So, I just had a thought about how to have nice round knobs on the outside that are lightweight and with a silver/nickle tone (matching the hinges). I was eyeing small bookcase knobs at Rejuvenation Hardware this weekend, but they were of metal and only came in a brass finish. But, what about lightweight wood, covered in silver leaf? We’ve been gilding wooden frames and glass in my Techniques of the Old Masters class with Paul Missal and it’s not difficult. That solves my metallic problem (I was thinking of using metallic ribbon) and my weight issue (the doors might sag under too much weight) — I could maybe use them on the inside, too— and they would be light enough that I might be able to simply glue them to the doors. Hm, I shall think on it.

The doors are now attached to the cabinet body — tho’ I worry that the hinges look a little witchy. I’ve slightly moistened the warped boards and pressed them with weights — it seems to be working, the doors move freely and close (snugly). The hinges are attached with tiny brads which have a surprisingly sturdy hold, tho’ I’m sure the doors couldn’t hold up to much abuse. (more…)

I just noticed that WordPress automatically fixes your apostrophes to make them “smart,” curly. This unexpected typographic nicety makes me very happy.

I just installed WordPress last night counseled by Mr. Slakethirst. I already have unlimited blog potential via an old version of Movable Type (2.6.5), but WordPress seems to be a lot easier to customize, at least in terms of appearance. It took more effort getting MT up and running the first time. As of right now, I like WordPress a lot, tho’ it requires more clicks of the mouse than MT. My preference may simply stem from its novelty.

So, I’m not sure whether I should be freaking out or not. I have made some progress on the box but was hoping that I would have put a dent in the paper over Spring Break. I have not.

Issues that I’m currently struggling with include:
I have finally purchased the hinges for the box (you can see an example of them here) and am afraid that the chrome-y pointy hinges juxtaposed against the red silk fabric is more “goth-y” than I would like. I’m committed to it now, but am hoping that further details will perhaps soften its vampiric aspect. I don’t want this thing to look occult-y, then again I would like it to be mysterious. Where do I draw the line for this? Perhaps I should grid out my goals for the project. There are a number of factors that I would like to balance - book vs. box/furniture, masculine vs. feminine, mysterious vs. inviting… those are all I can think of off the top of my head right now. For example, as regards masculine vs feminine: what if the door closure was made of ribbon? Would that softness be a pleasant contrast with the hard, shiny hinges or would that softness feel out of place? I’m thinking it would be interesting to get a silvery ribbon, similar in color to the hardware - so the two elements would have that in common and perhaps that would make their different textures feel appropriate.

Another decision I have made is to opt for fewer people with richer assemblages rather than more people with a few objects apiece. I had thought I would craft 3 drawers each for 6 people, but have decided instead to craft 6 drawers each for 3 people. I talked it over with Caton and he agreed that this would make the individual collections more interesting. So, my next step is to create the 3 vertical units for the inside of the box - each will have a door and inside will be space for 6 drawers - I have not decided whether the drawers will be of equal size or of increasing size - the increasing size might be more visually interesting. The inner dividers will be covered in black crepe, the divider doors… well I haven’t decided yet. I would like to incorporate marbled paper into the piece because I feel like that would be a nice historical touch and also I’m drawing some parallels to the opening of a book. I guess you could say that the cabinet is rather like a book in some respects - everything is hidden from you until you are on that item’s particular page. Is that stretching the metaphor? I had wondered to myself how “bookish” the thing should be, but haven’t really thought about what that means, exactly.