Guido The Orb Dancer

Guido dances to the tune of the O Green World by the Gorillaz. Filmed during the Orb vase photo shoot. If you look carefully you can catch him lip synching. 

WANT!!!1!!

I used to be into fast cars. Porsche being my favourite followed by California style hot-rodded Beetles.  I had a 1971 VW Beetle handed down through our family which I totally tricked out and souped up. 2 litre engine, dual Dellortos, ported, cammed out, 135hp motor. lowered, shaved chrome, Tilt up fibreglass racing front end. I could take a 4 litre Mustang in the 1/4 mile and still get 35 mpg. That's 35 mpg city / highway driving like a twenty something. 

When I started building furniture, I sold my beloved beetle and I lost interest in cars.

Until I got interested in Electric Vehicles.  Then I found the motorcycles. Then these...

These babies have changed everything.

A classic, and electric. I must have one.  See for yourself.

Paduk Mantlepiece

I wanted this piece to be a bit deco in the details. The columns were done mostly on the jointer and I was looking for an Egyptian feel. The piece is solid frame and panel paduk with solid vertical grain zebrano as a trim.  The zebrano required special backing features to allow for seasonal movement.  All of the parts are bookmatched and came from the same board.

 

No stain was used. You are looking at the actual wood colours. In the background you can see the corner cabinet which I made at the same time (well, not exactly at the same time) I will post on that one later.

 

It took a whole lot of very careful measurements to make sure the thing slid into place seamlessly. Luckily the building it's in is the best finished I've seen.  I had to try and one up the place.

New Auranthetic Orange

Keep up to date on all things electric and Orange on my new blog:

http://auranthetic.blogspot.com/

Auranthetic Charger

Meet my new toy.

24 volt, 1 hp, all electric and built in 1974

I'll post more soon.

Spring, Bing, Boing, Doink, Bwaaaang!

Is it finally here?

All signs point to YES!

God is in the details

Base cabinet minus doors.  You can just see the ventilation for the PVR.  I will be installing an infrared repeater so the doors can close but the components will still work.   

Book case on it's side.


A cabinet I am working on in figured maple and wenge veneer. The dark wood face with light interiors is an Art Deco motif. The doors will have a brass border. An important part of the design for me is the orientation of the veneers. The linear pattern of the wenge is meant to run vertically down the front creating a visual flow. The shelves have a graduated spacing to create visual interest and to house different size books, etc. 

Transitions: A Retrospective.

I am currently participating in a group show in Vancouver called "Transitions". It's a reunion show of many of the artists who went through the studios of the 1100 block of Richards street in Yaletown.  The site is now a park for overpriced yuppy pups to crap in.  You can't stop progress! 

It's showing at The Chapel Arts centre. 

No dogs allowed.

Space slugs are OK...

Please keep you slugs on a leash.

Shelf-X

These are some arrangement variations and details of the first three components of the prototype Shelf-X.
Each section mates with any other and requires no tools to interconnect. I am planning square boxes as well.

Two kinds of beauty

Maui envy?

It's only natural.











I've been very busy for the last few months with work and not work, snow and not snow, holidays and not holidays and a birthday or two tossed in there for good measure. So I've had a few nudges to post some more. It's not that i didn't want to post... I guess it's catch up time.

Let's start with the vacation thingy shall we?

Good:









BAD:

Boy, You go away for a couple of weeks and everything changes while you are gone.

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...