Filed under: Architecture, Furniture, Industrial, Inspiration, Nature, Our Work, Surface
I made these finials to go on top of the farm rollers I’ve mentioned before. The oak body of the finial is turned from a solid piece of wood. I like the checking (cracks) you can achieve with a solid piece of wood….the outside surface drys more quickly than the inside core of the wood so it cracks. If you were to laminate several smaller pieces of wood together and than turn the piece you would get little or no checking which is generally the most desired affect but not for me, I like to see the grain and nature of a single block of wood. The shape of the finial was inspired by a classical urn shape, often fashioned in metal and seen on old European entry gates, in stone on the roof of 18th century Palladian styled manor house or furniture…they’re everywhere. The zinc leaves are cut from salvaged roofing material. I just cut random size leaves, gathered them together in a pattern designed to represent the agave plant…..drilled the top of the urn and forced them in. You can use these in pairs to create symmetry or singly in another composition. Outside, a pair of these on the turned oak columns could give a garden path a little zest.
The agave plant was the inspiration for the zinc leaves.
Filed under: Architecture, Industrial, Inspiration, Latest Find, Surface, What will it be?
One of my favorite things about being an antiques dealer and designer is finding things that inspire me. I bought a pair of these not knowing what they were, just that I thought they were beautifully worn solid white oak “rollers” of some sort. I later found out that they were used in fields to compact the soil after the seeds were sown to keep the moisture in the soil. I cut off the stems on the ends so they stand on end more steadily. They make great pedestals for urns or finials. They have a very ” Rough Lux ” look.
Look at these amazing slate chalk boards. These boards were salvaged from an elementary school in Atlantic City. I had to have a few……think I’m going to tile a bath room and shower with them. Will probably need to seal them, but need to find a product that doesn’t darken them and make them shiny.They could make a cool table top too….or maybe an accent wall or floor. Though one might think to do these in a child’s room, I think they would be handsome almost anywhere that had a cleaner modern look. Would definitely be cool with an industrial vibe. Another thought about these dark stone slabs is if you use them in a room on a floor or wall that gets direct sun for some of the day they will absorb the heat and radiate it back out as it cools of and the sun goes down….nice.
