Well, having stated in my post yesterday that I seldom go out, I decided to go out today. 🙂
Tag Archives: Art Nouveau
No new self portraiture pics right now, I’m afraid. I have a cyst / lump on my eyelid at the moment which means I can’t really wear makeup. It’s affecting my vision too, which is a little worrying.
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This is Part 4 of my restoration of an Art Nouveau cabinet which I had bought and whose base was riddled with woodworm.
As you will see from Part 3, I ditched the idea of using 18mm MDF and reverted to the original construction of a sandwich of plywood and mitred softwood.
Caution: This is a pretty long post with lots of pictures!
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This is Part 3 of my restoration of an Art Nouveau cabinet which I had bought and whose base was riddled with woodworm.
As you will see from Part 2, it was my intention to use 18mm MDF to construct the new base. I decided that it would be best to use dowel joints to join the base to the bottom rail. I thought it best to practise on some offcuts of MDF first.
Dowel jig
My first attempt was to measure carefully and then drill by eye. This was a bit of a disaster. Despite several attempts, I just couldn’t get the holes to be perpendicular, which meant wonky joints. I decided that I needed a jig.
I bought a cheap jig for under £7 from Amazon and tried again. Also, I used an offcut of MDF for one side, and some harder wood for the other side as I felt this would be more representative. I think perhaps that I didn’t drill the holes deep enough, and one dowel was a little snug, so I hit the two halves with a rubber mallet to seat them, the MDF just disintegrated.
Oops
This setback made me question my decision to use MDF. In fact, the more I read about it, the more I am thinking that it is the wrong material to be using. I’ve therefore decided to abandon the use of MDF (I am sure I will reuse it some other way at some other time, perhaps as an extra shelf in an IKEA cabinet) and instead go with the same construction as the original base. Having measured that with a Digital Vernier Caliper, it is nominally 4mm for the upper plywood layer, 14mm mitred softwood for the middle layer, and contrary to what I previously thought, nominally 4mm plywood on the bottom. Although it looks like it may have had a veneer on the underside. Having researched plywood online, it looks like 3.6mm plywood is a much more common thickness so it could be that with some minor expansion. Or maybe it really is 4mm ply. I don’t know. However, the thickness of the bottom rail is 23mm, which suggests 4mm ply.
Using a sandwiched construction means I can dispense with dowel joints and glue & screw the base to the bottom rail instead. A friend has suggested that I don’t actually need to screw it (or use dowel joints were I to stick with the MDF idea) as wood glue would be sufficient given the base will be screwed to the cabinet sides. But I think I will glue & screw as it gives me more confidence of a solid construction.
Also, using the same sandwich construction that the cabinet originally had is a more sympathetic restoration.
With that decided, I moved on to cleaning up the feet.
Repaired leg
I pulled old nails out with a Carpenter’s Pincer which I have owned for decades. Unfortunately in doing so I managed to break the tip of one of the leg brackets but managed to glue this back again with wood glue. Unfortunately I forgot to take a “before” pic. I’m quite pleased with the repair, even though you can see the joins, because it broke off two pieces and I managed to reassemble it like a little jigsaw.
I also used an orbital sander to sand off the old glue from the tops of the legs, and in one case the glued-on residue of the woodworm-eaten soft wood.
The next job is going to be assembling the new base, for which I will need to make a shopping trip, and also to buy some Woodworm Killer and treat all the existing woodwork; especially the mouldings which I will be reusing as they have woodworm holes in them and I’m not sure if there are any dormant larvae in there.
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In a previous post, I mentioned an Art Nouveau cabinet which I had bought and whose base was riddled with woodworm.
At the time I thought it was beyond economic repair. However, I decided that I had little to lose by stripping it down to get a better idea of the extent of the damage.
Prising off the plywood base, I found some mitred soft wood that was heavily damaged by woodworm (but no evidence of live larvae), with thicker laminate ply above. So the base was a sandwich of thicker ply upper, mitred soft wood, and a thin ply underside. I removed all of that, carefully peeling away the silk backing that was glued to the top of the base.
Once that was away, I could see that the hardwood of the cabinet itself was free of woodworm, as were the legs.
With hindsight, I think I could have left the thicker ply upper base and replaced the mitred soft wood and lower base panel, but it’s way too late for that now.
The edging strip to the front was sound, and very secure, so I decided to try to save that if I could. The side ones are a bit beat up, with heavy woodworm damage to one of them, but I think it is better to keep these rather than trying to fit a new strip, which would have to be mitred and stained to match. I might be able to sculpt the missing bit with wood filler. Fortunately it is on the back edge so will be less visible.
Unfortunately I damaged the back whilst removing the base, so cut that back flush. I don’t think it is going to matter too much as you won’t be able to see it when it’s against the wall. If it is an issue, then I can always make a repair strip.
Next job was to cut off the captive screws that had held the base and cabinet sides together, remove any old nails, and generally tidy it up.
For the new base, I decided to go with 18mm MDF which I used a Rosewood wood stain on. Dark Walnut would have been better, but I had the Rosewood anyway and decided to save money by using what I had. It’s not like anyone is going to see it anyway, as the only part of the base that will be visible is the underside which will be in shadow.
Don’t worry about the overspill of wood stain on the edges of the wood on this photo – I sanded that back and then applied another layer.
That’s as far as I have got so far. I intend to use dowel joints to attach the front edge bar to the MDF, and will glue & screw the legs to the MDF base. Once that is dry, I then plan to glue, screw, and dowel the base to the cabinet itself. I’ll also need to use some contact adhesive to re-attach the silk lining to the base.
Bear in mind that I have never done anything like this before, so I might be going about it all the wrong way and a solid base might be the wrong approach. We shall see!
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Oh my goodness, I think I have just found the most beautiful bed ever created!
I was looking for something on google and stumbled upon this amazing bed by William Doub Custom Furniture in New Hampshire in the USA.
This is just so “me” it is untrue. The design is fantastic, and the attention to detail in the execution is breathtaking. It is truly a work of art.
Disclaimer
No copyright infringement is intended by this post, and full credit is given to William Doub.
I am self-hosting the pics out of courtesy so as not to leach their bandwidth.
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Today I went to the huge twice-monthly Antiques and Collectables fair at Kempton Park Racecourse at Sunbury-on-Thames.
Unfortunately, despite walking around for over 4 hours and walking 5+ miles (according to my FitBit Alta), I didn’t find anything I wanted to buy apart from a tall galvanised bucket to use as an umbrella stand which was a reasonable £10.
However, once back in the car I asked google to find me nearby antiques shops, and it came up trumps with the Ashford Antiques Centre at Ashford in Middlesex, which was kind of on the way home and which I duly drove to.
Within moments of walking into this Aladdin’s Cave I saw a wooden display cabinet in an Art Nouveau style which I fell in love with, and even better it was a very reasonably priced £30.
I was pretty sure that it would fit in the car, but the owners suggested I measure the cabinet and then measure the load bay of my car, which I did. Fortunately, the measurements checked out (just!) and I was confident that it would fit and agreed to buy it.
However, it was only when it was in the car that I could see the underside, and it is riddled with woodworm. And upon tapping the bottom, a load of frass (sawdust-like substance) fell out.
I’m unsure whether this is old woodworm or active woodworm, which makes me rather nervous about taking this item of furniture into the house. I think what I am going to have to do is prise off the bottom layer of plywood to assess the extent of the woodworm, treat it, and then make a new plywood base for it.
Also, the lock is missing its key and will need to be replaced.
Suddenly my £30 bargain has become a project.
Update:
Well, it looks like I’ve bought a pup. I got it out of the car and it’s so rotten that it’s falling apart and one of the legs is almost falling off. *sighs*
Click here for a 6 second video of me wiggling the leg.
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F. Champenois Imprimeur-Éditeur
Alfonse Mucha, 1897
(Public Domain image)
I’m a big fan of the Art Nouveau movement, especially the works of Alfonse Mucha, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and Charles Horner. I have a number of reproductions of Mucha’s works and a few items of jewellery in the style of Mackintosh. Sadly I don’t have anything by Horner as even reproductions are expensive.
I love the organic shapes of Art Nouveau, far more than the more minimalistic style of the more popular Art Deco movement that followed it, although that’s not to say that I dislike Art Deco; I just don’t like it as much as I like Art Nouveau. I do particularly like the Streamline Moderne (aka Art Moderne) movement that evolved from Art Deco, although I think it would be fair to say I am a fan of the whole Raygun Gothic catchall retro-futuristic vibe. But I digress.
In a subsequent post I will show what I have of the above, but it will make this post too long if I do it here and, besides, it deserves a post of its own.
A month or so ago, I learned that I had a missed an exhibition of Alfonse Mucha’s work at the Russel-Cotes Art Gallery & Museum in Bournemouth last year but that it was currently running at the Sainsbury Centre for Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia (UEA) until 20th March, so a plan was hatched to visit my best friend Claire in Lowestoft again and for us to attend the exhibition.
Base credit: eugene-joe-c at DeviantArt
So, tickets were booked, time off work was booked, and a hotel was booked. The weeks dragged by somewhat until the weekend we had dubbed “Bestiefest” finally arrived.
I travelled up on Friday morning and the journey was not good. The M3 and M25 were ok, but the two lane M11 was a nightmare with loads of lorries doing elephant racing.
Here’s one of those maths questions for you – if a lorry travelling at 60.01 mph overtakes a lorry travelling at 59.99 mph on a two lane carriageway, how many miles of abject misery can they cause for other road users? Answers on a Carrier Pigeon or Stone Tablet please.
In the end it took me just over 4 hours to get to Claire’s, having set off around 10am. Although, in fairness, I did stop for 15 mins at a service station for a loo break, and also had a panicked switch from the A14 route to the A11 route because I thought I knew better than Google Navigation. I should learn to welcome my digital overlords, because I was wrong.
It was good to see Claire again, and we spent the afternoon just nattering and catching up. She had to pop out to get the kids from school mid-afternoon, so I took the opportunity to drive over to the hotel to check in, to freshen up, and change.
Off out for a night in
I had decided not to book myself into the same hotel as last time, but to use a Premier Inn. Upon arrival this proved to have been a good choice. Although Premier Inn are quite basic, the price was very keen, and the room turned out to have everything that I needed – a nice comfortable bed, a comfortable chair (a chaise longue, no less!) which also doubled as a place to put my suitcase, a small desk, and a small dressing table with illuminated mirror for doing my makeup. Everything I needed and nothing I didn’t need. The only thing lacking was a lift – lugging my suitcase up a flight of stairs was a bit of an inconvenience.
The downside of my choice was that, rather than being 5 mins from Claire I was now 15-20mins but, to be honest, the cost and benefits made that worth it. I just wish I could have the best of both worlds. As always.
It took me a little longer than I anticipated to unpack, freshen up and change, and although we weren’t going out that night I probably slightly overdressed but never mind. It was late afternoon before I got back to Claire.
We spent some more time nattering, and I also helped her with the new website for the band that she is in (the band is called ICONIC). She is developing with WordPress and was having a few problems with a few things, and I have some experience there so we were able to work on that together. In fact the rest of the day fairly flew by and I’m not entirely sure that we did a lot more besides that, apart breaking for dinner.
All too soon it was bedtime and I headed back to the hotel where I had a really good night’s sleep, which considering that I often suffer from insomnia was a nice bonus.
In quest of beauty
The next day I got over to Claire’s mid-morning, and a little while later we headed over to Norwich for the exhibition. We got there a little ahead of schedule and I spied a large Next store so we popped in there for a browse and a coffee, then headed over to UEA to arrive in time for our “slot” at the exhibition.
I went to university at a non-campus one, so entering the campus of UEA and driving round looking for the SCVA was a slightly new experience for me. In the end we found it, and even managed to find a space in the small car park with free parking that had been set aside for exhibition visitors. In fairness, had we not been able to park there then there were other car parks on-campus, and a free parking permit was available from the front desk of the Centre, but it would have been a little bit of a hassle of back-and-forth to go get one then go back and place it in the car, then back again. It was nice not to have to do that as no permit was required in the reserved car park.
The exhibition was small, but was well presented. There were examples of Mucha’s artwork throughout his career and also examples of his sculpture and jewellery on display. In the corner was a television showing a loop of a documentary about him which ran for around 20-30 mins, so we sat and watched that and it was very interesting and I learnt things about Mucha that I did not know. It’s made me want to read the book I have on him in more detail as I confess that I had only skimmed it until now.
After we had finished at the exhibition we went down to the gift shop. I very much wanted the weighty 168-page paperback guide that went with the exhibition (£16) and they also had some very good quality mounted reproductions of some of Mucha’s art. I have wanted some of these for a while but have been very wary of buying online – when I enquired of one seller on Amazon Marketplace a while back as to the provenance of their pictures they told me that they printed them themselves on an Epson printer on ‘high quality paper’, so being able to see the quality, and to see that they had been commissioned by the Mucha Foundation, was a big selling point. They weren’t cheap, though – £25 for a larger size and £15 for a smaller size. There were also some unmounted posters of A2 size for a more reasonable £12 each. There were also various books on Mucha, including a book of posters whose quality was very good (£12).
In the end, after an awful lot of pondering, I limited myself to one larger print, one medium print, the guide, the poster book, and a poster. This came to a not unsubstantial £80, but I could very easily have spent double that.
Purchases
Even now I’m not convinced I chose the right prints, particularly Bieres de la Meuse which I already own as a metal sign. I think I should have chosen a different one, and perhaps given in to my desire to buy more of the prints. I justified the decision not to at the time as I rationalised that I could cut out the posters in the poster book and frame them, but now I am not so sure.
It was early afternoon by now so we popped into Norwich for a light lunch and then dropped in on one of Claire’s friends who was looking forward to meeting me as she’d heard lots about me. We seemed to get on really well, so that was nice. Then after a little while we headed on back to Claire’s.
A little later we popped out for a curry (and a natter, of course. Lots of nattering on this weekend). The portions were really big and at the end of the meal they asked us if we wanted the leftovers to be bagged up. They were so nice about it, and we felt so guilty for leaving really nice food, that we accepted.
BFFs
By now it was getting late and I headed back to the hotel after. Again, I had a good night’s sleep – there must be something about those Premier Inn mattresses after all.
I was a little later getting over to Claire’s on Sunday morning as I overslept a little, plus I had to pack up and check out.
We spent much of the day nattering (yet more. I know) and working on the website and the like. Lunch was jacket potatoes plus all the leftover curry and sides from the night before, which was really nice and filling.
By mid afternoon I felt it was time for me to hit the road, not just because I had a long journey but also because I felt that Claire’s poor hubby had been somewhat neglected due to me being around so much and taking up so much of Claire’s time, and I thought that he would appreciate some time with her. So I left around 3pm.
The journey back was as expected, with the M25 being rather a nightmare. It didn’t help that idiot drivers like the one in a white VW Tourag were bullying their way into gaps that weren’t there and causing everyone to brake. At times we were reduced to walking pace, then back up to speed again for no reason – almost certainly the “traffic ripple effect”. But I got home eventually, about 3hr30 after setting off. That left me with the evening to wind down and prepare myself for the coming week.
And that was my weekend. Not quite as packed as the last time, but very enjoyable and I was very happy.
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Heading out…
Yesterday I returned to Farnham Maltings for their monthly market. You might recall from a previous post that I went to the June one.
Given the slight confusion that buying earrings in guy mode caused a seller last time, I made the effort to go in girl mode this time. I wore the Dorothy Perkins dress that I wore in the photos I posted to Flickr a few weeks ago, which wasn’t ideal for photos as I like to have a different outfit in each pic I post to Flickr. But this was the dress I wanted to wear (it’s very comfortable, fits me really well, and is very flattering), so that’s what I wore. If that means I have 4 photos in a row in my Photostream with me in the same dress then so be it.
I got down to Farnham in good time, although the dual carriageway down near the station was rammed solid as usual. I must try to find an alternative route in future.
The first surprise on arriving was that the Pay & Display machines in the car park are now active on a Saturday and charge £1.30 for an hour, and £1.40 for two hours (rising to £5.40 for all day). I guess that even adding on the 50p admission fee for the Market, this is still not too terrible but is obviously a big jump from last time when parking was free.
The second surprise was that, unlike last time, the Courtyard, Great Hall, the area behind the Great Hall, and another room (whose name I forgot to note), were all closed off and without stalls. This meant that the Market was probably about half the size of June’s, which was rather a disappointment.
Art Nouveau earrings
I had a good browse, and talked to several stall holders. I don’t know if it’s a case of me being more relaxed and talkative when in girl mode, or the way people (especially women) react to other women, but people seem a lot more friendly and chatty to me when I’m in girl mode. People even smile at me.
My first purchase was a lovely pair of earrings in an Art Nouveau style. The seller wanted £30 for them and wouldn’t budge on price, pointing out that the stones were topaz and amethyst. It was more than I wanted to pay for a pair of earrings; in fact I think it is the most I have ever paid for a pair of earrings. But I thought they were really special so I reluctantly agreed.
My second purchase was a figure of a lady, around 10″ in height. The age and provenance are unknown, and it feels like resin. It’s stamped Annie Rowe on the base of the casting, and on the underside of the plinth it says “The Leonardo Collection”.
Leonardo / Annie Rowe figurine
The seller was asking £15 and reduced that to £13 when I asked if it was her best price.
Back home again
Some research on google once I got home has suggested that, as I suspected, there isn’t much age on this and it is of this century. eBay suggests that I paid pretty much the going rate. So that’s fine.
Finally I was all done – there was nothing else that I desperately wanted so I left.
When I got home, I changed into my shorter wig as I was a bit hot and bothered, and when I looked in the mirror I liked the look it gave me, so I took another selfie.
I didn’t really do much for the rest of the day – just lounged around taking it easy and watching telly.
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As I mentioned in my previous post about Comic Con, the following day I decided to drive across London to get home, and to stop off at Old Spitalfields Market at Shoreditch. I was in two minds about doing this as my feet and my hip joints were all very sore from Comic Con the day before, but I decided to go for it anyway.
Shoreditch Selfie
The traffic in London wasn’t too bad since it was a Sunday morning and I made it to the market in good time and managed to find some free on-street parking directly opposite one of the entrances. Bonus!
Circuit board Earrings
The first stall that caught my eye was a guy selling earrings and necklaces made out of printed circuit boards. I thought this was immensely cool so took a photo in order to mention it here on my blog, and the seller immediately told me off and said I shouldn’t have taken a photo. I apologised and asked if he would like me to delete it, and he went on to say that if I had asked first then he might have said yes. I replied that I had taken the photo because I thought his jewellery was incredibly cool and awesome and I wanted to share it with my friends on Facebook and on my blog, at which point he relented and said that maybe publicity would be good. So he didn’t insist on me deleting the photo after all.
I have to be honest and say that it didn’t even to occur to me that I shouldn’t take a photo, especially as I was taking it for entirely innocent reasons. However, as I continued to wander around the market I did notice that some sellers had signs on their stalls asking people not to take photos. Maybe the circuit board seller should have had one too, rather than telling me off afterwards for what was an honest mistake made without malice.
Although the jewellery itself was very cool, I didn’t buy any. There wasn’t any one pair of earrings that really leapt out at me, and also the prices were more than I wanted to pay (I acknowledge that they are hand-made and unique, and I’m not saying that they were overpriced; I’m just saying I didn’t want to spend that kind of money).
I also found a stall where the seller was selling mostly silver jewellery in an Art Nouveau and Art Deco style. Although I liked some of them, there were none that I wanted to buy despite the prices being quite reasonable. There was one pair that almost tempted me but I decided against it.
The last time I visited Old Spitalfields market, there was a great deal of the kind of stuff I would expect to find at an Antiques and Collectors fair – lots of reclaimed stuff, second hand stuff, ephemera, and the like. This time was different, and it was far more of a traditional market – stalls selling dresses, bags, leather goods, art, jewellery, food, etc. One stall was selling a range of silk t-shirts with scenes and characters from Studio Ghibli films on them and I very nearly bought one with No-Face (Kaonashi) from Spirited Away on it, drinking a cup of tea. With hindsight, I really should have bought it as I really liked it and at £15 it wasn’t excessively expensive and I regret not doing so.
After a while I was done, and headed back to the car and then drove home. I had a lot of fun darting in and out of traffic, which my little car was ideally suited for, and I made it across London in good time and then on to the M3 and to home.
Steve Conway
The next day was Bank Holiday Monday, and there were a number of Antiques and Collectables fairs on. There was a big one down at Goodwood Racecourse and another down at Winchester, but I decided that both were too far away considering how tired and footsore I was from Comic Con. There was, however, one of Take Five’s regular fairs at Woking Leisure Centre, this one being one of their 20th Century, Art Deco and Art Nouveau fairs, so I decided to go to that one. I also knew that Amita Veta would probably be there, and also singer Steve Conway. Steve is a Swing / Rat Pack singer who Take Five have hired several times now to sing at their fairs. He sings live to a backing track, and really lifts the atmosphere and ambience, and it’s always a genuine pleasure to hear him sing (and swing).
When I got there, I looked around and sure enough Amita was there, but busy with a customer, but she saw me and gave me a big smile and a wave and I motioned that I’d come see her when she wasn’t busy. Steve was also there and I said hello and he recognised me and said it was good to see me again. I asked when he was singing and he said I’d just missed one set but he’d be singing again in 10 mins or so.
Love that Amita Veta
I started making a circuit of the hall, looking at the stalls, and noticed a stall selling mostly silver jewellery in an Art Nouveau and Art Deco style and I thought “hold on a second…” and looked up at the seller, did a double-take, and said “weren’t you at…” and he laughed and said “Yes, and so were you. I recognise you!”. It was the same guy from the day before at Old Spitalfields Market. 🙂
I got to speak to Amita in the end, and we had a good natter, and I also asked her if she’d take a pic of me with my camera.
This all brings home how important it is to always go these fairs in girl mode, as I am starting to get to know regular attendees now, and going in either girl mode or guy mode as the mood suits me just means that I build up relationships more slowly or, worse, twice. Or, worse still, see someone I know when I am in the “wrong” mode and they therefore don’t recognise me.
Whilst I was out, I had a text from a client saying that they had some development hardware for me to test against for some work I am doing for them, and did I want to pop in and get it, and catch up, if I was free. I replied that I would be happy to so long as they didn’t mind me being in girl mode. So after I had finished in Woking I drove over there.
I wouldn’t say I was nervous about turning up in girl mode, as they’re a small company and they know I’m transgender, but they haven’t see me in girl mode before, and also this is the first time I have ever let my work life and my personal life mix like that.
They couldn’t have been less fazed by the whole thing, which was absolutely brilliant. We hung out for a while, ordered pizza as it was lunch time, discussed the work I’m doing and the work they’re doing, and had a really productive time.
I’m not saying that I want to transition or go “full time”, but having had 4 whole days living full time in girl mode including meeting with a client, it does make me think that I could possibly cope should the need arise.
