Mary Jane Jim Chadbourne's amazing work

Oh Boy, I knew I should have taken notes at our last meeting!!   Here are the amazing pictures that Jamie took of MaryJane Chadbourne's work.  If you're visiting this blog you may be wondering why these beautiful art pieces are featured on a woodworkers group site.  Well, let me back up just a bit and have you scroll down and look at the fourth and seventh picture.  Yep, that's how these started out.  Her husband, Jim, is a member of the group and as a woodworker married to an artist, he gets to make the  wooden boxes for his wife to embellish.  These are not without complications and challenges.  For one thing, the polymer  clay that MJ so skillfully embosses and paints, create lots of weight -- add the findings she attaches to them as well and you end up with a pretty heavy object.  Until Jim figured out different ways to counter-weight the boxes they had a tendency to fall over when they were opened.



These two boxes are a good example of that, Jim ended up hollowing out the feet and putting some lead in there so they wouldn't flip.  Mary Jane gave the name for the little shutter detail that you see on the right box which she gets in Mexico ---- told you I should have taken notes!






Here you see MaryJane as she explains how she works the polymer clay.  In the photo below you can see exactly how much detail there is to her art work.  Look closely and you can make out the portrait of a woman complete with a beaded collar -- and we thought cutting dovetails by hand was exacting.





This is a close up of her work.  She can put sayings or other pictures on them and has done several commissions for either single or series of her boxes.  Her work is displayed in galleries here in Las Vegas and also in Utah.

Meeting Reminder, Wednesday @ 7:00 pm

  Just a reminder about our next meeting which is only 2 days away.  One of our members, Jim Chadbourne, collaborates with his wife in making wooden boxes.  His wife, Mary Jane, then embellishes them with different materials such as clay, glass, metals, paints, etc. They are then shown and sold at galleries here in Las Vegas and also in Utah.
  Remember that during the last meeting we mentioned having a Show & Tell session as a regular part of our meetings?  Feel free to bring in something or tell us about a technique you use and share your work with the rest of us.  As always, bring your chairs.

Boeing 727 Re-Model

Hello SCWW, a friend of mine sent me this via an email and I thought it was pretty cool and you would enjoy this -- What an idea and her total cost wasn't bad at all!

What a creative idea! Joanne Ussary bought a used Boeing 727.  She paid $2,000.00 for the plane.  It cost $4,000.00 to move and $24,000.00 to renovate.  (She has a LOT of wood and specialty windows for $24,000!  I want her carpenter!)  But not bad for a $30,000.00 investment...  The stairs open with a garage door remote and one of the bathrooms is still intact.  There is a personal Jacuzzi in the cockpit. The Boeing home is featured as part of a collection of creative conversions.  It  has a spectacular view!  (I wonder how much the land with this view cost!!!)  WOW!!! 

Two Year Anniversary

As you were scrolling down these pictures of the beautiful work brought in by Mike Viher, I bet you didn't realize what a monumental meeting last Wednesday's was.

Hard to believe but that meeting marked the two year anniversary of the:

SIN

CITY

WOODWORKERS (drum roll please!)

We had a great turnout for the meeting and started with some lively discussion on the quality (or lack thereof) of the tools we are able to find. The highlight of the meeting was Mike's presentation.

Mike brought a nice variety of his work, including this cherry clock, with hand turned spindles and some interesting details.









































Here is his shop clock, complete with chime, so he can keep track of time as he works in his shop. Who doesn't lose track of time when you're working in the shop!























Lucky for us he must have a pretty large vehicle and lots of help to bring all he had to show. Really nice work and we all admired his inlays, especially when we learned that some of them were about 3+ inches thick and went completely through the pieces.

Here are some of Mike's inlays, pretty amazing work.
























































He also showed some of his lathe work and it was interesting to know that the Almond bowl came from a chunk of firewood.



















Hard to find downed trees here in our desert so this must be the next best thing.




















Mike's presentation was informative and he answered all of the members questions about his technique.

At our next meeting, Jim Chadbourne is scheduled to bring some of the boxes that he makes. These are pretty small and very nicely done, he collaborates with his wife Mary Jane, who sells these boxes in galleries around town.

I brought up the possibility of any one of us bringing in a "Show & Tell" item to the meetings to share. The one concern about this was that you shouldn't bring in something that would upstage the presentation for that meeting. Rather, we could share a technique we learned or discovered, a new tool that makes your work easier, a way to finish, or what ever. The purpose of this would be for all of us to know each others work a little bit better. As an example, if someone talked about a technique it may be something that another member is struggling with so the two of them could get together and share what they know.

See you next month!

Our Meeting, this Wednesday 2/16

The meeting this month will feature Mike Viher who is one of Jamie's students.   He describes himself as a "retired bum" but, according to Jamie, he does some pretty incredible work.  We're hoping that he'll bring in work that includes inlaid, end grain cutting boards, some of his bowls, and maybe even a clock or two.  The meeting is at 7 pm and as always, bring a chair if you want to be sure to have a place to sit.  Bring your questions to shot at Mike as well especially if the type of work you do includes what he does.  It's always good to ask and discuss what we do with others, it's a win/win situation for all of us.
      See you there!, if you came across this on the web and need more information or directions just call 631-1870.

Wednesday, Jan. 19 Meeting

Last nights meeting was enjoyed by all and I think we all learned something from Vince's presentation.  He brought in his beautiful blanket chest, made in the Stickley style and from original plans.  As you can see by the following photographs it's really a nice, albeit heavy; piece.  One of the things that Vince does in the construction of these pieces, is to cut his own veneers and then make the panels.  This lets him book match the wood to showcase the grain at it's best potential.  Even though we had the 3' rule, we were able to see the fine details he puts into the work.  In this picture, we're studying the lid and interior work.  I think Ed is sizing it up!

Hmm, I think I could almost fit in there!

Here is a mock up of how the legs are constructed.  Vince uses his bandsaw to not only cut the veneers but also a perfect miter to join the legs.  The blade is called the Woodslicer and is available only from Highland, here's a link to their website about the blade.  After hearing Vince sing it's praises and seeing the quality of his work that blade is now on my wish list.  The technique he used to make this perfect miter was to apply glue, rub the pieces together, and then use pinch dogs to hold them while the glue sets.  Luckily, Jamie had some to show those of us who where unfamiliar with them.

Mock-up for Legs

We had a really good question/answer period and Vince answered all of our concerns and questions about how he made the chest.  Here we see the chest being wheeled out, I think Vince is smiling not only because we admired his chest but also because he's not handling the cart!  Hopefully he was able to get his neighbors to help him unload it.

Thank goodness for many hands and strong backs, that's Vince smiling in the background.

Vince had been to my shop where I shared a finishing technique with him.  Since we only applied the first coat he asked me to bring a drawer to the meeting after two more coats were applied.  This brought about a discussion on the joinery and the finish.

The wood is Bloodwood which proved to be a hard, sinewy, SOB to cut half blind dovetails in so after many practice attempts and a broken skew chisel I opted for dowels instead.

Close up of Birdseye Maple Handle

A couple of other things brought up was the lathe turning workshop that will be held this weekend at Woodworkers Emporium.  You can check their website through this link for details.

Jim was going to do the presentation for the next meeting but then remembered a previous commitment so we'll have to wait until March for that. In the meantime, another member volunteered to present for February.  Jamie mentioned who it was but alas -- I had the dreaded senior momennt and forgot who it is!  Would whoever it is please email me at eugster96@cox.net and let me know who you are and what you plan to do so I can put it on the calendar?  Really appreciate that.

Meeting Reminder

Hope all of you are ready for the next meeting this Wednesday at 7pm.  Vince DeMarco is going to explain and show off his blanket chest.  You probably remember his work from the Christmas meeting, he does mission style utilizing quarter sawn Oak.  I tried to talk him into bringing his bandsaw so he could demonstrate how he cuts his thick veneers but he wasn't too enthused about that!
In the meantime I'd encourage the rest of you to think about doing a presentation at an upcoming meeting.  The purpose of the club is to meet with and share techniques with each other.  I'm sure that there is a technique, trick, or tool that all of you do that the rest of the club would benefit by knowing about it.  One problem many of us run into is how to store our lumber -- maybe you have a great way to organize your shop that you could share.  Let Jamie know what area of your expertise you'd like to share so she can plan our future meetings.

See you Wednesday, Jan. 19th. @ 7pm