In early Gustav Stickley pieces, doors with divided lights were joined with mitered mullions. It’s an intriguing look, but was used only for a few years. My next project for the magazine [...]
In my elementary school, the janitor was a shadowy character who mostly stayed in the basement, in his private area next to the boiler room. Yet he was powerful enough to make everyone (even [...]
One of my favorite movies is “Little Big Man”. The characters spiral in ironic orbits that periodically intersect each other. Each intersection finds them more tattered as they age, [...]
I always used to make fun of my late brother, Jim, when he would tell me about getting up in the middle of the night to drive hundreds of miles to go bass fishing. He never was interested in [...]
Below is an upper drawer on a Gustav Stickley #814 sideboard. I took some heat for not including drawer details in my two books of Craftsman furniture drawings. My reasoning was two-fold – [...]
If I had a life, I would probably have something better to do on a Friday night than go to an auction preview of Arts & Crafts period furniture. But this was a chance to see some authentic [...]
I know I’m not the only woodworker who has trouble completing projects. I’m pretty sure I’m not the worst, but I suspect I may be in the top 10. It’s not easy to get [...]
At the turn of the 20th century there were an extraordinary number of designs for bookcase and magazine stands offered to the public as completed pieces and construction plans. This version is a [...]
I get a lot of questions about Arts Crafts style finishes. Gustav Stickley’s original work was made of quartersawn white oak and fumed with ammonia. This was then topcoated with shellac, [...]