Arts & Crafts Movement

The Arts & Crafts Movement is where I park all things having to do with the Arts & Crafts movement. This may include places I’ve visited (museums, exhibits, or attractions), tips for better collecting, or just some interesting knowledge about the movement and its furniture. Whatever the subject, you’ll be sure to learn something interesting about the Arts & Crafts movement here…

L & JG Stickley Legs
Who Influenced Who?
The Art that is Life: The Arts & Crafts Movement in America, 1875 to 1920
The Furniture of Charles Rohlfs
Arts & Crafts Furniture @ Virginia Museum of Fine Arts

Design

Under Design I’ll write on topics that have to do with designing furniture. For me this includes things, places, or stuff that inspires me (Inspiration); Creativity; Design Knowledge, or Style Knowledge–these by the way are the four things I believe need to be present for good design epiphanies to occur.

Understanding the Arts and Crafts “Style”
Tall Tall Trees!
Evolution of Design: An Update
Ready, Set, DESIGN!!!
Evolution of Design

Design Elements

Design Elements is a phrase I lifted from Darrell Peart’s seminal book Greene & Greene: Design Elements for the Workshop. In his book Darrell writes “…I present some of them [Design Elements] to you for examination, not as a guide for reproducing exact copies of Green & Greene pieces, but rather as a toolbox to draw upon for new designs.” It is in this spirit that my Design Elements category is created, to present my favorite elements, from Greene & Greene, Stickley and to one day share my own design elements with you.

Chamfering for Arts & Crafts Furniture
Ebony Table Buttons
A look at Solid Wood Legs
Housed Tenons
Quadrilinear Legs

Projects

The Projects section of my blog is where you’ll find posts about making things — furniture, picture frames, or perhaps techniques used in the building of projects.

A Discussion on Building Arts & Crafts Furniture
Making A&C Picture Frames with Half-lap Joints
Building Gustav Stickley’s No. 53 Double Costumer
Kelly Mehler’s School of Woodworking–Arts and Crafts Table 2011
Back by Popular Demand!

Techniques

In my Techniques posts; I’ll focus on the process, and you decide how to perform each step.

Making Wedges to Repair Half-lap Joints
Do You Sign Your Work?
Installing and Setting Up the Mortiser Cutter
Sharpening the Auger
Sharpening, Installing, & Setting up a Mortiser

Quotes

I like quotes–A good quote is inspirational, grounding, and challenges me to be better, all at the same time. Here are some of my favorites. Most relate to furniture building; all relate to life…

Passion, Skill, and Craft
Verbs
An Empty Mind
Secrets & Teachers
I go to Nature...

My Library

Posts under My Library are, predictably, about books. These are books I have found beneficial in my pursuit of knowledge, generally on one or more of four topics–Building Arts & Crafts furniture, designing furniture, learning about Arts and Crafts furniture or simply books that inspired my furniture.  

A Great Question!
Arts & Crafts Design
The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life
The Manufacture of Arts & Crafts Furniture by Gustav Stickley