Deco Cabinet

Couple months ago, we were contacted by a designer in LA to create a deco cabinet inspired by an elevator door in LA.

At first we worked on a trompe-l'oeil concept

Then with the deigner, we upgraded to real volume pilaster with brass rods

Patrick had bought a beautiful american walnut board in the 70's and it was the perfect piece in color and width for this project. It was big enough to make a solid top, solid edges for the doors shelves etc and saw the rest into veneer for the front and sides. Other materials would include spanilla, boxwood, ferréol and ebony sawn veneer, as well as pewter and brass sheet.

I sparyed some alcohol on the veneer to mimic the color of finish

Brass and pewter

Usually we build our furniture out of solid wood but in this case the cabinet was made with high quality birch plywood.

The marquetry elements were cut

The added challenge was that the metal needed to match the patina of other brass elements in the room. to avoid having chemical on the wood we decided to have the elements prefenished and install them later after the sanding. As I cut the elements in supperposition "Boulle" style, I had left over elements that we mounted in the marquetry and kept the final elements that recieved the patina aside.

Then the front marquetry was assembled keeping the walnut background grain flowing throught the all piece, including the kickplate.

The doors and the pilaster were veneered. For the pilaster we used ferréol a dark chocolate color wood on the front and totally black ebony for the side to create more volume.

Then the doors were sanded up to the metal

As we used liquid hide glue, Old Brown Glue, we used the reversibility of the glue to remove the dummy metal elements using heat and moisture. As the glue was still fresh we had only to use heat.

Once the elements removed

The cavity were cleaned

The finished elements could be inserted and glued with fish glue. Fish glue is the best adhesive for glueing metal on wood.

At this point I could not resist to spray some alcohol to have an idea of the overall effect.

The cabinet is glued and the door adjusted

The pilaster glued to the door and the kickplate veneer to fit perfectly the grain of the doors

The top is adjusted to fit the cabinet

The lower pilaster is then glued on the kickplate with liquid hide glue, Old Borwn Glue.

The brass rod can now be fitted in the fluting. We have installed some pegs in them that will be used to glue them to the pliasters.

Now, it is ready to be finished and delivered.

Treasure Box - Series #2 - Post #7 - More cutting

I have finally cut all the side of our treasure box #2.

I have now started the top and finally decided I should consult.

Why did I draw so many small pieces. Now I have to cut them…

I have cut the top left corner. I am doing the cutting in stages as there is a very similar acanthus on each corner.

I am now currently cutting the top right corner with the aid of Gigi the shop’s cat.

Ans as usual some close up shot, as I just love them and hopefully you to.

-- Patrice lejeune

Treasure Box #2 - Marquetry incrustation on assembly board - Assembling Marquetry video

It has been a while since I shared the progress on our box.

So here it is

Previously on Box series #2 inspired form that antique which remid us a bit of Gole's painting in wood.

I have cut all my pieces for the 2 inside panel of the box

And shaded them

For todays episode, there is first the background cutting.

It starts with glueing the design on the packs. The packs are a backer-board 3mm thick, grease paper, 4 layers of bloodwood sawn veneer, a front board and the design on top.

The background is cut on the chevalet

Like for the pieces, the pack is riveted with nails. The outside of the pack is taped the inside is nailed. NO nails in the background to keep.

There is inside background pieces marked with a red cross for easy identification when I cut and to remember to keep them. To keep them in place, I use what we call bridges, a link from the main background to the isolated pieces, like bridges to an island if the bridge was what kept the island in place

When we are done cutting, I take of the tape on the back first. I tape the pack while cutting, and especially the back, so it stays well in place, no pieces sticking out or vibrating.

Then i take of the tape from the front and start pushing gently the waste out of my background, being careful not to wedge them or to brake things.

I keep everything in a tray as it is hard at that point to be sure you haven’t broken any tiny pieces, so you want to keep everything for safety.

Then I open the pack with a razor blade, layer by layer, being carefull not to cut in the veneer but in between the layers. First the front board

Then the first layer of background, here is a close up where you can see the bridges again

Ready to start putting it together, the background pack goes in the press while putting the panels together so the veneer do not move, especially in a dry day.

I put glue on my assembly board, a nice thin layer, fast and clean.

And put the background face down.
We are building from the back, the background is glued face down on the paper what we see is the glue side.
The front of the marquetry will be the paper side. The paper and the glue will hold the marquetry together up to the moment comes to glue it to the actual piece of wood.

And put it together

I did a video for you guys, and I must confess i am pretty proud of it.

Same for the second panel

Bridge on that one to

Opening of the pack

Set up your area

And put it together

Here are the two pictures with a bit of alcohol to see the result, I can never resist.

Next step is actually to build the box

Thank you for following

Cheers

-- Patrice lejeune