Walnut writing desk wins a few awards

The last couple of months really went by fast.  I was busy with  projects and neglected my writing and posting to my blog.  The writing desk I built won a few awards at the Design in Wood competition in San Diego and also at the Orange Co fair.  The judges for the woodworking competition at the Orange Co. fair were the 3 guys who worked with and for Sam Maloof for over 30 years.  I was not aware of this until after the judging.  As this desk was inspired by the same style as Sam's furniture I must have done something right.  The desk is my design with one small exception.  The two drawers were made like ones I saw in Sam's shop.  I would have liked to have seen the look on the judges faces as they were reviewing them.  I copied the joinery because I thought it was continued the flowing curves like the rest of the desk so it fit in.

I was planning on using dovetail construction on the drawers but after seeing his design I had the perfect fit.

The Design in Wood show is the largest woodworking show in the country.  The best of show winner was a gentleman from France.  His piece was a marquetry picture of George Bush Sr. holding up a crying baby.  It was so detailed and deserved the best award.  All the pieces were top notch.  I noticed that most of the awards went to pieces with the "Wow" factor.  Like looking at a perfectly restored 57 chevy impala convertible.  Wow.  Or a Colt 45 six shooter with the ivory handles or that 15 pound walleye that got away.  So, I decided that I'm going to shoot higher in my work and add some inlay or marquetry to my furniture.  That is what I have been busy with. 

This is a jewelry box I made for my wife.  It's mahagony with walnut accents.  The bird on a branch is a marquetry panel that I made first and then inlayed it into the top.  The marquetry veneers are 1/40" thick.  I bought a package of all different kinds of exotic veneers to use so the colors you see are all real wood colors.  No paint or dyes were used.  I use a technique called "double bevel" cutting.  Using this method eliminates the saw blade kerf or space.   I used some scrap mahagony one this first attempt and half way thru the build I saw that it was turning out nice so just kept that in mind as I worked on the marquetry panel.  I really enjoy this very detailed kind of work and it adds the "Wow" factor so now it's on to some bigger stuff.  Like a walnut swivel office chair to go with my desk with a touch of marquetry added.  I actually have it finished and am now applying the last 3 coats of an oil hand rubbed finish.  Some pics to follow.