Follansbee
Member
John Davis asked me about a chest of drawers I posted in the thread about dovetails....
"Peter, ...How did you define the pattern and recess the field in the drawer fronts...set the pattern and punch the field around it or hand route it?
Also, is the japanning a black lacquer, enamel, or a traditional mixture. What are the constituents? Was terpentine and asphaltum used? "
There is no template or tracing. The layout consists of a horizontal & vertical centerline and margins. The carved drawer fronts, of oak, are simply outlined with a V-tool and various gouges, then the background carved out with a very shallow gouge & mallet. The background is then textured with a punch, about 12 or 15 teeth to it.
The finish is lampblack pigment mixed in linseed oil, turpentine and japan dryer. a little varnish over it after it's dry.
The chest of drawers is based on several examples I studied for an article in American Furniture 2001. Gavin Ashworth photographed a slew of stuff for us in that article...many details. See Robert F. Trent, Peter Follansbee and Alan Miller, “First Flowers in the
Wilderness: Mannerist Furniture from a Northern Essex County, Massachusetts,
Shop” in American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite, (Hanover, N.H.:
University Press of New England for the Chipstone Foundation, 2001), pp.
1-64. You can see some of the pictures on Chipstone's website; but to see them all you have to buy the issue.
I don't have good photos of that chest of drawers right here. But my blog has a ton of photos of the carving I do. The patterns change, but the techniques are pretty much the same throughout.
I see that the filters won't let us use the name of the northermost county on the Massachusetts coast. funny...
P Follansbee
"Peter, ...How did you define the pattern and recess the field in the drawer fronts...set the pattern and punch the field around it or hand route it?
Also, is the japanning a black lacquer, enamel, or a traditional mixture. What are the constituents? Was terpentine and asphaltum used? "
There is no template or tracing. The layout consists of a horizontal & vertical centerline and margins. The carved drawer fronts, of oak, are simply outlined with a V-tool and various gouges, then the background carved out with a very shallow gouge & mallet. The background is then textured with a punch, about 12 or 15 teeth to it.
The finish is lampblack pigment mixed in linseed oil, turpentine and japan dryer. a little varnish over it after it's dry.
The chest of drawers is based on several examples I studied for an article in American Furniture 2001. Gavin Ashworth photographed a slew of stuff for us in that article...many details. See Robert F. Trent, Peter Follansbee and Alan Miller, “First Flowers in the
Wilderness: Mannerist Furniture from a Northern Essex County, Massachusetts,
Shop” in American Furniture, edited by Luke Beckerdite, (Hanover, N.H.:
University Press of New England for the Chipstone Foundation, 2001), pp.
1-64. You can see some of the pictures on Chipstone's website; but to see them all you have to buy the issue.
I don't have good photos of that chest of drawers right here. But my blog has a ton of photos of the carving I do. The patterns change, but the techniques are pretty much the same throughout.
I see that the filters won't let us use the name of the northermost county on the Massachusetts coast. funny...
P Follansbee