A Video Presentation of "The Unit"

He is a quick video presentation of my entertainment unit. There's not a lot to explain in writing. I hope that you can see it. I'm still working on the quality of the video.




So until next time... Live long and prosper

Presenting... Well I haven't named it yet, but here it is.

So today I finished the entertainment center. I put the doors on and the ball and socket casters. The whole piece got a coat of oil. The doors only have one coat on them at the moment. But the rest of the piece now has 5 coats of oil. I tell you what, I have not had the time with any other project to get more than 2 coats of oil on. Man the more you put on the better things look. I can't believe how this stuff builds up and looks so beautiful.

So all that is left is to get at least 3 more coats of oil on everything and then present it on Friday. Well I still have to build the 4 inner cabinets but that can wait until next week. I also have to come up with a name for this piece. Any suggestions let me know, kalafinefurntiure@gmail.com, or leave a comment.

So until next time... it's all fun and games, until someone gets an eye poked out.


This is a shot of the back.






















Check out the figure in the doors.









Shot of the top of the cabinet


Sorry about the quality of the shots, I hope to get the professional in soon to finish shooting my stuff.

Sliding Doors and stuff...

Well so faar this week has been good. The class decided to work late tonight, but I worked a normal day and came home. I'm a firm believer that if you plan right and put in a full days work, you'll get everything done. With that said, I didn't plan right, because I haven't gotten the 4 cabinets that go on the inside of the main cabinet done yet. But I realized this about 3 weeks ago and made plans with the lecturer. Those will get done next week.

But as for yesterday and today, a lot has happened. We use this finishing oil here from a company called Livos. They produce the only finishing oil endorsed by Green Peace. It is an oil that is 100% natural. It's derived from plants. So recently they introduced a colored oil range. So that you can use it like a stain. So I decided to use a Dark Walnut color on my case. I've used Blackwood veneers, and Blackwood is a lot like Koa wood from Hawaii. So it is a brown wood, but not really a drak wood. I wanted to make it a little darker. This oil is the finishing oil with color. So I really don't think it made a huge difference in the overall color of the wood. But the piece has come out dark like I wanted.

Today I fit the doors into there sliding grooves and cut out the handles. So the doors work like a charm and they can be removed if needed. So I'll get them on there tomorrow for good and continue oiling. At the moment I have 4 coats of oil on. I have never had enough time to every get more than 2 coats on before. And man it builds so nicely and is looking really sweet.

I also got 4 ball and socket casters to put on the bottom so that the whole piece can be easily moved around. So those will get installed tomorrow and "Bob's you Uncle"

So until then... "Bob's your Uncle" means Then it'll be all good.

Friday- one week left and counting...

I know that I have been post crazy these last few days, but lots happening these days. I told you that I got the case glued up yesterday. So here are a couple of shots of the clamp monster. This thing took 24 clamps in total.

Well it came out of the clamps this morning and into the show room to be prepped for finishing. And that's what I spent the day doing today. I spent the entire day scraping off veneer tape, because I didn't want to risk sanding through. Then I think I spent something like 5 hours sanding. But it was good, because I got a coat of oil on the outside of the carcass tonight. I prefinished the inside of the cabinet, but it still needs another good sanding and the dividers haven't received any oil yet either. But the school is open tomorrow and I should get everything sanded back again and another coat of oil on.
















Next big thing is going to be getting the doors ready and fit to the case. For those of you that have forgotten or might not know. The doors are on the front and the back and they will slide in grooves. So this should be interest. Wish me luck, and I'll keep you all updated.

Until then... where's that ginger beer, it is Friday right?

GLUE UP is Done...

Well the glue-up is done. Man was it a stressful event. Hence the reason I am listening to some relaxing Beach Boys music. I had to coordinate this glue and it worked like clock work.

First it was spread the expoy on all the surfaces that needed glue. Then systematically I had to put 8 pieces together in there proper places and also get clamps everywhere. I didn't have the camera, but I will get a few shots of time clamped up tomorrow. It's a site to see.

So until tomorrow... Liger, half lion and half tiger, it's probably my favorite animal


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Now playing: The Beach Boys - Kokomo
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Progess on the entertainment center...

So what's happening with the current project. Well it's been a good couple of days. I spent Monday fixing a mistake that I made so that frustrated me to know end. But yesterday and today were really good days.

Yesterday I cut all the joinery for the piece. I used the Domino machine and cut everything that I needed. So I was able to dry fit the carcass and the dividers together. This thing is massive looking. Well it is just massive. 2 meters long, that's around 6 and half feet long. It's 600 mm tall, that's about 2 feet and it's 500 mm deep, which is about 20 inches. So this thing is big and I like it.






Today I got all the veneer ready for the doors. I used a really sweet fiddle back blackwood. The color of the veneer should be a little different to the rest of the piece. Thus letting the doors just stand out. I hope it works. I also cut all the grooves for the doors to slide in.

So the goal for tomorrow is to get this baby glued up. Also I hope to get the doors veneered up. And then it's veneer the rest of the inner cabinet parts and putting those together. So I hope to have all that done by Saturday. Since for the first time this year the school is going to be open on Saturday. But we all need the extra time.

So until next time... beam me up Scottie, there's no intellgent life here.

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Now playing: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Take Me Home Country Road
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Man what a difference a professional makes...

As a second year group we are planning our graduation exhibition. Part of this planning involves getting the venue and planning how to lay things out. Getting sponsorships and things like that. I have been lucky enough to get sponsorship from a few people. InDesign magazine being one of the few. They are going to give us some post exhibition coverage. With this sponsorship we have to come p with some print material in order to put peoples logos on.

So we are in the process of making a catalogue and some invitations and a few posters. In order to do all this we have to get our furniture photographed. We decided to get it done by a professional. Man when someone knows what they are doing, the results are great. So here are a few pictures. I have uploaded the rest onto my Picasa web album. Here's the link to the album. Let me know what you think.

Professional Photos of my work

Until next time... now you know and knowing is half the battle.

Veneer have you been...

This was a pretty good week. I think that I got a lot done. But no where near as much as I hoped to. The veneering process takes a lot longer than I thought it would. So what did I get done this week. Well most of you have seen the other post. I finally got all the solid lipping on all the pieces. That was a huge feet.

I also finished veneering the entire outer carcass this week. I took that as a huge win for the week. This means that while other pieces are in the vacuum press I can cut joinery on the outer case and get it ready for glue up. I've decided to use a 2 part cross-linking PVA glue. It's a glue that gives me a little more open time than regular yellow wood glue. But it dries just as fast. So I can put something into the presses and take it out within 2 hours. Then once out of the press, it cures. I needed to use this glue for time reasons. It means I can rotate pieces fast. I don't have the luxury of time these days. With only 2 weeks of build time left. Things have to move fast.

So the goals for next week: Get the outer carcass together and glued up. Finish veneering all the pieces. Hopefully get the inner cabinets made. But at the moment that is a second thought.

So until next time all... Remember only you can prevent forest fires...

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Now playing: Wyclef Jean - party to damascus
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Don't give me any Lip

Well I finally finished lipping all the pieces to this unit. It only took about 4 days. With that said I did do other things in between as well. I didn't spend an entire 4 days just doing that. But I did lip all the MDF panels and then thickness sand them through the drum sander. So that everything comes out even.












This morning I spent about 4 hours stitching, that's right I said stitching. Since this entire project is going to be veneered, I had to stitch together all the veneer that I am going to use. That meant first jointing both edges straight. Then with a bit of masking tape I had to put the pieces together. Then on the "Show Side" of the veneer I applied the veneer tape. I had to stitch together 3 pieces at a time, and there were 36 pieces to do. Needless to say it took a little while. But it was like meditation, once you got into the rhythm it was really nice. Plus I picked a nice quite spot in the school to use. Which is a lot harder to actually do than it sounds. So first thing tomorrow I start veneering the parts. I hope to get everything veneered by Monday next week. Because time is flying, From Monday there is only 2 weeks of build and finishing time left.

So until next friends... spider-pig spider-pig doing whatever it is that a spider-pig can do.

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Now playing: Salt and Pepper - Push it
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Weekend is here have a can of Gingerbeer...

Man am I looking forward to this weekend. Two reasons, and break from building and the quarter finals of The Rugby World Cup start.

You all know from the last post what the week entailed for me. Today was no different, I spent the morning in my Computer rendering class. With some good success I think. What do you think?



























Then I went back to the school to finish up my torsion boxes that I told you all about. I first had to cut the foam into pieces to fit the individual sections. Then I glued them into place, and it was of to the drum sander. I had to send them through a few times to get them all the same thickness. But that all work like I planned it to. I then cut the top skin put some glue down and laid the tops on and stacked loads of MDF on top to weigh it all down.

















So week one is done, and only 3 weeks of build and finishing time left. Lots of work to be done, but for know there's lots of Rugby to be watched. Go All Blacks

Until next time people.... Time for that Ginger Beer.

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Now playing: Natasha Bedingfield - These Words
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Solid lipping and more solid lips...

So I know it's been almost a week since the last update. And man has it been a busy one. The week started with finishing up all my drawings and my cut list. Once that was done then it was on. I spent a day cutting up all the MDF for all the dividers and inner cabinets and the rail in the back and the front and back doors.

Next I decided that I wanted to make the outer frame or carcass a more substantial thickness. But I really worried about weight, this thing is 2 meters long which is about 6 feet. And it's about 18 inches wide and 2 feet tall. So I wanted to make it about 1 1/2 inches thick. But man would that be heavy. So I thought about it for a little bit. Then came to the conclusion that I would build the outer frame as a torsion box. But not your normal torsion box, because that would still be pretty heavy. So I am going to be using a Styrofoam core torsion box. I don't actually have any pictures of that yet. The foam gets here tomorrow, so I will have them for the weekend update. But I made a small sample box, and man is it strong as. I jumped up and down on it with all 255 pounds of me. And it didn't dent a bit.




So that is how I spent Monday, building the beginnings of the torsion box and cutting all the components. The next 3 days I have been cutting solid lipping for all the components. Then I had to attach them. So to do this meant to cut miters on every piece. Then I would use the disc sander with a 45 degree guide and just touch up the cuts and size the pieces so that they fit perfectly. Man that took about a day longer than I thought it would. But it was really nice, just working and not having to talk to anyone and not be bothered either.



So tomorrow I'll finish the torsion box and then have to apply the solid lipping to those pieces. Then comes the fun part, veneering. But I'll talk about that next week.

So until next time people.... I have to go Hero's is about to start.
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Now playing: Israel Kamakawiwo'ole - Over the Rainbow
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Monday we start working...

So like last week this week has been a lot of design work still. But that ended today with a final presentation of our design. I finally settled on making an entertainment center. This unit will have some modular elements to it. Inside the cabinet there will be 3 if not 4 separate smaller cabinets that will be movable and removable. They will be able to hold components and DVDs.

The front will have 2 doors that slide along the length of the cabinet. This allows you to put the doors anywhere you want. Also there will be 2 sliding back panels for the same purpose.

We were to be inspired by something Australian. I choose the fact that I think that the people here are a very industrious people. They are hard working and have a very hands on approach to things. So this piece gives the user a chance to move things around and set it up the way that they like. The inspiration was meant to be subtle.

But I get to start work on Monday. Which will be nice, since there is a lot of work to be done. I will be using veneer for the entire piece. Which means a lot of work, putting solid lipping on all the boards. Then just making veneer lay-ons will take a good many hours. Especially sense I plan to do a random veneer pattern on the front sliding doors. We shall see how it all goes. Believe me there will be lots of updates and photos during this project. So keep coming back for more.

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Now playing: Gorillaz Feat. De La Soul - Feel Good Inc
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Testing a new service...

Well I haven't posted as much as I like these last few weeks. I guess that's because I haven't had a lot to say. Really these last two weeks have been design time. The week so far I have settled on a final design. I am going to build a low entertainment center. It will have some removeable cabinets that can be stacked anywhere on top or within the main cabinet itself.

Right now I have spent the last day and tomarrow on building a true to life 1 to 5 scale model. Today I got all the pieces cut out and routed a 2mm groove for my two sliding doors to sit in and run on. That right my doors on this little model are actually going to work. I was so stoked when everything went as planned.

Well I just downloaded a new blog publishing service. It's called ScribeFire. It allows me to blog and not have to actually log into blogger and do it through there. So I am going to test this out and see how it works.

Anyways until next time all...

Powered by ScribeFire.

What I love about Design...

What I love about design is how fast it changes. When I say love I really mean HATE. I entered the day with what I thought was a good idea. I left a group critique while many doubts. Not from my fellow students, but from the head of school. I always appreciate his input, but he loves to ask why? Why did you do it like that or this part like this? Sometimes I really just want to say because I like it that way. But in the design world you can't say that. You have to be able to justify why you are doing it a certain way. I left school today with the same feeling that I had during my chair project. Which weren't good feelings. I was really frustrated with everything.

With that said I came home and had a good play with my little boy, ate and good dinner and took a little break. Then I picked up my sketch pad and drew something that I think puts the other concept to shame.









These cabinets were made by a guy names Roy Schack. He is a designer maker here in Australia. My concept is based of these cabinets. But they will become modular and be able to stack and be laid down on there sides and become an entertainment center or desk. So I will present this new idea on Monday. Cross your fingers for me.

Until then...

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Now playing: The Herd - I Was Only 19 (Live)
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Going Design Crazy....

So this week has been really good. Neil showed up on Monday, it is really good to have him back in the building. With that said this week has been a lot of drawing. As always I started the week with one idea and now I have a completely different idea. I started the week designing a dresser. The dresser had asymmetric drawer sizes. That progressed to a display case that was hung from the wall. Then that idea progressed to a wall hung entertainment center. Well the final idea has stayed with an entertainment center. But it is no longer wall hung.

I don't know if any of you remember the mirror that I made last year. The mirror had two frames that were mounted to the wall. Then the mirror itself hung from the frames. Well this entertainment center has the same approach. There will be two arms that lean against the wall, at the top there will be a pivot point which is connected to a frame work. When I say frame work I mean some sort of lattice type work. But this frame work will hang from these arms. Then I plan to build 4 different types of cabinets. All being different in size and shape. But these cabinets will have a fastener that will connect them to the frame.

The idea behind this design is that you the owner will have the freedom to arrange each box in any fashion that you can think of. Giving the buyer design ownership of the piece. I know that it's hard to imagine the piece, I plan on having some drawings and maybe a rendering of it soon.

Also some potential good news. I recent found out about a show in Sydney for a design magazine called "inside". Anyways they are calling for student work, so I submitted my stool and chair. They want to display both with 6 extras of each for possible sales. Anyways I told them that I could not supply 6 chairs. But I could do the stools. They will pay for the shipping from Tassie to Sydney. So I had to provide them a shipping estimate and then they will get back to me about everything. They need to make sure that the shipping will fit into there budget. So fingers crossed on this one.

So until next time everyone... 60% of the time, it works everytime


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Now playing: Citizen Cope & Santana - Son's Gonna Rise
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I reckon my renderings are getting better...

Well there are a few new things that I thought I would try. First, there is a new feature offered from Firefox, that allows you to see what I am listening to while I post. Whatever song that I am listening to while I am writing. So we'll see if it works.

Second, I thought I would post a few new pictures of the things that I am learning in my elective class this semester. I have chosen to do photo realistic rendering as my final project. So currently I am trying to just design and few pieces of furniture and make them look good.
































What so you think? I know that they are small, but do the look realistic at all? Anyways the dresser in the pictures is one that I am thinking of developing and making for my final project. It's a very asymmetrical piece. There are a total of 7 seven drawers in the piece, most of which are not the same size. Anyways we'll see. Have a good weekend all, Monday is the beginning of the end for me here at school. But no need to think about that now, I still a little less than 3 months left.

So until next time... Don't cry for me Argentina, just keep kicking butt in the rugby world cup.

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Now playing: Jack Johnson - Breakdown
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Marquetry.. I'm just not "Cut out for it"

Ok Ok what a terrible title for this post. For those of you that don't know what Marquetry is, basically it's little piece of veneer cut out to form something. Maybe a flower or an animal of some sort. I started the week out giving it a go. But soon found out that it wasn't for me. I should have knowen from the craving class, I'm just not cut out for working on such a small scale. I can't handle really small tools in my hands.

With that said the first day of the class was a lot of fun. But I couldn't focus on the job at hand. one reason is I am worried about the next project starting on Monday. Neil Erasmus is coming back to teach this last class. He was the head of the school last year, if you remember. Anyways I want to build something big and complicated. I first started thinking about a desk. But then my thoughts drifted toward a sideboard and finally they came to rest with a dresser. I have what I think is a pretty good idea of a cool dresser. I know I say that about all my projects. But if I don't love them then who will. But I know that it is going to take every last minute to make this. So I have sent the last few days doing some CAD work and figuring out dimensions, I guess preparing so that I hopefully get a quick jumpstart next week. I will let you know.

I also this week had another article posted on the Wood Talk Online website. So check it out. It's great fun writting article for that site, I hope to get a few more written and sent in the near future.

So until next time... that's the way the cookie crumbles

The weekend is here...

So the week is over and the weekend is here. The weather here in Tassie is great. Like I said spring is in the air. So what did I do this week with the time off? Well let's see, I slept in a couple of days and I did some updating on my official website. Although they new updates have yet to be implemented. I hope that all gets taken care of in the upcoming week or so. I have spent a lot of time looking for inspiration for my next project. I have come to the conclusion that I am going to build a desk. Now weather or not Neil allows me to do so is a different story. But I reckon he won't have a problem with it.

But I spent a good portion of the week with the family, which was a lot of fun. I also spent some time trying to get some stuff done for our graduation exhibition I wrote up a press release to send out to all the press here in Australia. That was a lot of fun, and good practice. Because I plan to do the same for all the local papers and television stations when I get home.

We start a one week Marquetry course on Monday. I'm not sure how excited I am by this. But I will give it a go and see. You never know it might be a lot of fun.

So until then... I'll let you know.

Couldn't stay away

Well even though I have the week off I couldn't stay away from the shop. But this time I took my son with me. He loves coming down and visiting me when I am working. And every time he comes over he wants to build something. He usually says "Dad let's build a truck". So yesterday we both went in together and spent alittle time with some scrap pieces of Pine and some glue and a drill. He loves to go into the machine shop. I think it's because he gets to wear ear and eye protection. But we went in to use the chop saw and the sander.



We made the frame of the truck and them I found an old toy truck that was broken and put the wheels from it onto the new truck. Don't worry toy making world this is as far as I ever see myself going down that road. As if you all were really worried in the first place.

Until next time... from the mouth of babes comes this quote "Dad, Do it"

Trying something new

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