Cushion

This cushion was re-covered with some calico painted with acrylic with tassel trims.

Art Weekly–Backrest

This meditation seat is built for comfort–unlike the actual seat of nails I saw once in a sadhu’s cave in Rishikesh–many local yogis learnt to meditate in the sixties and seventies when Maharishi had his ashram–Maharishi Nagar–operating there on the banks of the Ganges (as a result, many of their hard austerities were dropped in favour of the ease and effectiveness of TM)

Light-shade 3

Bamboo frame covered with printed cotton cloth and velvet–about 45cms across.

Lamp-shade 2

Wrinkled tissue paper pressed and glued to parchment and stretched over a bamboo frame, with velvet trim. This was a good project if you like tying things together. It is about 50 cms across. The second shot shows light inside.

Lamp-shade

This lampshade will hang low over the eight-ball table (not over the bathtub)

The second picture shows the light coming through the semi-transparent parchment and silhouetting the ragged trim to dramatic effect. It has a thin bamboo frame.

Art Weekly–Dart board

The frame of the dart board is made from offcuts from the Lucas mill where the staircase is being made–slices of a burl, with the bottom piece very conveniently making a platform to put the idle darts in. The backing is soft to receive stray darts. I added some colour to the black and white board so it all tones in.

This is to exercise and test out one’s mind-body coordination. I also have some indoor bowls (mini lawn bowls which we enjoyed as kids), a little putting green, and an eight ball table on the way. The sports area will be up in the loft of the log home.

Photographed on the floor

The sanskrit says ‘Dhanurveda’, the science of archery–quelling our demons with arrows of bliss, shooting darts of coherence into the disorder. This is the higher knowledge of Dhanurveda.

Art Weekly–The Chief’s chair

I cant seem to stop making chairs. I must have been chairless in a previous life!

This is the Easy Rider of chairs (big handle bars, low reclined seat, and really heavy)–it is cantilevered to give it that floating feeling. And the dovetail joints have evolved into the wood inlay decoration on the backrest. The centre piece is cypress pine surround by mahogany and then the yellow box local hardwood half-round slab which forms the backbone of the chair.

The angle of the backrest makes it quite comfortable–it is such that it bears about half of the body-weight–not all of your weight is on your bottom.

Shoe rack

This will go by the front door on the veranda. It is about 1300mm long and 750mm high–the square hole in the top fits around some protruding logs. As you can see, the dove-tail joints are getting more ambitious.

I will paint it with a satin, weather-proof varnish they use on yachts and this should preserve the colour and lustre.

Art Weekly–Medium sized stool

The mortise and tenon go right through to the surface of the seat and is secured with a wedge–the satisfaction of tapping that wedge into place was the reason for making the stool.