Finished up a chest today for my Aunt along with getting some smaller chests/boxes almost done; I just need to mount hardware on some, varnish, etc. They look O.K. , thought looking back at my process I would of changed things.
Due to using rabbet joints or what some call “half lap” joints on the wood, I needed to use fasteners. Which is fine, usually nails are used in these situations – preferably square head nails or cut nails. Which are hard to come by but are less prone to splitting. I was nervous about splitting the wood with regular nails. Also my nailing can be a bit off sometimes. So i used screws countersunk in the wood. They work, don't move so well with wood movement but work. They are what I would of changed though due to the difficulty in covering up the screw holes. Wood filler never looks very good.
Newfoundland vernacular furniture has a history of being painted. From some of my reading this was the style of time, the appreciation of natural wood not as keen as now, or least not in the lesser woods like pine, spruce, etc. Easier also to refresh from time to time in more of a practical sense. Maybe also easier to cover up mistakes perhaps?
For an example I have an antique dresser I bought a few months ago. Up to a hundred years old, made in Newfoundland by a local furniture maker. Was covered in a dark brown paint. I scrapped it off and underneath 18 inch wide panels of mahogany. Nice looking dresser, solid construction.
But will I paint them?
I don't think, though the bottom chest was model after my Pop's chest which was painted battleship grey, I would rather stain them. Maybe a reddish stain for the bottom two, something different for the one on top.
I started writing this in an attempt to figure out why I keep making these chests. In a world where plastic storage totes and units are so accessible why am I making these? Hell, even much lighter. I made this one when I was in Banff, based on a design for a sea chest. Took a lot of work and I learned a lot from it.
But's just one chest, now I'm on to four and I kind of want to keep making more. I just don' know for what purpose besides an outlet for improving my skills. Is that it? I don't have an intention to sell them, nor do I think they're sellable. Not yet, need to be a little better.
Is it just the urge to make things? The same motivation that keeps me making prints perhaps?
I do think about using them for an installation one day, though what form that would take doesn't come to me. The idea that they're not tied to my art at all doesn't seem true though. I still have a few length of boards outside as well I mean to use before winter hopefully. More boxes certainly. There are other projects as well like a desk and some wooden cover books or gothic books if you will.
Going to St. John's tomorrow to see C and go to Winefest on Thursday. Then I'm off to Englee, my Mom's hometown at the top of the Northern Peninsula this coming Sunday for a while. Be nice for a change of scenery.
