Rustic Experiment - From Old Barn to Box

[hotshot]

Evidently, when they tear down an old barn, there are those that like that old weathered gray wood for picture frames and other "rustic" decor. A friend gave me a few pieces, and since rustic isn't exactly my thing, I wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I got an idea, I would make a box that would be rustic on one side and could be turned around to be less rustic on the other.

 

I hoped the saw inlay that I've been doing lately would "modern" it up. So the challenge here was to work with an uneven weathered surface, and leave it alone, all the while, working on the other surfaces to make them look fresh. Usually, I glue everything together, then work all four sides to get everything even. Here I had to make sure that one edge was always lined up in it's final state because I couldn't really change it if I got it wrong.  I did add poly to the weathered side which darkened it and took some gray out so I would probably not poly the weathered side if I were doing it again.

Here is my Rustic/Modern Box.

 

 

 

 

[Ron Johnson]

Excellent and very beautiful Randy. I like the inlay work.

[Lucky2]

Randy, I like the look of the box, but, I don't know that I like the inlay work. Especially, if you want to draw attention to the box, rather than the top.

Len

[hotshot]

..... I don't know that I like the inlay work. Especially, if you want to draw attention to the box, rather than the top.

 

 

Hey Len, thanks for the feedback.  I like candid feedback, it keeps me honest, and balances out the positive feed back I get from my Mother :-)  

 

You know how when you learn a new trick, your all excited and you tend to wear it out?  I'm still experimenting with the inlay and excited by the  technique, so I suspect it will show up in most of my boxes until I get it out of my system :-)  In this particular box, I figured out how to do a balanced ray, which meant moving the miter to the opposing slot for the second half.

 

 

---------Randy

[Scrolling Steve]

Wonderful use of some nice wood!....Well done!

[wombatie]

I absolutely love it.  I love the 'sunrise effect' and I love the rustic look but like Len I'm not sure if they really go together. 

 

Marg

[DWSUDEKUM]

Randy that is a very pretty box.  Great job on it.  Thanks for sharing this with us.

DW

[Dave Monk]

Randy, I love the reclaimed wood you used. dave

[Scrappile]

Very nice, Randy!

[heppnerguy]

Randy,

you are truly a man of perfection and you have amazed me with everything you have posted. i too especially like that Len is so willing to be honest with his posts. I believe I could make something intentionally sloppy and the majority of the comments would be positive, except maybe Len's. He would give me some advice and I, like you. am open to them because it is this honesty that helps one see what others see in their work. I do also appreciate that folks are complimentary because everyone is at a different place with their skill levels and everyone can also use encouragement, as finding fault with everything someone does, only makes them not want to post. so I guess it is a two sided coin,

 

Dick

heppnerguy

[LarryEA]

Good job, looks like you know how to inlay.

[FranMike Harley]

Very nice, Randy !! Good use of reclaimed wood for sure.. Looks great.. Thanks for sharing  

[stoney]

I think sometimes modern and rustic do go good together.   I think the box looks good Randy but to each their own. JMHO

[Jennifer Moon-Child]

I love the look of the box and the inlay, and I think the same box would look really cool with some other inlaid patterns, like a celtic knot sort of motif.

[hotshot]

I love the look of the box and the inlay, and I think the same box would look really cool with some other inlaid patterns, like a celtic knot sort of motif.

 

Jen, I agree and hope to do some inlay shortly that doesn't use straight lines, however, I'll also continue these because of their ease and role in my porfolio.  These inlays are done with a table saw and since all the lines are perfectly straight, I can just drop in strips of wood cut to the width of the saw blade.  That means that though the lines have to be straight, the technique is very fast and low skill, which makes it about right for me. If I sell these in my local craft store, I would be lucky to get $25, so that means I need to find projects that look as good as I can make them, yet keep the materials/time to a minimum.  These fit that bill.

 

However, I love to do the projects that are just for me, and for those, I like the more complicated cuttings.  There are several techniques to do inlay, but the one that uses the scroll saw is called double bevel inlay.  These are much more involved, but I hope to do some more of these shortly.  I've attached a picture of the my best project I've done using the double bevel technique, along with a more artsy one.  Notice the dovetails, those are done on the scroll saw as well.  At some point I may do a tutorial on how to do those effectively.

 

---------Randy

 

 

Edited February 14, 2016 by hotshot

[amazingkevin]

Evidently, when they tear down an old barn, there are those that like that old weathered gray wood for picture frames and other "rustic" decor. A friend gave me a few pieces, and since rustic isn't exactly my thing, I wasn't sure what to do with it. Then I got an idea, I would make a box that would be rustic on one side and could be turned around to be less rustic on the other.

 

I hoped the saw inlay that I've been doing lately would "modern" it up. So the challenge here was to work with an uneven weathered surface, and leave it alone, all the while, working on the other surfaces to make them look fresh. Usually, I glue everything together, then work all four sides to get everything even. Here I had to make sure that one edge was always lined up in it's final state because I couldn't really change it if I got it wrong.  I did add poly to the weathered side which darkened it and took some gray out so I would probably not poly the weathered side if I were doing it again.

 

Here is my Rustic/Modern Box.

 

rustic_0.jpg

 

 

rustic_1.jpg

Beautiful workmanship!