Couple of new links - scroll saw basics.

My hobby is less than a year but I've learned so many things, bought so many things!:)  And I'm more than happy to share the things I learn with you. In my recent posts I received several comments about working with scroll saw. So I decided to share some links that helped me a lot, hope you'll find them useful.
First of all, and I think if you were looking for information about scroll saw basics you know this link already, but still:






Steve  Good has his own channel on Youtube, so check it too, I was watching a lot of these videos, it doesn't matter if they were about building shelves or puzzles - just watch them and  you'll get a lot of great tips. Besides, you can find Steve's blog  here -http://scrollsawworkshop.blogspot.com/.

And about blades ( @Texas Belle: That's what I meant in my comment, forgive my English, sometimes I forget the easiest words!:))  - good link - general information, but worth reading - http://www.woodcraft.com/Articles/Articles.aspx?articleid=411.

I can't recommend any books, I have some on the subject, but I'm lazy, I love pictures and videos much more;)

Shopping

On Friday I've found some great books about the history of trade in Russia:

The left one is about Moscow in 19th century, the second one is quite serious research about history of trade in general.  I have already finished reading the first book, amazing stories and good illustrations:

 Also I bought two dolls:) Guess, why!:)

Decorating windows - concept.

Hi everyone!

      Sorry for my long absence - I was finishing  my yearly essay. Though this weekend I came back to working on the house. This time I have to finish decorating windows. This will be the most difficult part, I think, because Russian houses have the most beautiful windows in the whole world!:) Just kidding.
It is still difficult. Just check this great site:
http://shushara.ru/windows/tree.php?TreeID=218 .
For the preview:

 

     On this page you can see house decorating details, they are grouped by the type. All these beautiful decorations are used in traditional village houses. Unfortunately, in the big cities you won't see much of these. Sadly, the tradition is slowly dying.
     But in my house you'll see all of these details, as I'm absolutely in love with them.  Besides, it's village house after all :).
     As I said before, I'm lazy. So cutting all the details with scroll saw sounded like very bad idea. First of all, I tried cutting veneer - bad choice. It's very friable and you have to choose the easy patterns. Oh, btw, I used these patterns:

     Then I thought it would be easy to cut the details on cardboard. Bad choice again, at least for me. The result was horrible, maybe, well, definitely I don't have enough skills to cut out the whole thing neatly. I even tried pyrography! :) It was fun though.

    In the end, I looked at the scroll saw and realized I had no choice. Some pics of the first window:

      The left part isn't finished, but I decided to show it so that you could understand the whole idea of it.  It isn't glued, painted, sanded, besides, I need to fix the edges too.

About the technical part - I used 4mm plywood ( I was too stingy to use mahogany for this, and oak is too hard to work with, especially with such small details). Usually I use paper pattern and glue it to the wood with spray glue. But here I had to use transfer paper - check the left part:

 

One part is taking about 10 minutes or less, so the whole window would take about 40 minutes if you are not as lazy as me.  So, I need to make thousands 20 parts for 5 windows. The first window is not perfect, but I'm learning and trying to improve my skills, so I hope the last fifth window will be the best, hehe.

The balcony. Almost done.

I haven't glued it yet. Just sanded balcony railing. I'll glue the whole thing when I finish the windows decorating. Then  I'll also paint the balusters and the railing.

My review of the week. Art Nouveau - links.

A bit of pictures to draw your attention:)

 

Okay, as I started this talk about art nouveau, I'll post some links about this beautiful style.

Besides, Casey asked me to post some links too.:)

Some basic information - here in my favourite Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau

Architecture - first of all, Gaudi, check this great site, you can spend hours there http://www.gaudidesigner.com/
Then fantastic works of Hector Guimard  http://lartnouveau.com/artistes/guimard.htm.
Victor Horta (http://www.hortamuseum.be/, http://www.cupola.com/html/bldgstru/artnouv/artnouv1.htm)

Sculpture -

Aristide Maillol ( http://www.ilovefiguresculpture.com/masters/maillol/maillol.html)

Camille Claudel (http://www.aworldtowin.net/reviews/CamilleClaudel.html)
Rodin, of course (http://www.rodin-web.org/works/default.htm)

Glass works (mind-blowing works)

Émile Gallé, he was also making furniture (http://www.kunstpedia.com/articles/318/1/A-practical-guide-to-Galle-furniture/Page1.html , http://www.worldcollectorsnet.com/emilegalle/index.html)
Also link from Russian site with furniture from different French cabinetmakers - http://www.stmeb.ru/hist/modern_fr.htm
Louis Comfort Tiffany ( http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tiff/hd_tiff.htm, http://www.marktwainhouse.org/thehouse/tiffany.shtml)

Jewelry

René Lalique (http://www.museu.gulbenkian.pt/nucleos.asp?nuc=a11&lang=en)

Furniture

Louis Majorelle (http://www.antiquitiesweb.com/designers/louis-majorelle, http://www.onlinegalleries.com/art-and-antiques/detail/52855, http://artdecoblog.blogspot.com/2006/08/louis-majorelle-nnuphar-table-lamp.html)

Some basic links - http://www.artnouveaufurniture.com/,
Perfect reference from Victoria&Albert Museum  - http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1157_art_deco/about/starobjects/
General reference - http://www.artdecocollection.com/stock.htm

As for the pictures I posted before - it's Russian movement , you can find some at russian site http://www.rusmodern.com/ (click on the left menu, there are lots of items.)

and here - http://www.feryaev.ru/vitragi_2.php, and here - http://www.rbc.ru/reviews/elite-furniture/chapter1-parad-21.shtml, also here - http://www.liveinternet.ru/showjournal.php?journalid=2129370&tagid=5829, some scans here -http://www.liveinternet.ru/users/la_belle_epoque/post110252976/

Russian modern was popular, it was trying to combine art nouveau with traditional Russian style. So you could see characters from Russian tales in woodcarving, paintings, etc. The artists of that time were creating amazing houses, furniture, interiors in this style. But I think I need some time to find best examples of Russian modern, I'll post it later on. 

Need help (links) !

      I was chatting with the girls from one Russian forum. And one of them asked if there are good examples of art nouveau miniatures : roomboxes, dollhouses, anything. I've googled it and found just couple of sites with numerous furniture kits and sculptures.
      Does someone know fans of this style in miniature?:) Maybe some good mini blogs about it?
      It's very interesting for me too, I love Russian modern (Russian art nouveau), but I find it a bit difficult to make by myself, I mean wood carving, stained-glass windows, etc. Hm, a bit:) I think it will be Very Hard to make.