Puttering in the Study

New cove lighting for study

The burned out sections in the cove lights in the study were getting annoying, but even so, I had no idea how bad it was until I took the original (2004) lights out this afternoon to replace them with new rope lighting. Entire sections were black and most of the rest had burned areas, even if the lights were working.

The new lighting is warm but not orange-red, and instead of just laying haphazard in the cove propped up intermittently by wood blocks, making the lighting intermittent and hitting the bas relief portraits in the cove at a really bad angle, it’s held in place with plastic brackets that keep it level and closer to the ceiling. That eliminates the raking light on the portraits, which had the unfortunate effect of accenting the orange peel texture on the sheet rock, instead of the portraits.

Admiral Nimitz already looks much less grumpy.

Model workshop table finished

  It's not exactly a secret that my study has a secret door - the shelves for science fiction open into my model workshop.  For most of the time we've been in the house the first thing you saw when you opened the door was a stack of sawdust-covered wood and cardboard scraps. 

But after I cleaned it up last fall I realized that this was the perfect place for a narrow wall table - a place to put a phone or iPad when I am working in there.  I couldn't find a table with exactly the dimensions I wanted, so I after I got the new workbench for the wood workshop at the lake I built one from new lumber, with shelves underneath for storage.

The design was based on the shelves Daddy and I made for my paperbacks (the same ones on the shelves in the photos above).  Since I didn't have the ability to rabbet the shelves into the sides, and biscuits wouldn't provide enough support for a 48" long table, I used poplar cleats to hold the shelves in place.  

When I put it in I realized that it was the perfect place to store the model kits from my stash that I actually intend to built.  I have many more than those shown here, but aside from the large ones that wouldn't fit here, they're older kits that I have already decided aren't going to be built because there are better kits available now. 

The table also lent itself to a lamp, and although the photos don't show it, I have moved the Alexa and wireless speakers there as well.  And it provides a great place to display my framed naval aviation and NASA artwork, which I expect will get moved around from time to time.

I decided the paint the shelves themselves to match the room's "Divine White" trim, but built a top from old pine boards from the Hub Shoe Store.  The boards that made up the top weren't edged or planed, and were just held together with biscuits and glue.  The finish was Minwax Colonial Oak with several coats of hand-rubbed satin polyurethane.  It provides a rustic touch - and matches the wood-tone formica top of the model workbench.

Model workshop table with unfinished top from old lumber

I built a 12" x 48" side table for the model workshop over the last three  weekends.  The intention was to have a place to drop bag, keys, and other stuff when I got in the workshop, but as soon as I put the unfinished shelving in place I realized it was a great place to put the model kits that I actually intend to build, as well as reference books that are in the workshop temporarily from the study  next door.

Design

The basic design of the table is the same as the shelves made from 1x6s that Daddy and I made for my paperbacks years ago - which I still use for BluRay disks in the movie room - which means solid shelves and sides with a recessed toe kick at the bottom, but the dimensions are far larger - twice as deep and twice as long, with an overhanging top screwed on.

Since I was not sure whether I would be staining or painting it I didn't want exposed screws, so I used a technique which I learned building my large Bartley shelves - cleats.  As the photo shows, I use 3/4 x 3/4# poplar strips as cleats to hold the shelves and top to the toe kick and the top cross-pieces.  I chose the poplar because it is harder than pine. The cleats were pre-drilled with countersunk holes for the screws, then glued and screwed into place.  One dried the the shelves were attached, which was easier than I thought now that I had a workbench I could securely clamp the pieces to.

But I wasn't happy with the 12" x 48" craft board that I used for the table top (at right), and decided to build a new to-be-stained top from multiple smaller boards (final at left).  After realizing that I had enough boards of the right size from the old Hub Shoe Store already set aside in the garage, I decided to use those, since the wood - which is at least 50 years old, and potentially 90 , is far better than new stock.

Determining the age of the old boards is interesting.  Each of the 1x4's were actually 3 5/8" wide, which means they predated the 1961 standarization which reduced the width of 1 x 4s to 3 1/2.  Their standardization means they weren't likely from the original store, which would have made them 120 years old, but since the store hadn't been modified since the 1950's, they likely date from the 1940's-1950's - possibly as early as the 1930's.  In any event, very good old wood, although still nothing compared to the old shelving, which dates from 1897, making it old-growth East Texas lumber.

I started by choosing boards with no major defects and cut them to the required lengths, then used my plate joiner to cut holes for biscuits in the sides and ends of the boards. Next it was time to glue them together and clamp them securely while they dried.  

I was going to add a second thickness around the edges in the form of a "lip" that would make the final product look ticker, but decided against it.  

My plan is still to paint the base the trim color of the room - a cream color - but I don't think I'll sand or stain the top - just oil it and enjoy the natural wood color.  But as it isn't attached I can always go back and plane or sand it down if I want. 

"Poet's Corner" Complete

Finished my third Englishman this afternoon - H.G. Wells (for the science fiction stack), who joins Sir Isaac Newton and Shakespeare in a sort of "Poet's Corner" for the study ceiling.  This also means I now have nine consecutive portraits along the west and south walls, plus the unconnected Pope St. John Paul II and Landry/Staubach. (The cartouche over Wells doesn't have any significance - I've started putting those over each as I get time to add a little visual detail).

I am getting faster - I put up the portrait and wrote this post in less time than it took to listen to Jeff Wayne's musical War of the Worlds (which, of course, is based on Wells' book).

Sir Isaac Newton

Shakespeare has company from the adjacent Science shelf tonight. Thanks to Bill Bryson for making this an easy call.

Shakespeare goes up in the library

Every so often I get back to work on the study ceiling.  Yesterday I finished thinking through another medallion, and today I put it up.

English Literature

As I've posted previously, I'm choosing a single figure from each category of books to go over that "stack." The stack this time was fiction, which sits on the left end of the wall that already has Frederick Law Olmsted (landscape architecture) and Andrea Palladio (architecture).  The other walls already have Pope St. John Paul II (religion), Constantine XI (world history), Thomas Jefferson (American history), George C. Marshall (military history) and Chester Nimitz (naval history) on one side, and Tom Landry and Roger Staubach (football) on the other. Think I'[m joking?  See here.

For years I have been thinking about who to put up to represent my "fiction" stacks.  The English literature stack, which contains the best of my collection of fiction has my favorite authors and series, including C.S. Forester's Hornblower books, a shelf full of Bram Stoker and Dracula commentary, H.P. Lovercraft, Christopher Priest, and many others.

But when I thought over who is the single really preeminent author, I decided you just can't not pick Shakespeare - his prose is just mesmerizing, and has had such an effect on the English language.   So yesterday I selected a portrait, prepared the file and marked it up to transfer to the wall.   Then I spent a couple of hours this afternoon putting up the guide marks, and finished the medallion and the name tonight.

It had been long enough that I'd forgotten how to prepare the image, and which paints went where, and during application I change three of the four paint colors - meaning everything but the wall color - to get the contrast right, but that means the next one will take that much less time.

Study ceiling update

I realized this morning that I hadn't posted about the most recent additions to the study ceiling.  So here goes.

Pope John Paul II

Over the religious books - with "Sanctus" in gold lettering.   But he was way to cool for "Ioannes Paulus" so I didn't go with Latin for the proper name.  The picture to the right shows the posterized image I worked from, with the paint color stick.

Frederick Law Olmsted / Andrea Palladio

The landscape and architecture stacks got theirs last year, and I am particularly happy with Olmsted's.

Tom Landry / Roger Staubach

Simply couldn't choose one over the other, so the Dallas Cowboys stack has both.

 

 

Cartouche

The long term plan is to continue to add detail in the form of more panels and "carvings" and other embellishments as I find appropriate models, and the most recent is a decorative cartouche that will eventually be above every section.  It may eventually contain a Roman numeral for the stack, and later maybe a Latin label on a scroll, but at the moment it's just something I am working on getting up and done as quickly as possible using a template that allows me to outline it quickly, and then just sketch in the highlights and shadows quickly.

The Future?

As I mentioned, the cartouche needs to keep working its way around the room - currently I'm doing every other section.  But after that I have a couple of ideas.

Panel Rosettes

The shadowing in the panels (see foreground and background in photo at right) doesn't look as good as I'd like, so I'm considering redoing them with rosettes like the attached.  Principally to redo the shadow detail, but if I can come up with a simple rosette that doesn't take too long, it would add a lot of interesting detail.

Seraphim/Angels/Allegorical Figures

The corners are not symmetrical, and would provide an opportunity for some winged figures to take advantage of the space.  I am still looking for some good models, as well as some appropriate subjects, such as allegorical figures (arts, science,justice, whatever).  A possible selection is the four virtues from the library of Celsus in Ephesus, which are wisdom (Sophia), knowledge (Episteme), intelligence (Ennoia) and valor (Arete).  But I am still working on that.

 

Study Ceiling additions: Thomas Jefferson & George C. Marshall

Got two more ceiling medallions up this week - the long-awaited Thomas Jefferson for American history and Gen. George C. Marshall for military history.

I decided to do both at once since they are side by side, and I felt like I had gotten better at getting better images to work from.  What I've learned the last few is that I need to plan on four shades, with most of the face being the lightest.  To get the right model, I usually have to brighten or darken the image so the contrast looks right, and then "posterize" the image for four shades, going back to the light/dark settings till I have the kind of image I think I can paint.  This was especially necessary for the Jefferson medallion, since I really wanted to use a particular Rembrandt Peale portrait, and it was very difficult to get it to resolve into normal patterns of light and shadow.

Oddly, the Jefferson came out pretty well, while the Marshall is pretty bad.  With the cove lighting on, it looks way more like Eisenhower! But a man in a suit is a hard image to get right to start with when you have no artistic background, and the textured ceiling is not helping.  

But I am glad to now have all four of the history stacks covered - world, American, military and naval.  The south wall now has five of nine, the west wall two of four, and the east wall, still just one of eight.

(Complete coincidence it's Marshall and Jefferson - I just got that).

Study ceiling: Constantine XI Palaeologus faux bas relief

As I've posted before, Constantine XI Palaeologus is my favorite Byzantine emperor, and I've been looking forward to getting his faux bas relief into place over my world history stack in the study.

At the right side of the picture is my first attempt at portrait, that of Admiral Nimitz over the Naval History stack.  I decided to do these in round porthole-shaped panels, so the first step was to insert panels over the stacks (I did three at the same time today so I'd be a step ahead for U.S. and military history when I get around to them).  I didn't include portholes in my original design for the "parapet" in the ceiling, but it's an easy detail to add.  )The photo at right shows a series of circular panels already added on the east wall).

To do this, I take a protractor and draw the necessary circles on the ceiling.  Then I pick out the highlights and shadow lines, and paint over the old lines, shown at right as I'm finishing up.

 

There are no known reliable images of Constantine, the last Byzantine emperor, and I sure was not going to use the most common one , a truly awful woodcut shown at right 
so I decided to go with the statuet of his that stands in Cathedral Square in Athens (which I was happy to show off to the boys when we were there in 2011).

The first step is to locate a good head shot (at left), then "posterize" it is Picasa where it's down to four shades (at right).   Next you print it out and use a protractor to figure out how it fits in the circle, and mark a grid to help in transferring the photo to the wall. The relevant sheet for Admiral Nimitz and the sheet for the future Thomas Jefferson are shown behind

 

The next stage is to transfer the drawing to the ceiling, shown at right. 

 

Obviously I can't draw, but you really don't have to - if you haven't figured it out by now, this is now just paint by numbers, and you keep overpainting till it looks right.   In this case, I had an image of Constantine's original signature in the original Greek, so I extracted his first and last names so I could put it under his portrait, instead of Latin letters.  

Very enjoyable project - I think start to finish less than four hours. 

Organizing the Library - Shelf IV.4 - Ancient Greece

I have kept the books in my library in a database for many years, but as the database has migrated from one Palm application to another, and now to an iPad app, the database's capabilities have grown.  Sometimes some data has dropped off, or numbering has been lost, so I have been trying to work through a shelf each weekend checking the database against the shelf's contents to make sure that all the books are in the database, each book has its library number pencilled lightly inside the front cover, and most recently, that each record in the database includes a photo of the book.

Today I was in the world history stack (stack IV), shelf 4 - the shelf devoted mostly to ancient Greece.  The sculptures of the Acropolis and Pheidias' Athena Parthenos should give it away.  It sits above Byzantine history (which features the icon of Christ Pantocrator and you can barely see the minarets of Hagia Sophia), and below Roman/Italian, with tiny models of Saint Peter's and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.  I did leave three books unentered at right as the program started crashing.  I'll add them later.

But this helps me tell when I'm in a bookstore whether I have a certain book already or not - or whether the copy that I have might be an older one.  I only note location as room in the database (here "study"), and not by stack and shelf, because that would be compulsive-retentive.