Feb 02

TV Console Table

Hand-built TV Console Table


I finally finished our new TV console table! The purpose of this was to replace a beat up old beast of a particle board stand (last pic). Our house and living room is pretty tiny, so a while back @tamarynart requested a much smaller piece to open up the space. She also helped and instructed with the design – she uses this TV more so pleasing her was my only goal.
Constructed from scrap African mahogany from a furniture maker, walnut, and an inlayed bloodwood/Caribbean rosewood/brass flower from @copper_pig_fine_woodworking. Pyrography on the drawer fronts was designed and burned by @tamarynart.

Sep 09

Sydney & Sylas, Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D., 2019

I can finally share this wedding gift that @tamarynart and I made for my niece Sydney @spudknee and her new hubby Sylas @schnazzysylas! They spent their honeymoon in Ireland and just got back. We spent almost two months slowly pulling this together. The oil painting shows the Cliffs of Moher – painted on curly maple. It’s the first painting I’ve done in years and it shows. Haha. But I’m happy with it, all things considered. I scroll-sawed Ireland into a walnut board, and framed it in cherry with maple splines. I also hand carved the Celtic love knot. @tamarynart designed and burned the frame details. She also included a couple of burned kitchen utensils. Hopefully this will remind you both of fun times and great stories for decades to come! We love you both!

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I can finally share this wedding gift that @tamarynart and I made for my niece Sydney @spudknee and her new hubby Sylas @schnazzysylas! They spent their honeymoon in Ireland and just got back. We spent almost two months slowly pulling this together. The oil painting shows the Cliffs of Moher – painted on curly maple. It’s the first painting I’ve done in years and it shows. Haha. But I’m happy with it, all things considered. I scroll-sawed Ireland into a walnut board, and framed it in cherry with maple splines. I also hand carved the Celtic love knot. @tamarynart designed and burned the frame details. She also included a couple of burned kitchen utensils. Hopefully this will remind you both of fun times and great stories for decades to come! We love you both! … #scrollsawart #oilpainting #irelandart #pittsburghwoodworking #madeinpittsburgh #pyrography #weddinggift

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Jul 28

African wood-themed bedside table

African wood-themed bedside table

Bedside table is done!!

@tamarynart told me a couple weeks ago that she wanted a little table to replace the tiny stool that had been next to her side of the bed. It had to fit between the closet door and bed. She picked the padauk for the top (which roughly matches her ginger hair). Since she grew up partially in South Africa (her whole mom’s side is there), and the padauk is African, I decided to do something a little special for the drawer face. The wood is African stinkwood, which I talked about at length in the Jasper Family intarsia post. It’s from a chair my South African mom-in-law @sledv_life_rocks bought in the 70s. The pieces I have are small, so I glued up a couple with a walnut strip in the middle. The pull was hand-carved – intentionally rough and faceted. The base is walnut I got on clearance. The drawer was made from a really old 2×4” I found in our basement when we moved in (probably from the 50s). It will soon be graced with a small Qi-charging/USB lamp

Sep 24

Frame for AT-AT Watercolor by Julia Werts – Daniel D. Brown, 2018

I acquired a gorgeous silhouette painting of the AT-AT scene from Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back by Julia Kim Werts of The Paintbox Letters. This will be hanging in my geeky Star Wars-themed shop bathroom (see the instagram post below for a video of the bathroom). I built this quick and simple little frame using a couple of scrap pieces of walnut that were mostly bark (cutoffs from someone else’s king bed build). I managed to get just enough wood for the frame.

We have a tiny bathroom next to our shop/garage that is pretty much only used by me when I’m covered in sawdust. I started hanging a couple of my Star Wars artworks and the watercolor by @tam_a_ryn. Then one day I said “hey Honey, how would you feel if I just totally geeked out and made this a Star Wars room? I mean I’m the only one who ever sees it!”. Being the awesome wife she is, she was totally on board 🙂

Sep 11

Bandit’s Dog Bowl Display – Daniel D. Brown, 2018

Our aging pup Bandit has collapsing esophagus (due to the weakening of the cartilage rings in his throat due to old age). This makes it more difficult for him to drink when tilting his head to the ground. So I built this stand with a couple of random pieces of walnut and cherry I had lying around (which I milled myself from neighborhood trees). These were also the first hand-cut dovetails I’ve ever attempted. They could be better, but I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.