Designs in Wood and Glass

It takes me forever….

2006-03-26T13:11:00.000-05:00

This piece is an exact copy of Roycroft’s Little Journeys” bookstand. Once again I used Robert Lang’s “Shop Drawings for Craftsman Furniture” as a guide. The Bookstand is made from quarter-sawn White Oak. I found some excellent wood, especially nice ray flakes. Construction is mortised and keyed tenons and the case can be disassembled.

Produced for a series of books by Roycroft founder, Elbert Hubbard, this is one of the first “knockdown” pieces of furniture ever produced.

The original antique, if found on E-bay is often around $900.00. Granted, that is the original but quite frankly mine is nicer (better fit). The bookcase is also a current offering of the Stickley Furniture Company and others.

http://www.stickley.com/gallery/details.cfm?id=2052&c=36

click picture for larger view

26”x 14”x 26”

mbusha@hotmail.com

Mackintosh Lamp

2006-02-11T18:12:00.000-05:00

This lamp was inspired by the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928), Scotland’s greatest architect and designer. His genius created and entirely new style. From his masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art, to interiors, furnishing and decorations, he was far ahead of his time.

The plans for this lamp were once again from Wood magazine, however their lamp had simple white panels rather than stained glass. This glass is my design but the influence of Mackintosh is unmistakable. He is, without doubt, my favorite designer.

http://www.crmsociety.com/

My Mackintosh Lamp is 14” tall, 9” square

Harvey Ellis design bookcase

2006-01-29T11:46:00.000-05:00

I found the plans for the Gustav Stickley No. 700 Bookcase in Robert Lang’s book “Shop Drawing for Craftsman Furniture.” Well, not exactly plans, dimensional drawings as the title implies. This is an excellent resource for those interested in the Arts & Craft period. However, I have built a couple of pieces using Lang’s drawings and it does not hurt to double check his dimensions. Still it beats trying to find this information on your own.

http://www.cambiumbooks.com/

My version of this Harvey Ellis designed bookcase is half scale of the original. Standing only 29” tall it is otherwise faithful to the number 700. My only concession was to replace the wooden mullions with lead came.

The case is quarter-sawn white oak stained with an antique cherry, varnished and waxed.

Glazed with restoration glass (wavy, small air bubbles, very neat!) the high profile lead came and copper foiled top panel keep the spirit of the Ellis design.

I think the test of any miniature is, if shown in a photograph with no other references, does it look like the full size piece. Well, does it? Post your comment.

mbusha@hotmail.com

Gifts ~ Oh; isn’t that nice.

2006-01-26T04:56:00.000-05:00

I guess the classic thing to do in your shop is to make gifts for Mom, Dad and unsuspecting friends and relatives. I mean, what can they say, “Oh; isn’t that nice”. Well my shop is no exception.

The glass flower was made a few years ago as an assignment for a Stained Glass workshop. It was a great class taught by a local artist Mike McDonald. I’ll link to his site if I can find the address.

The Clock was from Wood magazine. As I add to this blog, you’ll see a lot of things inspired by Wood magazine. They seem to favor Arts and Craft designs, which is my favorite as well. Although the clock was built exactly as shown, most often I use their plans as a starting point and add details of my own design.

http://www.woodmagazine.com/

The “Bird” box was an idea I had to use an antique button I found at the Farmers Market in Royal Oak. The box is quarter saw White Oak with hand cut dovetails. Seems to me that everyone now uses dovetail fixtures, but machine cut looks just to perfect for my taste. Besides, if it is only one piece, by the time you set up the jig, you might as well cut them by hand. As I said before, it’s a hobby, not piecework.

http://www.ci.royal-oak.mi.us/farmersmkt/

Glass Houses

2006-01-17T04:18:00.000-05:00

Anna Scripps Conservatory on Belle Isle, Michigan

Inspired by Ichiro Tashiro, a stained glass artist in Karuizawa Japan (see link at right), I decided to build a small terrarium, actually a shameless copy of one of Ichiro’s. This glass house sold immediately. A second, and then third glass house added some new details, ridge vents and a few panels of textured, iridescent glass.

Well time to move on, three of the same thing made me feel like a piece worker.

Inspired by the Anna Scripps Conservatory on Belle Isle, designed by Albert Kahn in 1902, my forth (and final) greenhouse is one of a kind.

It’s a large piece 24 inches wide, 17 inches tall; the dome is an 8-inch sphere. Containing 450 pieces of glass and mounted on a Mahogany base, the terrarium is built in four sections to make plant care easy.

It was fun, but challenging to build, in particular, figuring out how to construct the glass dome. I wanted capture the spirit of the original palm house of the Belle Isle Conservatory. Let me know what you think.

mbusha@hotmail.com

--Mark

Shop Projects

2006-01-15T16:23:00.000-05:00

This blog will be about my workshop.

It’s my sanctuary, a refuge from the encroaching digital world. I suppose it’s strange to make a blog about it, but I wanted a method to show my work.

The pieces I build are, for the most part, one of a kind. I rarely build two of anything. I often find inspiration in Arts and Craft antiques. Pieces that are inspired by a particular designer will be labeled as such. The work is done by hand and all is done in my shop.

mbusha@hotmal.com

Mission Lamp
My visit to Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water, inspired the design for the stained glass shade. The lamp base was from a design in Wood magazine.