Tall-back chair

Here's a current drawing I threw together in Adobe Illustrator CS5. Like many others, I know Photoshop reasonably well, but never had the chance to dabble with Illustrator. This past week, I kind of threw myself into this drawing as a little crash-course.

This drawing is a takeoff of an Arts & Crafts chair featured in Judith Miller's exhaustive tome, Furniture. In keeping with period correctness, it's my intention to use as much quarter sawn white oak as possible. The legs may seem a bit chunky at 3" x 3" each, but with the back ones at nearly 5' tall, the height should put them into an appropriate proportion to the eye.

Construction will be pinned, mortise and tenon, though the pinning is not pictured in the drawing. I just need to finish up some paying jobs before I can get to this fun one. If you're interested in a set of four, I'd be willing to wheel and deal. Hit me up:

info at factoriifab dot com

Lots o' pieces this week...

Above are some drawings of some shelves I'm fabricating for ISU Dining in the newly renovated Oak-Elm dining hall. 1 1/2" square tubing with lots of vineyard bar and hand-forged oak and elm leaves.

One of three windows the shelves will be mounted within.


An upside-down mock-up of an occasional table made of reclaimed barn wood.


Above is a drawing of one of two signs being fabricated for the Memorial Union at ISU. The oak lumber below will be planed and glued up to 2' x 3'. This lumber was harvested on the grounds that used to exist just south of the Sun Room on the south side of the Union. The text on the sign will be cut from 3/16" mild steel and adhered to the wood with construction adhesive.

Ferjak Residence - gate

Here's a drawing I did last night before leaving the shop. It's a drawing of a residential gate for the Ferjak residence. Arched-top with vineyard bar and forged leaves on top. In lieu of steel pickets, Western red cedar will be used with negative cut-outs of a 2 1/2" square turned 45 deg. in between the cedar boards. Finish is oil-rubbed bronze.