Shellac is a natural by-product of the lac beetle’s secretions. Like so many craftsy kids who grew up in the 60’s and 70’s, I had my own rock polisher, a wood-burning set, access to my dad’s tools, collections of yarn and twine, old National Geographics, mucelage, rubber cement and shellac, and a basement, attic and […]
Tag Archives: scott Constable
Free Sign #2
Free Sign #2, found in Bodega, CA I always replace Free Signs with my own homemade version. Free Sign #2 was made on the backside of a bad painting.
Free Sign
The first handmade ‘Free’ sign of my collection, found in Bodega, CA. Driving around the back roads of West Sonoma County on a sunny day, you almost always find a pile of junk by the side of the road with a ‘Free’ sign in plain view. I have yet to find anything of interest, but […]
An Argument for Transparency
After making a fairly complex Argument for Simplicity I’m faced with the task of devising a corollary. That is, either clarifying what I mean by simplicity in design, or attempting to make an inverse point, a simple argument for complexity. The latter seems a little facile, bordering on absurd, so I’ll attempt the former. Simplicity […]
Bull Kelp Harvest
Each winter since we’ve lived on the Sonoma Coast and made a daily practice of walking the beaches, I become mildly obsessed with the bull kelp that washes ashore in great heaps after storms. I’ve tried weaving the kelp into seat blanks, drying it as an iodine-rich jerky, and brewing it for a savory stock. […]
Furnishing Healdsburg Shed
Early sketch of my Shed Cafe Chair concept. I think of the new line of furniture I designed for Shed as belonging to the same extended family. Consisting of just four unique pieces- a café chair, a barstool, a ‘community’ table and a multi-use, ‘demonstration’ table, the line evolved slowly over the past two years, […]
Milling the Black Acacia
I took advantage of a break in the storms to mill two black acacia logs with my friend Shawn Gavin. One of the logs had unusually wide sapwood and neither had many branches, so we boule cut them both at 5/4″, leaving live edges. The logs were still pretty green but had been sitting for […]