Art Furniture Design

What Am I working On?

Todd Fillingham — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 21:38:42 +0000

A stool to hold your guitar.

A Slide Show

Todd Fillingham — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 17:57:40 +0000

New theme for this blog

Todd Fillingham — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 18:51:12 +0000

I’ve changed my wordpress theme to a much lighter look (DePo Masthead by Derek Powazek) and thought I’d post a few links to some earlier, favorite pieces I’ve posted about in the past. Click on an image for links to the posts.

Armoire base by Todd Fillingham

New Blog

Todd Fillingham — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 18:21:59 +0000

Wisconsin Historical Society

I’ve started a new blog that will carry my posts about Milwaukee’s 3 rivers and my scheme to introduce small boats to folks who live along it. I transferred my earlier post that I originally posted on this blog and have a new post up. Here’s the link (click on the image below)-

I’ll still be posting about lots of other things on this blog so don’t go away.

A small table from scrap pieces

Todd Fillingham — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 19:38:09 +0000

I had intended to post part II of the Three Rivers series before posting about anything else, but it has been some time since I’ve posted about furniture and I’ve just finished this new piece so I thought I’d sneak this post in now.

We needed a table of just the right height to hold a fan in our bedroom window at home. Although I am in the midst of a pretty big project just now I thought I’d check out a few of my scrap piles to see if there was anything there to inspire me.

And, while I was at it, maybe I’d check out the paint locker and see what was lurking in there.

Here’s what caught my eye:

A couple of pieces of MDF, some interesting walnut cut-offs and a nice green latex paint.

I glued up the MDF pieces into a block 1-1/2″ thick-

Cut the walnut cut-offs to a uniform length-

Then drew a pleasing curve to shape the legs.

I cut out the first leg, used it as a pattern to trace out the other two, cut them on the bandsaw and sanded the curved cut.

Next I created a guide for my router to cut out the mortises into the top that would hold the legs.

The legs were rounded over on the router table on the long straight face.

I used a variety of implements to draw out a pattern for the top, created a template for 1/2 of the top, transferred that shape onto the top, flipping over the template to get the other half so that the curves would be symmetrical and shaped the top.

I wanted to create an interesting joint detail where the legs met the top. I did some sketching and decided that the top should have its bottom edge rounded. This was done on the big shaper, a finger chewing machine if there ever was one.

I managed to get the top rounded with out loosing any fingers and proceeded to cut the mortises on the under side of the top using the jig I had created earlier.

I adjusted the fit of the legs into the mortises by carefully sanding down their final thickness.

You can start to see what this table will look like at this stage. I still need to square off the round corners left by the router bit in the mortises. I did this by hand using a sharp chisel.

Now I was able to see if the joint detail came out like I had hoped.

OK, this was what I wanted. A look as if the legs were cradling the top. This is reminiscent to me of the original tripod that held a bowl or tray from eons ago.

And here’s the table before finishing:

I painted the top, glued in the legs, rubbed on some of my special oil/ varnish mix and the table was complete.

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Three Rivers part 1

Todd Fillingham — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:59:27 +0000

google maps

Milwaukee was built at the confluence of three rivers on the shore of Lake Michigan, the Milwaukee, Menomonee and Kinnickinnic . At present there are 9 miles navigable by small craft before reaching the protected harbor. There is an additional 27 miles or so accessible by canoe or kayak up the Milwaukee River to the dam at Bridge Street in Grafton, Wisconsin.

The three rivers have been used for commerce and recreation for a long time.

Wisconsin Historical Society

When I first saw the three rivers commerce had dominated for enough time to have turned them into something just short of open sewers. This was in the mid 1960’s, when I moved here with my sister to finish high school and live at our father’s house. Buildings along the river fronts had their backs to the rivers, waste was dumped directly into them. The rivers stank much of the time. River front property was less valuable for being on the river.

Around 1967 I took a part time job at the Knickerbocker Hotel Pharmacy, just north of downtown. It was one of those opportunities to experience a very colorful side of Milwaukee. The notorious Sally’s Supper Club shared the ground floor of the hotel with the pharmacy. Working there cracked open a chink through which I saw a world that was slowly dying and I was intrigued and scared by its shadows. This was the last of a seamy Milwaukee of cheap hoods, organized crime, systematic exploitation and violence.

It was in this world that my boss, the owner of the pharmacy operated. I cannot remember his name now, so I’ll call him Mr. K. The straits he was in by the time I was hired were never fully known to me. His swollen face, stooped stance and scurrying gait though were signals of much that lay unseen. He must have been seriously indebted to someone and he had to hustle to stay afloat.

I felt sympathy for this over worked man. He was fair to his employees and never indulged in the exploitation the milieu he was immersed in would have found natural. As a matter of fact he would often give quiet warnings of traps to gingerly step around, such as gifts that were anything but what they seemed. There were times when it was best not to leave the drugstore counter, at least not until the big Cadillacs had left the street in front of Sally’s. Men in garrish suits would hang out in the soda fountain area around lunch time or on a lazy Sunday afternoon occasionaly making very sexist remarks about the waitress, sometimes bidding her to sit with them to discuss certain propositions. The drug store filled orders that I often delivered by dropping off inside a screen door, under no circumstances was I to knock. A young women’s residence was around the corner and on occasion I was told to deliver a couple of six packs of beer and “you don’t need to hurry back [wink, wink]” to one of the dorm rooms there . Mr. K. would get irate though about delivering boxes of condoms to another “apartment” in the neighborhood. Somehow he had a more mellow attitude about the daily delivery of a half pint of cheap brandy and a package of Depends to a resident of the hotel (that was a very quick delivery).

Maybe he sensed my nascent grasp of his predicament and maybe my naive sympathy. Maybe I was just a person that would listen. Whatever the reason he began to tell me about his youth and this reflection distracted him from the trap he was in. I was amazed to hear about the days he spent swimming in the Milwaukee River, about the majestic swimming pavilions and the boats that would be rowed on the river to lazy picnics along the bank.

Wisconsin Historical Society

Mr. K. also told of the farms 1/2 block from where I was living at the time. That land had been “developed” into housing quite awhile earlier and I had never thought of it as farmland. The contrast between that pastoral land and river of his memory and the city I lived in was astounding to me.

I worked at that drugstore a couple of years and moved on. I went to college at UWM and got a degree in independant film making. I travelled some, was part of a travelling film and dance production (1/2 of it to be exact) and eventually wound up living in an old log cabin just north of the city of Milwaukee for a couple of years.

I had always sailed on Lake Michigan. I moved back into the city, right into the heart of downtown, and my girlfriend (soon to be wife) and I bought an old wooden sailboat which we sailed around Lake Michigan, storing it in a boat yard up the Kinnickinnic River over the winters.

Our boat tied up along the KK River

I had never forgotten Mr. K.’s stories about the rivers of his youth though, yet I found it hard to reconcile those stories with the rivers I saw up close from our boat. The waters were filthy, and even though you would see the occassional musk rat swimming, more often you were likely to see a dead animal floating downstream.

And this wasn’t necesarily the safest place to keep a boat. There were gangs that motored up the river and would steal anything of value from any and all boats tied up along the banks. A group of us boat owners, particularly owners of boats of a certain vintage tended to watch out for each other’s boats and would have small parties and cookouts along our makeshift docks. We were on a part of the river that could be described as a desolate industrial wasteland.

An aside: As a matter fact, it was few years earlier that I used that area as the scene for a series of photographs I took and submitted as a non-written term paper about the Italian film maker Michelangelo Antonioni. I was particularly interested in his early, neorealist work. You can get idea of what I’m talking about by seeing this screen shot from his film Il deserto rosso (1964).

I have always been an artist, besides dabbling in film and earning a living at furniture design, furniture making and carpentry. Twenty years ago Milwaukee held a celebration of the rivers that run through it. A celebration that, it was hoped, would change Milwaukee’s view of and attitude toward the rivers. I participated as a sculptor and created a floating sculpture for the event. It was an attempt to add a bit of “jewelry” to the rivers, honor and celebrate what could be. I created a pretty wild looking canoe form.

Canoe Form by Todd Fillingham 1989

I set up a small display describing the project then floated up and down the Milwaukee River during the celebration in this canoe. It was a small effort, more of a gesture I guess, but it was part of the beginning of a major change in Milwaukee.

More to come in this series.

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The next table. part 4

Todd Fillingham — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 21:59:12 +0000

The delivery date nears and I still want to apply a few more coats of finish so it looks like, once again, I won’t be able to take the time to properly photograph a piece before it leaves the shop.

I have been building up the polyurethane finish to a point which I can then sand it flat.

At this point the table is ready for the final coats.

Although these shots don’t really show it there is a subtle wood grain showing through.

Here’s the table with two more coats to go.

Part 3 is here.

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The next table. part 3

Todd Fillingham — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 23:02:25 +0000

With the veneers glued on I do some final trimming of the top.

I use sharp chisels with masking tape applied the areas that will ride along the face adjacent to the veneer being trimmed so that I only cut what needs to be trimmed. A sharp knife and guide board also comes in handy.

I then use a card scraper to flatten the veneers.

Once everything is as flat as possible without scraping through the veneer to the paper backing beneath I apply a black dye and start building up the layers of polyurethane finish.

This process will take some time and will require a few adjustments as it progresses. I’ve started with gloss polyurethane varnish to build up the base coats but will finish with a semi-gloss finish. It is important to keep the shop, or at least this area of it, as dust free as possible while the varnish dries.

Part 4 is here. Part 2 is here.

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Glass base

Todd Fillingham — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 21:04:13 +0000

Some time ago a delightful young lady called my studio. She had an idea for a table she wanted but had become very frustrated in trying to find aomeone that would make the table for her. I invited her in to the studio and she layed out her idea for me. It was very challenging. She wanted the table to be completely supported by two glass panels.

I thought it over and developed a rough idea about how it could be accomplished. My price came in considerably higher than her budget for this project however. I offered to lower my price if she would handle the purchasing of the glass. We also agreed that the project would be put on hold until she was able to save enough money for it. I believe it was a year later that she called back and was ready to proceed.

Along with the chairs she found here is the result.

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The next table. part 2

Todd Fillingham — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:24:35 +0000

So, the “machine” turned this:

into this:

And this is the lower part of the table. A top will be added to this. Then I will apply the veneers. In this case I am using maple veneers on a paper backing.

Each piece of veneer is trimmed to prepare for the next piece on the adjacent face.

I am using a very sharp, rather flat carving gouge to trim the veneer. One wrong move and… well it’s not worth thinking about at this stage.

I don’t use a vacuum bag to clamp these veneers, primarily because I don’t have the set up. Instead I use just about every trick in the clamping book.

I am using weights, clamps (shop made and store bought) and long spring sticks that go up to the ceiling. I have a product known as kerf-board ontop of the veneer to help spread the clamping pressure. The most important thing is the glue I use. It is made for applying this particular kind of veneer, that is, paper backed veneer. It is a water based contact cement that you set by applying hand pressure with something known as a veneer hammer. The glue needs to be “dry stacked”, that is, have some pressure applied, for 24 hours after you use the veneer hammer, so that is what all of this in the above picture is about.

Just before writing this I just finished applying the final piece of veneer, the top piece, and will post the final finishing steps soon.

part 3 part 1

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