What's Up?

North Carolina's Bob Trotman  is June's featured artist. Post questions for him in the comments of this post.

I have done a lot of repair and some festival-going in the last week and a half. A few beautiful mashup things were sold quickly and I don't have pictures. One was an 80's shaped hardwood desk base that I matched up with a vintage sheet of bird's eye maple veneer plywood for the top. The bottom layer of the bird's eye looked like weathered leather but it may have been a severely distressed finish applied very thick? About 40x22, 7-layer finish ply with a drawer pull (type of thing) cut out along one edge - the most unique piece of scrap I've run into in a long time!

On this Formica table, I painted the legs burgundy.

Then I built Icehouse II bookcase on commission:

 Starting with the door (backing), I cut of the bottom to make it even and to clean off a thin layer of woodrot in the endgrain. The worn, graffitied door was beaten apart from the sides of the tool cabinet it once enclosed, so splintered edges were split off with a chisel. I then wire brushed away the loose paint chips and triple-coated it with water-based polyurethane front and back.(4 layers on exposed endgrain) The hinges were busted off to remove this one, but the bent latch is intact and rotates freely. (Icehouse I Bookcase also had hinges)

The side panels are cut from the plywood back of a very strange old stereo cabinet. I may cannibalize the rest and will try to remember to take pictures of it first. I gave bits of the componentry to Susan for the future making of a Bot.

The shelves are the very last of the shelf-stock donated by our neighbor Sam from a library tear-out in the early 90s. (Previously, I guessed they had come from a prior incarnation at 201 Haywood Rd.) I lost the shop countersink for about a week, so I used a flat auger bit in its absence. With a wide pilot, the flat recess created by the auger seems to create a lock-tight effect when the wood screws bite in at the end. So, lesson learned: losing tools leads to innovation. Lose your tools often as long as you are certain to find them again later.

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A Promise Is a Promise: Where's My Update?!

Top two reasons it has taken so long to deliver: a yard sale and a stolen bike. But I don't want to talk about that.

So there it is, the corner bookshelf, nestled in the chaos of Hip thrift. I do believe it will be more comfortable once it has been claimed by a new owner. Keep in mind, it won't look like this anywhere else; the concept is a blank slate.

The open design makes it ideal for the creative display of toys, books, objects and art.

Meanwhile, I have been doing a bit of painting.

Dry brushwork on the side of a bookcase.

Here are new chairs to go with the tree table. Three are pictured from the set of four.

On a warm March morning, I went to a secret location with the artist Penish Wrinkle and we snagged some wonderful graffitied* tool cabinet doors.

*Graffitied is not a word yet! But I believe that one day it will be.

This is the backside of the door, which is being repurposed as the backing for a crooked, wobbly bookcase that I picked up at an estate sale.

And now it is solid as a rock and no longer crooked. I wire brushed the loose paint and heavily glazed the entire door, front and back, so it is a safe piece despite its delinquent origins.


The bookcase for vinyl sold yesterday and two different parties are now very interested in the tree table. It feels great to be productive! Thanks to everyone for your support.
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Corner Bookcase is here

After using the six odd boards from the reclaimed futon frame for my personal experiment, it's time to move on to the production piece.

Each of the twelve remaining boards measures 51-3/8 x 2-1/2 x 3/4 (inches).

Two similar panels are constructed as above, and interlocked below.

The back half of each shelf is then attached.

This detail shows how the two pieces of the frame interlock.

The connection is made with dowels so that the case can be split apart and transported.

If you give the objects enough space, as above, there will also be room to hang small art pieces within and around the two frames. I will move the Corner Bookcase into Hip Thrift tomorrow, so look for the update.

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A Very Lightweight Bookcase: Rough Design

Against the near wall in my workshop are 18 boards reclaimed years ago in Brooklyn from a broken futon frame. It sure did take a long time for this bastard wood to tell me what it wanted to be: a complete departure from my previous pair of bookcases.

Using only the four short and two long boards, I set myself to the task of making an experimental bookcase for my own use.

This model is low and long and close to the ground, well suited to my "Spartan living style" (as described by motorcycle fabricator Norm Plombe).

The shelves are rather narrow and bouncy, and the bottom "shelf" is the floor itself. These factors make the prototype unsuitable for mainstream consumption, but perfect for my meager needs and open spaces.

Using the remaining twelve regular boards, the upcoming shelf will more than double the weight of my experiment. It will also measure twice as tall and nearly twice as long, gaining stability by wrapping completely around the corner. After framing it I will decide on the use of backing, which would bring another material element into play. I hope instead that my design can allow the bookcase to fit snugly against the wall.

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