Shelf-X prototype

Here are the first shots of the new shelf unit, They are stacking units or side tables. 10" x 17" x 30" More shots later. Thanks to honey for the beautiful dahlias. Must. Sleep. Now.

Post on posting

Busy busy busy. Not much posting. Working on a new modular glass cabinet design. Tweaking molds, engineering connections, choosing materials. Some sketches of connections between modules for your viewing pleasure.





Yes, still sketching by hand.

Guido Goes Global

Guido Sarducci is our resident goldfish. Our friend, James, (who's work I greatly admire) discovered recently the affectionate nature of Guido. James got so close to the water that Guido popped out of the water a bit and kissed him on the nose.

Guido looks pretty fabulous in the orb. The interesting thing about the optics of this aquarium is that the farther away Guido swims, the larger he gets.





Long live Guido!

Orb Aquarium

Just finished and photographed the Orb
I wanted to post this ASAP so I will add more info later.

Added:

The tank measures 26"wide 22" high and about 11" wide and It holds 5 gallons of water. We will be setting it up with a goldfish and should have the photos up tomorrow.

It is made with two pieces of 10mm starphire glass which have been kiln formed and annealed. The mating surfaces are then lapped before they are siliconed together.

If you are interested in purchasing an Orb aquarium or have any questions please email Marcus at mail@glassmarcus.com

Check in later to see the tank set up.

Guido Sarducci the calico goldfish will be your model for the shoot.

You can't miss that.

Drive-By Topiary: The Chia Fish Edition

Another sighting of the rare giant striped coho...

The elusive punk sockeye salmon.

Okay, I can read it now: spawning traffic stay left.

Coho on a stick.


Although not strictly topiary, I had to post these. Representing the different salmon species native to British Columbia these were seen spawning on Marine drive. We had to stop illegally on the side of the highway to take these so I didn't have time to take down all the information. They were metal frames stuffed with soil and planted with some kind of two tone ground cover. Like giant chia pets.

Too Cool.

Float shelf release

(previously called drape shelf)

Float shelf is named for the effect of the reveal at the back which creates the illusion that the shelf is floating off of the wall. The rippled glass also gives the impression of a little lake on which to float your beautiful things.

I have been working on this design over the past few months, getting it ready for production. It's been quite a lot of work. The three parts all required separate molds, templates and jigs to produce. To the uninitiated, these may look like simple objects but each piece requires many time consuming steps to create.

Float shelf is a modular, wall mount shelving and display unit consisting of three separate parts; the steel mounting armature, reversible / interchangeable hardwood back, and slumped "starphire" glass shelf.



The steel mounting armature consists of the mounting plate, stainless steel shelf rods and cantilever support tabs. The mounting plate is pre-drilled with mounting holes to mount to studs for most applications but you may drill more if needed.

The solid wood backs are interchangeable and reversible. Each back is 3/4 inch solid wood with a wide chamfer border on one side and flat with a fine round over on the other. Backs come in a variety of species: cherry, paduk (top three photos) black walnut (bottom two photos). Other species are available on special order (price may vary depending on species) They may be ordered separately so you can change the wood back if you want a different look.

The glass shelves are slumped on a mold in a process known as kiln forming in the category of warm glass techniques. The process is pretty darned warm, 1425 degrees fahrenheit, to be exact. Some hot glass techniques are blowing and casting from a crucible at about 2200 degrees fahrenheit. Cold glass techniques include things such as stained glass, engraving and the like.

Since I first discovered glass kiln forming I have been excited about the possibilities of this medium. I like to use the more expensive "Starphire" glass which has a beautiful glacial blue tint. The lines are embossed on the glass by the mold and create some fascinating optical effects as you can see from the pictures.

Dimensions: Wood backs: 5.5 x 30 inches. Glass shelf: 25 inches wide and available in 8, 10 and 12 inches deep.

I will be developing more furnishings in this line soon so check in from time to time.

Or subscribe (scroll to the bottom of the page) to have new posts sent to you.

I will be opening an online shop for the Zavadil line of designs in the near future

These pieces are available for purchase the old fashioned way by cheque or money order. Call 604 947 0800 during regular business hours (Pacific time). Shipping throughout North America. Shelves in stock ship within seven days of payment. Special orders ship within 14 days of payment.

Flat out

Somebody has been workin' hard. When not sleeping on honey's nasturtiums the scruffmuffin can be found impersonating:

1) a solar thermal collector
2) a hitachi excavator
3) Pigpen

I think she's resting up for the dog days of summer.

Drape shelf is here

This is a detail shot of the shelf. We are going to set up to do a full photo shoot in the next couple of days. I am very happy with how they turned out.

This one has a black walnut back. In the first run there are Walnut, Cherry and Paduk available. Wood backs have a flat side and a chamfered side so they can be reversed for a different look. You may also order a different species of wood back and change them at will.

I am also working on a new modular cabinet design which can be used as a shelf, table base, or stacked as a bookshelf. It will be in the same line as the Drape shelf. I will post some sketches here soon.

Stay tuned...

Clematis blogging

Just a little eye candy for you. This little clematis is growing up one of my holly topiaries. The land we are on was cleared about thirty years ago. The Federal Government was offering free land if you cleared it for farming! So one of the previous owners received 20 acres for cutting down a red cedar grove and bulldozing about one acre of the 20. So the next trees to come up were the Alders, then the hollies. There are still some of the old cedar stumps around down near the creek. One of them is hollow and you can climb up on it and look into it. You can just see the bottom where the stump opens into a small cavern well below ground level. In the winter there is an underground stream running through it. Creeepy! I'm quite sure that's where the bats live.
So, getting back to the hollies, they really seem to like it here because they are growing out of control. My solution to keep them at bay is to eventually turn them all into topiary. For now, I will keep it simple but my vision is for something akin to a Dr. Zeuss illustration.

Zeeble-blatt bushes and Toomby-snoot trees.

Drape shelf update.

teaser # 2: more bits and pieces.

The Glass Leg Table web gallery is now open (click on photo)

Every time I describe this table to people they pause and ask me incredulously " it has glass legs?" but oddly no one pauses in front of an all glass door with the same incredulity. Another common question I get is: "Are glass legs strong enough?" Let me put it this way... You could dance the tango on that table without coming near to their breaking point. Glass is a very strong material, somewhat brittle, but very strong.

I have always loved cast glass especially when it is set into some other material. I first tried the idea of a wood mortise and a glass tenon in 1999 with the Anderson bench (below). The legs on the bench were glass to wood which proved difficult to glue. For this, my second glass leg piece, in order to make the wood to glass joint stronger, I decided to use steel flanges as both structural and framing element. Not only do they make the legs stronger but they allows the table to be disassembled for moving or flat pack shipping.

The gallery documents some of the many steps in the creation of the Glass Leg Table. Click on "view" for price and ordering information. You may see many more of my pieces at www.glassmarcus.com

Anyone want one in black walnut?



The Anderson bench

Fun with shuffle

Some people like to shuffle their ipod, I like to shuffle my colours.

Blogger has this cool function where you can do a random shuffle of your blog's colour pallet. I'm not sure if this appeals to my gemini nature (easily bored) or my ADHD nature (easily distracted).

Probably both.

(The management is not responsible for retinal damage caused by vibrating colour contrast)

A view of the studio

This shot was taken during the construction of a pair of fireplace mantle covers for a home in the Granville Rise area of Vancouver. The dominant wood used in these pieces is paduk, an incredibly bright orange wood. Most of the wood came from a huge plank two inches thick and twelve inches wide which I re-sawed into boards 5/8 in. thick. After this project the every surface in the shop was orange! As you can see, I've amassed quite a large collection of antique and collectable hand tools, many of which I still use.

My precious...

Teaser

Yes, drape shelf is coming. I promise. Just not today. These things take time... one must be patient.



Very patient



Soon



Maybe tomorrow.



Evening.

Bats in your burrs?

One burr, two burrs, THREE LEETLE BURRS HA HA HAAA ( lightning flash and thunder clap)

I've been getting requests to post this story from last year so here it is...

Last summer I was digging up weeds when I saw what looked like a little
black pouch hanging from a large burr plant. My guess is that the little puff ball was dive-bombing
a moth and pulled up too late. It was stuck to a cluster of burrs breathing fast.
At first I thought it was eating aphids or something but it started to bite
at the burr in it's face and struggle to free itself. I ran to the house
to get the camera and some tiny scissors. It was really tricky to avoid
cutting the wing skin as I was snipping burr hooks. The skin was so soft
and flexible and so thin as well. The body was only about an inch and a half
long. As I was cutting away It was furiously biting at the burr and it
kind of squeal-clicked at me as it tried to free itself. I managed to get all but one
burr removed, trying carefully to not touch the bat. Those little guy's faces are
all teeth. I then clipped the branch so they fell together into a cereal
bowl. It seemed to rest for a couple of minutes before finally freeing
itself from the last burr, awkwardly climbing out of the bowl and flying away.

My friend Alison later identified it as a little brown bat. Who knew they were so darned fuzzy?

amoeba

The challenge here was to create a shape which looked both organic and stylized and had the ability to contain objects or act as an ashtray. The central shape is surrounded and bordered by a linear texture hinting at human attempts at measurement and catagorization and manipulation. Putting objects in the amoeba references human use of nature as beast of burden. But wait... the amoeba is seemingly escaping through the linear mesh. Run! run for your life!

It's a blog new world for me starting today

Being on Bowen Island gives me the opportunity to be close to nature but at the same time somewhat far from clients and family. This blog will help those who are interested to keep up with myself and my work. I plan to include nature, home building, teaching, design, humour and political posts here. I do not believe in separating my work, life and my political opinions. All these things together make up who I am so here they are.

I have been working on some new designs which will be available for the first time online. My first posts will be regarding these. I may also later post on some past works with descriptions.

ciao,
marcus