This was a big project that spanned approximately one year. That is not to say that they required a year of work to build them, there were some fairly long breaks in there, one for my annual fly fishing guiding season and even another project in there, but all the same there is likely three to four months of total time into these pieces. They were made as a pair, and they are packed with details. These were commissioned by my patron and friend who came up with the concept of the vertically oriented cabinets within the framework which would support some kind of a tray/jewellery box on the top. So guided by that information I was left to refine dimensions, proportions, shapes, details . . . essentially what you see. But I am ever grateful to Robert for handing me this commission and having the faith in me to grant me the latitude to "fill in the details".
Note the concave curve on the drawers inside the doors. More than anything the wood is what really kept inspiring me to keep coming up with new ideas and details. Many years ago while still living in Vancouver I found someone who had a large pile of big timbers of and unknown exotic wood in his garage. Neither of us knew what it was. We took it to a sawyer in the nearby Fraser Valley and had it sawn into workable thicknesses (2" - 3"); it turned out to be some very beautiful Indonesian rosewood. Really fine stuff, the most exotic thing I have ever laid eyes on; the colour and patterns in the images speak for themselves. Needless to say it was a joy and an incredible privilege to have such beauty to work with. While it would have been hard to go wrong with such gorgeous material, I am especially happy with the sexy book match that really sets up the focal point of the whole affair: the delicate interplay of sapwood and heart wood captured along the length of the doors and then expounded on with the kalaidascope four way veneer match on the lid of the top tray. I chose Satinwood as the main compliment to the rosewood. I have used this combination before and find that the rich green tones and brown streaking with the redish highlights in the Indonesian rosewood are almost perfectly matched by the bright yellow of the Satinwood. The key was keeping the Satinwood contained until you wanted to see it.
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Enough words . . .
For some reason my lighting of this piece while taking photographs is very inconsistent, in some images this wood looks red and in others the green tones are more dominant. It may have something to do with using simple incandescent light and no flash and whatever other amature ways I employ . . . In any case the image below is to my eye the best representation of the colour of the Indonesian rosewood.
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Mykiss Fine Woodworking
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