Design work and upskilling
Now that my Thorsen inspired dining table and Gamble House inspired chairs are completed, it's time to tackle the Thorsen sideboard. Those that have visited the Huntington Library's Greene & Greene exhibit will probably be familiar with this magnificent piece.
To my eye, the proportions of the original sideboard are perfect, I don't see any need to modify the design. A search of the Greene & Greene archives at the USC Digital Library turned up the drawings for the Thorsen House dining room furniture, so I ordered a digital copy. There are no dimensions, but knowing the overall size of the piece I was able to scale from the drawings to develop my design. I worked up the plans in CAD, then pulled off DXF files to CNC cut the routing templates for the lower stretchers. I sent the files off to a colleague with a CNC and had them back in a few days.
One of the key distinguishing features of this sideboard is the bolection inlay work on the doors, a style of inlay where the finished image stands proud of the panel and often incorporates elements of carving to add a third dimension to the artwork. I have never done any carving or inlay work, but as luck would have it, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking is offering a Greene & Greene style bolection inlay class this weekend, so I signed up.
Next step: off to Indiana to learn bolection inlay.
Now that my Thorsen inspired dining table and Gamble House inspired chairs are completed, it's time to tackle the Thorsen sideboard. Those that have visited the Huntington Library's Greene & Greene exhibit will probably be familiar with this magnificent piece.
To my eye, the proportions of the original sideboard are perfect, I don't see any need to modify the design. A search of the Greene & Greene archives at the USC Digital Library turned up the drawings for the Thorsen House dining room furniture, so I ordered a digital copy. There are no dimensions, but knowing the overall size of the piece I was able to scale from the drawings to develop my design. I worked up the plans in CAD, then pulled off DXF files to CNC cut the routing templates for the lower stretchers. I sent the files off to a colleague with a CNC and had them back in a few days.
One of the key distinguishing features of this sideboard is the bolection inlay work on the doors, a style of inlay where the finished image stands proud of the panel and often incorporates elements of carving to add a third dimension to the artwork. I have never done any carving or inlay work, but as luck would have it, the Marc Adams School of Woodworking is offering a Greene & Greene style bolection inlay class this weekend, so I signed up.
Next step: off to Indiana to learn bolection inlay.