Thursday, January 24, 2013

Chair legs

Here is the beautiful silk chair that Catherine upholstered for me, with it's new legs.



 I made the cabriole legs, then took a section of the design in the chair to incorporate into the leg carving. 







Friday, January 11, 2013

Little puffs of air!


Here is a fully functioning chip-carved 1:12 scale antique fireplace bellows.
It is carved from pear wood, real leather gusset, and turned brass nozzle. I made sure to carefully drill the hole all the way through my brass rod before turning the nozzle with the intention of making it work... but I didn't really believe it would...Imagine my delight when I put it up to my lips, pumped it, and  felt little puffs of air!!!!!! That means it is perfectly sealed and the valve in the back is functioning :)

The air intake

On the inside of this hole is a valve that when the bellows are opened it takes in air, and when pumped, the valve closes, forcing the air out the nozzle, thus fanning the fire!