Since my last entry I have molded the shelf fronts, made the cornice , installed the pulls , catches and glass. My client ended up choosing a lighter finish than I had originally envisioned. I designed the moldings on the doors, frames and cornice with the idea of dark wax highlighting the individual shapes. In the end we are doing a light amber finish reminiscent of Pugin furniture. At least that's how I decided to look at it. I try to be historically accurate about things like construction techniques, materials and finishes so in my opinion this is a color that you wouldn't see until the 1830's . I did however add some book slides that I borrowed from a French bureau plat design, so I'm not exactly making an identical reproduction. I also want to make the client what they want so here it is. I'm actually learning to like the color more and more. I'm setting up for the final photos for the website. This is a huge disruption to my workshop because benches need to be moved and there are about ten pieces of furniture in the room. Trying to avoid the chaos of the shop showing up in the reflection of the glass will be a challenge. I still need to fill it with furniture books for the final photographs. Images below will show some of the progress with explanations.
This shows me molding the front edge of the bookshelves by hand with a homemade scratch stock.
Molded edge completed.
This shows the completed cornice. There are five different molding shapes that had to follow the projecting breakfront shape. Each molding custom made but many of the profiles are from Chippendale's Director.
Once completed the whole thing had to be disassembled for finishing. I used different grades of shellac applied with a pad and brush for the moldings.
This is the upper left side showing rather nice figure in the oak.
The lower section reassembled with the waist molding and sliding mechanism.
A view of the waist molded area with the right slide partially pulled out. You can see how each box was hand dovetailed and the nice figure of the oak.
Pulls and catches installed.
Molding to support the glass being fit.
Here I'm installing the glass and gluing in the molding. I'm using a technique I learned from my life as a guitar maker to clamp the small bits of molding. The horizontal sticks are "go" sticks. They are slightly longer than the space between the stiles and are wedged into place. Once the glue is dry they are removed.
Glass installed and awaiting final assembly.
Here's the bookcase sitting on photographic paper. I need to fill it with books, then get the tripods to support the paper above the top and hopefully get some decent photographs.