After my last entry, I had a bit of a dilemma. With the drawer joinery complete, I was reluctant to assemble the drawers, as I was still unsure of my pulls. The cabinet has four drawers and a door. The small door has a keyhole and does not require a pull. As the drawers spacing is irregular, pull placement became a bit of an issue. I tried mocking up each drawer with a single pull with no success. I tried two pulls on each of the wide drawers aligning with a single pull on the narrow drawer, this was better but still not what I was looking for. I kept moving the pulls out until they were on the outside of the drawer where they just felt right. I tried curving them out. Ergonomically this worked, however it would have made the fitting difficult. Aesthetically, the only issue here was where the bottom two drawers met. I reversed the curve and there it was, what I had been looking for all along.
The sides are doussie, easy to carve with fabulous end grain. Now, do I have the wood? Where each pull would run was a precious bit of colour, that ran down each side and across the back of each drawer, this I was not prepared to loose. I look through the material that I had originally set aside for the stand and there was the colour I needed.
Last week we received our final shipment of wood prior to the start of the craftsman and resident craftsman programs. Yvonne has thoroughly cleaned the school and I have begun preparing the machines for another year of sensible use.
While I didn't make the road trip to the big island this summer to visit alumni shops, I did get to Granville Island where I was able to sneak in a short visit in with Federcio Mendez Castro. Federico is living his dream. His studio Dalbergia-nigra includes workspace and gallery.
Yvonne and I received several visits this summer from alumni, including Jason Klager and his family. Jason recently completed a rather larger tansu. Impeccable work in difficult woods, wenge and afromosia. Jason has been dividing his time between, raising his boys, building a new shop and writing for Canadian Woodworking, where he made the cover last month.
This year, we have a full compliment of students joining us from Japan, Belgium, Israel, Mexico, United States and Canada. Five of our students are returning for a second year of study with our completely revised Resident Craftsman program. It is an exciting time at Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking.
Yvonne and I would like to take this opportunity to invite all alumni of Inside Passage School of Fine Cabinetmaking to join us for first Elephants at our home on Friday September 16th 2011 at 5pm. Please join us for a potluck supper, as we present Jim’s cabinet and welcome this year’s class.
Our school and its programs are founded on and dedicated to the teachings of James Krenov. If you would like additional information, or would like to register please contact Yvonne.
