Mark Singer
12-30-2003, 1:34 PM
<h4>The Laguna Legacy and the Flying table…</h4>
About 10 years ago, Just after the Laguna Fire, I moved my studio from The Lumberyard (artist shops and offices and location of the old lumberyard), where it had been for 10 years to the Canyon. I rented a cool building. It was originally built for Belgium glass artist Jas Mas,. Jas originally settled in Scotsdale, Az. and tells stories of the “little man in the black cape” (Frank Lloyd Wright) It was when Wright was at Taliesin and would never pay for anything he took from Jas! I guess he felt he earned it.
Laguna Canyon is a Bohemian Mecca for artists and craftsman and is peppered with studios, craftsman painters etc. It is home of the Art Festival and Pageant of the Masters. My daughter, Jessica was in the pageant in the 70’s and appears in National Geographic, she was 3 years old. The Canyon has always been a haven for great woodworkers, I.B. Chris Abel’s father a master wood carver and builder, Chris, now 80, an architect and woodworker has left a legacy of homes and a spirit that still pervades the town. His son Greg, also a designer and his daughter Lark ,a fine glass artist., California pleinair masters like Ken Auster , George Dubin and Ron Cosby are here as well. It was the Master woodworker Victor diNovi’s home until he moved to Santa Barbra, North of here. Here is the link to the Festival exhibitors :http://www.foapom.com/_new/site/artists.asp
When I moved to the Canyon, European trained craftsman Torben of Laguna Tools had ended his craftsman period (“he never liked sawdust”) and was selling his Great Bandsaws just up the road from me. He sold a lot of stuff to craftsmen in the canyon and always gave great service! All of this is in a sleepy beach village about 40 miles South of Sam Maloof’s home and studio. A place that has become affluent but earthy…if you see someone driving a nice sports car it’s probably because they love to drive, rather than impress.
<h4>Now for the table:</h4>
I made a 12’ long conference table for my new studio. The conference room was a curved lumasite translucent enclosure. The table is Jatoba (Brazilian Cherry) and in a modern craftsman style,,,, fitting this canyon. The joints are pegged mortise and tenon.I used a router and matched the roundover bit on the tenons to the radius on the mortises.
The pegs are ebony and hand carved after cutting on the bandsaw. The long stretcher was glued up with an intentional 1/8” camber. (2 pieces of 5/4 glued screwed w/ Ebony plugs) The short stretchers ate 5/4 with similar joints. The construction is very simple to make. It can be taken apart in minutes and set up in minutes…almost without tools! This was important since it was large , heavy and had to be moved from my shop to my canyon studio…here comes the flying part!
<h4>The Flying Part</h4>
When I completed making the table, a young man that worked for me loaded the table top it on my truck, he seemed to tie it down and all ,,,and he was a const superintendent!
When he hit the first stop sign…. He braked and launched the 12’ top 50’ down the road hitting the pavement hard….ouch! I hauled the remains back to the shop and cut about 14” off the top. And spent several hours gluing, sanding and refinishing my now shorter table.
I still use it daily and enjoy it. The minor cosmetic flaws recall it’s sorted past and a moment in a place in the colorful history of our town. It now sits in my new studio conference room in Laguna on a the crest of a hill…the Canyon a chapter in its past...
Mark
About 10 years ago, Just after the Laguna Fire, I moved my studio from The Lumberyard (artist shops and offices and location of the old lumberyard), where it had been for 10 years to the Canyon. I rented a cool building. It was originally built for Belgium glass artist Jas Mas,. Jas originally settled in Scotsdale, Az. and tells stories of the “little man in the black cape” (Frank Lloyd Wright) It was when Wright was at Taliesin and would never pay for anything he took from Jas! I guess he felt he earned it.
Laguna Canyon is a Bohemian Mecca for artists and craftsman and is peppered with studios, craftsman painters etc. It is home of the Art Festival and Pageant of the Masters. My daughter, Jessica was in the pageant in the 70’s and appears in National Geographic, she was 3 years old. The Canyon has always been a haven for great woodworkers, I.B. Chris Abel’s father a master wood carver and builder, Chris, now 80, an architect and woodworker has left a legacy of homes and a spirit that still pervades the town. His son Greg, also a designer and his daughter Lark ,a fine glass artist., California pleinair masters like Ken Auster , George Dubin and Ron Cosby are here as well. It was the Master woodworker Victor diNovi’s home until he moved to Santa Barbra, North of here. Here is the link to the Festival exhibitors :http://www.foapom.com/_new/site/artists.asp
When I moved to the Canyon, European trained craftsman Torben of Laguna Tools had ended his craftsman period (“he never liked sawdust”) and was selling his Great Bandsaws just up the road from me. He sold a lot of stuff to craftsmen in the canyon and always gave great service! All of this is in a sleepy beach village about 40 miles South of Sam Maloof’s home and studio. A place that has become affluent but earthy…if you see someone driving a nice sports car it’s probably because they love to drive, rather than impress.
<h4>Now for the table:</h4>
I made a 12’ long conference table for my new studio. The conference room was a curved lumasite translucent enclosure. The table is Jatoba (Brazilian Cherry) and in a modern craftsman style,,,, fitting this canyon. The joints are pegged mortise and tenon.I used a router and matched the roundover bit on the tenons to the radius on the mortises.
The pegs are ebony and hand carved after cutting on the bandsaw. The long stretcher was glued up with an intentional 1/8” camber. (2 pieces of 5/4 glued screwed w/ Ebony plugs) The short stretchers ate 5/4 with similar joints. The construction is very simple to make. It can be taken apart in minutes and set up in minutes…almost without tools! This was important since it was large , heavy and had to be moved from my shop to my canyon studio…here comes the flying part!
<h4>The Flying Part</h4>
When I completed making the table, a young man that worked for me loaded the table top it on my truck, he seemed to tie it down and all ,,,and he was a const superintendent!
When he hit the first stop sign…. He braked and launched the 12’ top 50’ down the road hitting the pavement hard….ouch! I hauled the remains back to the shop and cut about 14” off the top. And spent several hours gluing, sanding and refinishing my now shorter table.
I still use it daily and enjoy it. The minor cosmetic flaws recall it’s sorted past and a moment in a place in the colorful history of our town. It now sits in my new studio conference room in Laguna on a the crest of a hill…the Canyon a chapter in its past...
Mark