I’m taking a class called “What style is it? Furniture styles through the Ages”at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (www.philamuseum.org). It’s essentially an art history [...]
I’m ashamed to say that despite Chippendale’s advice, I know very little about the classical column orders. I know they are used to define ancient architectural styles. I generally [...]
Golden section is the division of a length at which the ratio of the division to the whole is equal to the ratio of the smaller division to the longer. 18th century craftsmen very likely [...]
Master Cabinetmaker Thomas Chippendale (1718-1779) recommended that cabinetmakers learn drafting so that they could “shew…the Conduct and Effect of the Piece.” I haven’t [...]
Side Chair, Philadelphia, c.1750 Philadelphia Museum of Art The axiom “form follows function” guides our designs and our esthetics. I can’t think that there is a woodworker who [...]
Arts and Mysteries began when Popular Woodworking’s editor Chris Schwarz, asked me if I was interested in writing an article for an existing column on hand tool usage called “From the [...]
This posed photo (the opening photo for the first Arts & Mysteries column for 2007) is my best approximation of Johannes Vermeer’s “The Geographer” (1668/69). Vermeer is one [...]
From the Editor: Arts & Mysteries is one of our most-read columns in Popular Woodworking magazine. Whether you sympathize with Adam Cherubini’s approach to working wood entirely with [...]
