Silhouette Parodies

So much to update...

First off, I've postponed my "2 wheel" post but it's almost ready.

Secondly, I have the first series of my Silhouette Parodies ready for release. I really have enjoyed quite a few of the artists out there doing similar work, normally blending traditional silhouette with either a Steampunk or horror twist and I just had to give it a try. Some I took more seriously than others and even slipped in a bit of social commentary for fun. I will be producing each of the pieces in large format laser cut wood in a run limited to just 5 per piece. My samples below are very low resolution versions...

Barn Dance

Col Dratsum

Finish Line

Hall Pass

Like Mom used to Make

Margarita and Woland

Missing Grandma

One Track Mind

Pemphredo feeds Graymalkin

Trick or Treat

Trophy Hunter

Valentines Day

VooDoo

Wall Street

the final works are high resolution striking, clean and will be framed appropriately. The final sample is a picture of a finished piece in a 22"x28" frame ready for pick up.

  If there is enough interest I may produce a run of vinyl stickers or T-shirts from the work. We shall see.

Treadle Sewing Machine Refinish

Client brought me an extremely worn Singer treadle sewing machine that she wanted brought back to life if I could. We talked about the challenges with the piece (deep scratches, water damage, initials carved in the top with a heart, paint splashed on the legs and more) she understood the chances of it not being perfect but was comfortable with me "doing the best I could". Here are the pictures when I got it to the shop.

Dissembling the piece went very smooth...Singer mass produced these machines over many years and they did a fantastic job of streamlining the build. Here we have all the pieces laid out ready for repair and refinish.

I started on the metal legs, treadle mechanism and wheel. Luckily there was no rust but I needed to remove all the original brown flaking paint and some "added"splattered black paint so its shiny new black enamel could do its job. As an added feature I decided to highlight the metal "Singer" name on the actual treadle, leg brace, and the belt wheel in the original singer gold enamel.  Here is a before and after on just the Metal work.

During reassembly you need to be sure that you grease all the fittings and ensure that they are torqued so to spin freely before locking them in place.

On to the woodwork now. The majority of the pieces were skinned with veneer so taking ones time with sanding out the imperfections was important for a good final product. A few spots of the veneer had actually begun to peal away from the base wood so I needed to reglue them and clamp till dry. It was apparent that the original finish Singer required of their machine cabinets could be expanded to cover all faces and interior spaces...some of those nooks and crannies are a pain to prep but I know it will be worth it later. Here are the pieces after all repairs and prep were done.

I re-stained all the pieces attempting to retain the original look of the cabinet...It is fairly difficult to perfectly match the past finish colors but with a bit of mixing and tinting you can get very close. I have seen some woodworkers out there that are masters of this process and I hold their work in high esteem...I have not reached that point in my learning as of yet. Once truly dried I fully coated all  pieces (even drawer and cabinet insides with polycrylic for a enviro-friendly final finish.

After getting the cabinet back together I noticed that the bobbin rewinding wheel and the leather belt that runs the machine were so dry rotted that they would have to be replaced. Luckily, a top notch go to for vintage machine parts is right here in Loveland Colorado. A quick call to Steve's Sewing Machine Repair and I had my new parts (A+ for Steve and crew). A quick clean out of the actual sewing machine and a reoil of all the internals and she was working amazingly well and looked great.

Thanks for stopping by and I'll try to get my next project up a bit quicker for ya. Have a great day.

Donald Duck Bookcase/Displaycase

I just finished a commission that I wanted to share with you all. I was was able to create a really fun Donald Duck themed display/book case for a very reasonable final cost. In order to keep the costs as low as possible (required by the client) I started searching Craigslist for a inexpensive bookcase. Within a week I found a gal that had a nicer flat pack bookcase she had tried refinishing that was for free. Here is what I brought back to the shop.

Unfortunately, there had been little prep done before it piece was spray painted purple and it was coming off everywhere. Thankfully, the piece was solid and should be easily lend itself to a bit of fun. Time to start sanding off the purple and get a good starting point for the piece. 

Finally after getting off all the purple and getting a good surface for the primer to grab onto I gave it a few coats of a basic white primer.

Now that In had a nice clean canvas to work with, it was apparent that the decorative feet needed a dressier top to go along with it. With a quick trip down to the local hardware store I was able to pick up some rosettes and trim that I was hoping would do the trick.

With some slight modifications I was able to get everything dressed up and looking a bit more "respectable". one more coat of primer to get everything on the same page and we should be ready to get to introducing the "Donald Duck Design" to the piece.

I had seen many pieces in the past that had been reproduced with a cartoon/comic theme but I wanted to do something a bit different. In my mind I pictured the cases itself as Donald with a fun backing to the interior of the piece. When you think of Donald Duck (at least when I do) you think of the sailor suit and hat. I wanted to create an actual hat for the bookcase/Duck to wear.

I began with a small wood base  with cardboard support that I could apply spray foam to  which would be light enough to not be a tipping issue for the final bookcase and also easy to "sculpt" into a realistic shape. I choose to have "Donald" wear the hat cocked to one side so the hat was easier to see and I thought it would give the final piece a bit of Donald's attitude.

At this point I got a bit remiss in my picture taking...please forgive me. I applied bondo (yes, automotive body filler) to the hat to create a sand-able final layer that would easily take paint. I tossed out the original cardboard like backing to the bookcase and replaced it with a much stronger paneling. To the paneling I created a collage of reproduced comic and story book pages for the interior back. This turned out extremely well but needed a bit of lighting to be seen as well as I wanted. I decided on a rope light for cost savings and ease of future care. Finally I painted the piece with the appropriate colors and attached the hat.

Here is the final piece. Hope you like it, client was amazed at what I was able to do and I hope to have a picture in the future of the case filled with her collection of Donald Duck memorabilia. Again, sorry for dropping the ball on the second half of the builds pictures but I kinda got to rolling and was having a bit of fun creating.

Stay tuned for more

Eloise styled Armoire or Dresser

Thought I'd give you a look at a piece I just finished from a series I am working on (less art..more refinishing). I have always loved furniture that has been "re-created" with a fun theme and especially anything that is geared for kids...or adults that feel like kids.  I came across this abandoned armoire in a outbuilding out on a farm in Masonville Colorado. Here it is as it was found.

 After getting it off its side and brushing off the years of dust and cobwebs I got a better look at the piece. There was some damage and it most certainly would have to be taken down to the wood before I could start, but it a very sturdy hardwood piece originally by Lane that had potential.

It always surprises me how much sanding, scrapping, and elbow grease it takes to get some of these old factory finishes off...it really is a chore.I highly recommend if you ever try to tackle such a project that you work outdoors or have a serious dust collection system installed in your studio. Here is a sample of me after working before our collection system was installed. Thank goodness for the respirator! 

I was able to get everything cleaned off very well, repaired the various gouges and broken panels and got a strong coat of primer on the piece. I take great pride in making sure that the entire piece...all nooks and crannies, inside and out, top to bottom is fully cleaned, repaired and primed before moving on. Please excuse the lawn equipment in the background (moving is a pain)

I wanted to finish this piece with a young girl in mind and thought that taking inspiration from the wonderful creation of Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight's Eloise books would be just the ticket. In case you have not read any of them I would suggest heading out and picking up a couple to read with the children in your life. Here is a link to their work http://www.eloisewebsite.com/

I picked the colors that I thought would work well with the theme and found some high quality, and zero voc, paint to begin the fun part of the project with. the first coat on the body of the armoire really looked great and helped me finish my design ideas for the final piece. My camera battery died out so this shot is off of a hokey camera phone...but you get the idea.

The I really like the darker outside color with the accent of the lighter pink on the interior and upper drawer faces. I decided to swap the colors for the interior of the actual drawers and the drawer cavities (yes, all surfaces get painted even if they aren't on display). Breaking up the large panels I've done some fun striping and chose to do some minor black paint along the reveals plus gloss black hardware to pull it all together.

For the final decorative touch I decided to take the inner three drawers and tuft them in something that would lend to the look. I decided to go with a white and black damask material and custom pressed the buttons out of a matched fabric to the darker pink. I really like those drawers.

The final product is really pleasing and I believe would be quite at home in the Eloise shop at the Plaza Hotel on 5th ave in New York or...with some little girl who might share in her special magic.

Thanks for stopping by and if you have any questions feel free to email me and I will respond.  

Welcome

Furious Creation is an art design and creation studio located in Loveland Colorado that specializes in individualized and custom-crafted pieces in a variety of different mediums. When we aren't working on a commission, the team gets the chance to tinker on whatever projects have been sitting on our back burner which we make available to those that have a desire for our work. We do our very best to be as green as possible and regularly up-cycle as much of our materials as possible. From re-purposing furniture to salvaging scrap metal and glass, we strive for the smallest footprint possible. I will be posting up samples of our work, events you can see us at and any "open house" studio events we host.

Thanks for stopping by!