Swing'in in the rain

I made this porch swing for Liesl almost six years ago.

We were living in New Jersey and had a great wrap around porch on the house.  The porch needed this swing.  I made the swing out of mahogany.  We've carried it around with us and now we finally have a place to set it up.  The wood has turned gray and has a beautiful patina.  It's nice to see it up and use it again.

How bread box will travel

There's a lot going on lately.  I'm making work for the show, I have work to produce for the upcoming exhibition at Arts Worcester and I've been writing the manuscript for the book at night.

I recently sold a bread-side table ( The chrome one below).  It will be shipped to Singapore.

The yellow one is for the exhibition and I'm going to build a wood grain.  These tables are so much fun to produce.



Reservation for two

Last week Jeff and I started shooting episode ten of the show.  Jeff's son Sylvan helped out on the third camera.  I built a two seater outdoor table for the shows project.  I've made this table before.  I really enjoy its contemporary, modern look.  We finished the episode on Monday.  

The table is made out of pressure treated lumber.  The 1" x 4" frame is doubled up to give a light look but is very sturdy.  There are basically two major componenets to the table, a seat frame and a table frame.  The two components are glued, screwed and bolted together.

Bangles, Rings and Things

This coming weekend Liesl is teaching a workshop out of her studio called 'Bangles, Rings and Things'.

The title says it all.  She has two students who will spend all day Saturday and Sunday making sterling silver jewelry.  Awesome''  I spent this past weekend making a bench/work station for the two students.  The carcase of the bench is made up of the 2" x 6" pine spruce boards I used for the bed project for the show.  I then covered the frame with a sheet of 3/4" plywood and covered it with a piece of 1/4" tempered Masonite.  When the Masonite gets to worn to use it can be removed and thrown away and a new piece screwed on.

The bench is screwed and bolted to the walls.  I attached a couple of strips of wood to the rafters above the bench and clamped a couple of work lights to it'

To see more of Liesls work or if your interested in a class visit her site at www.lcarlsonjewelry.blogspot.com

The European Invassion

                             

Awesome'

We're in Europe'

Jeff and I have great news about the show " The Garage with Steve Butler"

The record tv group is owner of many stations throughout Europe such as TV Europa, Sky TV and My Channel in England.

We signed a distribution agreement with the company and at the end of August the show will be broadcast in several European countries and territories such as the United Kingdom, Portugal, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Germany, Romania and France.

The Record TV group is seeking sponsorship for the show.  We still won't get a paycheck yet but this gives us great leverage for negotiating a deal here at home.  Basically it's like a newspaper and it's circulation.  The more readers you have then the better the chances are that companies will want to advertize with your paper.  Likewise for the show.'  The more viewers we have the better the odds are that we will get a company to sponser the show.

Please visit  http://www.tvmychannel.com/ and check us out in Europe' or you can go to http://www.thegaragewithstevebutler.com/ and watch an episode of the show in it's entirety.

Red or White: Part Two

Yesterday Jeff and I finished shooting episode nine of " The Garage with Steve Butler"

In this episode I made a wine box table, which  worked out well because now I have two I can use for the exhibition in the fall. 

Arts Worcester Exhibition

This coming fall Liesl and I are having an exhibition at The Aurora Gallery for Arts Worcester.

This is awesome news, it is just her and I.  The Aurora Gallery is a great space with wonderful architectural elements that will compliment our work.  We were selected by the gallery committee who reviewed many applicant proposals.  The gallery has a large floor space so I have a lot of work too make to fill the area.

Table for four: Completed

Yesterday I finished building the table.  I really like how it turned out.  I just have to give it a little sanding with the belt sander and round off the corners on the top and seats.

The Feast

The table is moving along nicely.  I tied the frame together and cut the tapers on the seat and table gussets.

The gussets connect the top to the frame and the seat to the frame.  I tapered the gussets in two directions to add lightness to the look.  The gussets also add a lot of strength and rigidity to the table.  I cut the taper by using a piece of plywood.  I drew the taper onto the plywood and then used double face tape and a couple of brads to hold my board onto it.  I then made two cuts on the table saw and it was done'

Table for four

I'm working on a custom pinic table for a client in Worcester.  She didn't want a traditional looking picnic table so we decided on this table.  I made a two seater version of this table for a friend more than ten years ago.

It doesn't look like much now without the seats and the top. Below is an image of the two seater table I made.  The 1 x 4's are very sturdy when doubled up but add a look of lightness to the design.

Red or White? Complete

I have a lot of pieces to make for the exhibition.

I recently started making a couple of tables out of some wooden wine boxes I was given.  The legs are tapered and notched to fit around the box.  I pegged the legs with copper roofing nails and textured the head of the nails.  I finished the table with a urethane top coat and applied a coat of wax to amber and add patina to the table.  I used rope cleats to secure the glass top.  I painted the cleats a copper/brass color to match the patina and the copper nails on the legs.  I attached the plexi glass by drilling holes in it and using brass screws that went through the cleats and bolted to the underside of the box lid.  I fabricated and added a glass rack on the underside of the box, it holds two wine glasses perfectly.

I sanded the edges of the plexi glass using 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper.  I will torch the edges to make them clear.  This project will be a project on a future episode of " The Garage with Steve Butler"  Tune in to charter on demand and catch an episode, click on 'community interest'. 

AAS Exhibition

During the two day Art All-State event the museum hosts an exhibition for us artist/mentors to show our work.  It's a great way for the students to get to know us better. I submitted a couple of cigar box guitars and a video of the show in which I make a cigar box guitar.  The exhibition was well received.

More AAS

Here are the students working on the nest and eggs.

Below is the final installation.  I love how it looked' They pulled it off beautifully.

Art All-State Continued

The students developed a theme of technology influencing nature.  They created a very clinical environment, reminiscent of a giant incubator.  Electrical wires were attached to a giant nest made out of the burlap bags.  They installed speakers in the nest and downloaded a continuous heart beat.  It was very well done'



Art All-State 2012

This was the 25th year of the Art All-State program.  Liesl and I were very fortunate to be selected as Artist/Mentors for this years workshop.  Art All-State is an event where the best high school art students are juried into the event which consist of 200 students from across the state being divided into groups of approximately 18, then are mentored by two artist and given a studio at the Worcester Art Museum. As a whole they create an art installation.  The theme of the event is " Limits-No Limits" because the students are given only two materials to work with.  The mentors pick two works from the museums collection to use as inspiration.  The students then create an installation using these pieces as inspiration and the two materials.  I was partnered with artist Carolynn Clayton.  We chose burlap and electrical wire as our groups materials. 

Here are some images of the students brainstorming and then constructing their piece.