Posted by Dave Bull at 2:04 AM, May 10, 2012 [Permalink]
Here we are with the final entry in the series showing the construction of the cases for the 'Arts of Japan' series. This isn't the last of the actual construction work - as we have only finished 70-odd cases yet - but from here on in it will simply be a lot more of the same.
The last step in the actual woodwork stage was of course finish sanding (this is what kept me busy during the entire weekend that Fujii-san was here doing her recent printing training):
The cases then went downstairs onto a temporary shelf/platform in the new space next door (we haven't got a 'name' for that room yet ... we'll have to see what people start to use ...):
And Lee-san - who is here for a couple of days this week - got right to work on the spraying. You can see where we haven't yet had time to knock out those breeze blocks separating the two rooms:
This 'spray booth' is a lot more pleasant than the one he got stuck with last week ...
And of course, the light is much better ...
After the testing last week, we decided to go with two coats of a fairly simple water-base varnish, giving the cases a pretty vigorous sanding between coats:
We're not attempting a 'super gloss' professional finish like the one on the previous Mystique series cases; we just don't have the experience or the resources to do that, and as we haven't used wood filler, the grain is fairly 'open'. The finish on these cases thus has a sort of 'natural' look, and we think it's quite attractive.
Putting the two coats on this batch was one very long day!
The cases then went back upstairs to the woodshop for final polishing, checking, and this important step - what is Tsushima-san doing?
Levelling the feet of course! She's working on a doubled glass plate, which is about the only way we could create an absolutely flat surface:
We'll temporarily skip the next couple of photos, which show the cases being 'loaded' with the first print, stand and acrylic panel (because they 'reveal' the interior and opening mechanism). But it all ends up looking like this:
It's a basically simple item, but we think it has turned out pretty well, and Lee-san and I shook hands in congratulations this evening at the conclusion of the work on this batch.
As for the other aspect of this - whether making the cases ourselves was actually a good idea from a business point of view ... this is perhaps something we can leave for another day. I don't want to spoil the mood tonight!
