beautiful the finished wood is.

Raw Oak TimbersA closer look

Grand Opening

Posted on by gayle

I went to the grand opening of Cahaba Clayworks this evening. What a fun and totally enjoyable evening. There was a great jazz band [Rhythms Band, 205/837-2269], a wine consultant [Foster Smith, 205/908-174] providing a bit of education with some wonderful affordable wines from The Vintage Wine Shoppe , and pottery glazing and firing. I tasted a great Reisling that I plan to purchase. It was so wonderful to have arts and culture going on locally. I loved seeing my teachers and a few fellow students. I will be taking more classes this fall and hopefully creating more “masterpieces”. I encourage anyone to try pottery. It is a blast!

Oh, and I bought my first piece of art. Great feeling! Any other art I own is strictly amateur–created by me.

Pottery: Take 2

Posted on by gayle

I took another 6 weeks of “mud wrestling” classes at Cahaba Clayworks. This time my instructor was the very talented Larry Allen. He is a wonderful teacher and I learned so much even though I had to miss a few weeks for travel. I was able to make actual bowls with sloped sides, get some elevation on conical structures, and do some shaping. I also learned a better method for centering and how to manipulate the clay a bit better with my clumsy fingers. Below is a picture of my latest work, minus two pieces that have not been fired yet—but you are not missing much—they are experiments in shaping.

I plan to take another course of classes with Larry later in the fall when my travel slows down. I want to take full advantage of all six weeks.

My Pottery: Part Deux