Ron Cook Studios

“Who Knows Where the Time Goes?”

2012-01-06T12:02:00.001-08:00

Remember that song? It was written by Sandy Denny (Strawbs, Fairport Convention) and made popular by Judy Collins in 1968. Well, to answer that “timely” question, time is just zipping by. My last post was two months ago, and the previous one was two months before that. Seems like only yesterday.

One reason for the recent delay in blog updates is, of course, the Holidays. Friends visited during Thanksgiving week, and then my wife and I traveled to Phoenix for Christmas. We stayed at the magnificent Arizona Biltmore, built in the 1920s and designed by Albert Chase McArthur, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright. The hotel design was definitely influenced by Wright (whose winter home, Taliesin West, was not too far away). The weather was cool, but clear and pleasant.

I spent one day climbing Piestewa Peak (formerly Squaw Peak), and it was grueling. It took me several hours to reach the top, a 1200 foot climb on one of the roughest, rockiest trails I’ve ever been on. It was worth it. The view that day was spectacular! (See photo.) I also visited the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) again. Once more I spent nearly seven hours there studying the types and evolution of instruments from around the world. To me, it’s easily one of the best Museums around the country.

We also spent a great evening at the Desert Botanical Garden, which was having “Los Noches de Las Luminarias”, a beautiful Southwest-style Christmas season event. The entire facility and trails were lined with luminarias, which got prettier as the sun set. We walked the many trails, enjoying the desert environment, and had dinner in the events center.

New Work

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas I was working hard in my studio to complete a couple more pieces before the end of the year. Also, I’m finishing up a presentation I’ll give to the Diablo Woodworkers January 11th.

As you’ve seen in previous blogs, I’m working more and more on medieval-style furnishings. My newest piece is another hand-turned, hand-carved, rush seat stool. On my first rush seat stool I used fiber rush, a paper product. On my newest, I used the real thing: natural cat tail rush. Like most of my medieval-style furniture, this is white oak.

Over the last two years, I’ve made several autoharps based on the 1885-1890 originals by the Zimmermann Company in Dolgeville, New York. Around the middle of 2011, I did some patent searches on the internet for zithers, stringed instruments, and autoharps. One patent I found from around 1928 was for an autoharp of a very different design, round and long, and for standing up to play using a strap, like a guitar strap. I was intrigued and decided to make it. Here' it is:

The patent was given to J. H. Large, and so far, only one has turned up, and it was probably a prototype. It seems to have never gone into production. Oscar Schmidt came out with a similar autoharp in the 1960s called the Guitaro. The made hundreds, some electrified, for only a few years, and they keep popping up on eBay at pretty high prices.

During the 1920s, ukuleles were very popular, and Koa was the wood of choice. I still had some Koa left over from our trip to the big island of Hawaii 17 or 18 years ago, and used it for this autoharp. The binding, bridges, and keys are maple. It has 20 strings, and an unusual set of 9 key bars set up with two major, two minor, and five major sevenths. It has a very nice, full, resonate tone.

That’s it for now. I’m still working on another harp, and finally started on a medieval three-legged chair that’s been in the planning stages for over a year.

Onward…

Two Months Later…

2011-11-04T12:19:00.001-07:00

It’s been a while since my last blog, and a lot has happened. First, there is only 9 days left for the Santa Cruz Woodworkers’ exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History, and tonight (November 4th) is the last First Friday event for the show. Now I’m feverishly trying to figure out where I’m going to put everything when I bring it home on the 14th.

Even though I’m running out of space in my house for my artwork, I've created quite a few new pieces since my last blog in August.

Instruments

I recently completed my fifth “Dolgeville” autoharp. It’s another Model 2 3/4, similar to the one I sold at the American Craft Council Show in San Francisco. This is the first instrument that I used the black walnut cut from South Dakota logs given to me a few years ago by one of my wife’s co-workers. It has a lovely flamed pattern on the bookmatched front and back. For a little change from my first Model 2 3/4, I carved faces on the key guides. Another lovely sounding instrument.

The second recently completed instrument is another black walnut hourglass Mountain dulcimer. This is “Molly Malone”, the Irish fishmonger selling “cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o”. The tuning pegs are hand-carved partially opening cockle shells. I think this one has incredible tone.

Medieval Furniture

Continuing on my newer artistic path, I’ve finished several pieces since August. First is another white oak hand-carved medieval trestle stool, similar to the one I have in the Museum of Art & History Santa Cruz Woodworkers’ show. Second is a “cricket”, a small trestle stool used as a foot stool, made of cherry and purpleheart.

And now for something completely different…

Always one who likes to try something new, my most recently completed piece is a white oak rush-seat stool with hand-carved faces on the tops of the four legs. Unlike the designs of my other stools that have a connection to historical sources (paintings, Victoria & Albert Museum, etc.), my rush-seat stool is completely original. It has a medieval look to it, and it’s really the rush weaving that might be considered historically based, since that style of seat has been around for centuries.

All parts, legs and rails, were hand turned by me on my Jet mini lathe. Before assembling it, I carved the medieval-style faces on the top corner of each leg. I had to learn how to weave the rush seat, so I did a lot of research before attempting it. Even after finishing the weave, I noticed errors on the last four or five runs and had to re-do it. It’s actually very comfortable to sit on.

And something else completely different…

Pictures. Pictures? Yes. For an upcoming show at the Santa Cruz Art League called “Small Wonders” (no pieces larger than 14” square), I created some 10” x 10” frames with some of my hand-carved faces attached to them. Some faces are wood, some are tagua nut.

There are several more pieces on my workbenches at various stages of progress that I hope to have completed soon. Check back later this month.

Onward…

An Exciting, Exhausting August

2011-08-31T17:45:00.001-07:00

Yes, it was. The month went fast, but that’s only because so much was going on. Where to start?

In the beginning, there was light. Well, one light anyway. On the First Friday Art Tour, August 5th, the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History was wall to wall people who came to see Studio Made: The Santa Cruz Woodworkers, our group show (running through November 13). At noon, several of us woodworkers gave tours and talks on our work for a large, very attentive crowd of wood aficionados and other interested people. For the evening portion of First Friday, I talked to many who wanted to know more about my work. One of my newest pieces, the Medieval Chandelier, got quite a bit of attention.

The exhibit opening got a lot of attention. A very good review by Maureen Davidson (thank you) was published in the Santa Cruz Good Times paper the following week. You can read it HERE. Also, the Time Publishing Group, another local newspaper, announced my participation in the exhibition with a short article. Read that one HERE.

Anyway, after the excitement of First Friday, I had no time to relax. The following day, I feverishly worked to finish up a couple of pieces I wanted to take to the next week’s San Francisco American Craft Council Show at Fort Mason. By Wednesday, August 10th, everything was finished and packed up for the show. Thursday was the drive to San Francisco and booth set up day. I opted for a corner booth this time, which proved to be much better at bringing in people to see and purchase my work. Several people who come to the show every year asked if this was my first year exhibiting, because they never saw me before. This was actually my seventh year, but I always had a 10 x 10 booth squeezed in the middle of other booths, and many people would just walk by talking and/or focusing on other things. Corner booths from now on! They are easier to set up, easier to tear down, and make my work stand out better.

This is always a fun show. A lot of work for four days, but fun. I’m here with the American Craft Council’s new executive director, Chris Amundson. He’s a great guy who walked the show all three days and seemed to try to meet and talk with every single crafts person. I’m pleased to be associated with the ACC under the leadership of such a great guy.

No sooner did I get home and unload my Jeep, but I had to head back to the museum for a photo shoot and interview by Wallace Baine, the entertainment writer for the Santa Cruz Sentinel newspaper. He did a lead article on our woodworking group and museum show that appeared in the paper the following Thursday. I think this was the first time all 10 of the Santa Cruz Woodworkers were together at the same time. Click HERE to read the full article, and see some other photos of pieces in the show. Left to right in the photo: Jefferson Shallenberger, Ron Cook (me), Patrick Stafford, Roger Heitzman, Michael Singer, Om Anand, Matthew Werner, Ron Day, Joshua Salesin, and Gary Stevens.

Meanwhile…

Another antique instrument is on my workbench. My customer, who not only had me restore an 1850 Pennsylvania-German scheitholdt, but also commissioned me to build a custom dulcimer for him, purchased through ebay a very unique “dulcimer” that was probably made in or around the small farm community of Worth, Missouri, around 1890-1900. The instrument was made by someone named Violet (or Violette), and has five strings, which is unusual for a dulcimer. The number of strings, the layout of the melody strings over the frets, and the shorter scale length (several inches shorter than a “normal” dulcimer at 24 1/2 inches, make me believe this is actually an American-made Epinette, in the style of an Epinette des Vosges. Also, the maker had a French name, and might have made the instrument as he remembered from the Old Country.

In the last few days, I started removing the sides so I can get inside to repair cracks and solidify the underside of the fingerboard, which is worn through from being played so much. (According to family history from the ebay seller, it was last played around 1936 or so.) It has a very thick stain, almost like paint, over the entire instrument. The grain barely showed through. Also, the thick stain might not be original to the instrument, but applied after what looks like a very primitive attempt to repair the instrument. The stain is rough, as if it was applied during a dust storm, but probably put on outside or in a dusty workshop. It also covers areas of glue squeeze-out that was not cleaned off. Every glue joint looks as if the glue was forced into cracks and separations at some point.

I believe that the maker would not have done this type of finish on an instrument of such sophisticated construction, but that another person did the “repairs” much later, perhaps in the 1920s. Once I took the sides off, I could see the instrument is all black walnut, which grows especially well on the deep, well-drained soils of north Missouri. The sides came off very easily, since they were attached with hide glue. All it took was a little water to soften the glue, and the sides literally popped off with a little prodding.

In Process…

There are several pieces in various stages of carving and construction that are hanging around my studio right now. The first is a reworking of an older harp. Actually, it’s my first large medieval-style harp that I made around 4 or 5 years ago. This was also the first I made with a “coopered” back, segments glued in a circular style similar to a wood barrel (like a wine barrel). Even though it was a beautiful sounding harp, I was never really happy with the way it turned out. So, I dismantled it, made a new peg head and post, and reworked the ends of the body. The new parts are ready to carve. I hope to have it done by the time of the Open Studios Art Tour.

There are a couple of other pieces I’m trying to finish for Open Studios. I’m trying to complete the carving on my third pair of medieval-style candle holders. My first pair, which I planned to save for the woodworking show at the Museum of Art & History, sold last year at the 2010 Open Studios. My second pair, I finished in time to put in the museum. I want another for this year’s Open Studios, just in case another person falls in love with them.

In the left side of the photo on the right are parts for my next Pennsylvania-German scheitholdt. The head is shaped and ready for carving. In the middle of the photo is the head for my next Mountain dulcimer, which is in the form ready for assembly. I need to finalize the carving.

So, as you can see, I have a lot of carving ahead of me.

And Now For Something Completely Different…

Earlier this year, I was contacted by a fellow in Hollister, California, who was giving away a ton of wood in his barn/workshop so he would have room to use his tools. Most of the wood had been given to him by an industrial arts instructor at Gavilan College, and the fellow finally decided to give it to someone to use for artwork. I drove to Hollister, finding a woodworking friend there already, and we sorted through stacks and barrels finding many treasures, and some bug-filled rejects. There was every type of hardwood from every continent in the world. I was able to pick up some beautiful cuts of black walnut burl, and a large 8 foot by 2 1/2 foot by 2 inch thick black walnut slab. I knew as soon as I got it that it would have to be a George Nakashima-style table top. Well, it’s happened! This picture is the unfinished piece in a corner of our bedroom. I still have to make S-shaped doors on the front, and put a finish on it, but it’s nearly done. I even put two Nakashima-style butterfly inserts over top cracks. Wildly different for me!

In the last couple of days, I’ve milled other Hollister black walnut burl pieces for instruments. I also milled some of the South Dakota walnut that was given to me several years ago. Last week I checked the moisture content, and it was just right to mill and use in new work – maybe an autoharp? More to come…

Yes, it’s been a busy month. In September I’ll be trying to complete a few things for Open Studios, so it shouldn’t be quite as crazy as July and August have been. But… who knows. It’s been a very foggy month, and there was no sun again today. September and October are supposed to be the sunniest, nicest months of the year here, so I’m looking forward to some warmth, and a few more barbeques before winter sets in.

Onward…

Studio Made: Santa Cruz Woodworkers

2011-08-01T16:07:00.001-07:00

It’s been three years in the making, but the exhibition is finally here. On July 29th, a special preview to the members and friends of the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History was held in the evening. The gallery was full to overflowing, and a good time was had by all.

And coming up this week, on the First Friday Art Walk, August 5th, the Santa Cruz Woodworkers will be on hand to answer questions and give gallery tours at the Museum, starting at noon. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History First Friday Art Tour runs from 12 noon to 9 pm. Admission: Free.

The last few months have been incredibly busy for me, and it keeps on keepin’ on. In previous blogs I’ve kept you up to date on pieces I was working on for this exhibition. What I didn’t mention was that I had to make four of my own pedestals for some of my work, plus new hangers for some of the instruments I put on display.

In the middle of all this I had three restorations (two ukuleles, one guitar), and a fourth (dulcimer) showed up on my doorstep, which I’ll start on soon. (More on that remarkable 19th century dulcimer in a later post.) And… to prepare for our house being painted, I had to rebuild part of the roof of my studio (termite problem) and do a lot of cleanup around the house.

Now that the exhibition is up and running, you’d think I’d take some time off. But no-o-o. The San Francisco American Craft Council Show is a little over a week away, and I’m rapidly finishing up three new pieces for it: a medieval oak trestle stool (similar to the one I have at the Museum show), a medieval-style cricket (small, short foot stool), and another pair of candlesticks. By the way, this fantastic crafts show runs August 12-14 at Fort Mason, Festival Pavilion. I’m in booth 209.

And now for something completely different, here’s a series of photos taken at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History during the Member preview party:

Me with Rebec and Medieval Fiddle Some of the crowd enjoying my work

My Box Trestle Table and                             My new chandelier
Medieval Trestle Stool

Showing off my Medieval Chess Set              I got a gift award for all my web work
                                                                      and poster and postcard designs

Well, that’s it for now. Time to get back to making sawdust. (i.e., carving). Onward through the fog…

The Return of “El Guapo”

2011-05-23T17:40:00.001-07:00

Nearly six years ago I restored a beautiful large Amezcua classical guitar that came from Paracho, the premier guitar building center of Mexico. Like my California home town of Santa Cruz, there seems to be a luthier on every block. And like my home town, many Paracho guitars can look and sound exceptionally beautiful, but some are exceptionally bad.

El Guapo, as my client calls her Amezcua guitar, is one of the really beautiful and well-made guitars. It came to me in 2006 with the head broken off (see picture), and it took quite a while to fix it. When I finished, it came out like new. As with all major repairs and restorations that I do, I photograph all the processes and put together logs that I give my customers when I receive final payment. To see the log for my 2006 repair of this Amezcua guitar, and photos of the finished product with its beautiful inlays, click the following link:

http://www.roncookstudios.com/PDFs/Amezcua%20Guitar%20Repair%20Log.pdf

Well, unfortunately, El Guapo had an accident recently. A fall cracked the head, right where I repaired it. Even though it’s a clean crack, I’ll still have to remove the head to fix it, which means the lamination and inlay will surely have to be redone. Like I did before, I’ll photograph the process and add an “addendum” to the 2006 repair log. Hopefully, this shouldn’t take too long, and I’ll be starting on it as soon as I finish up one other repair.

And that other repair is an old baritone ukulele. It’s probably from the 1950’s, or even early 1960’s, evidenced by the “Hilo” brand sticker on the peg head. It might have been made in Japan, but I’m not sure since I couldn’t find any relevant information on it. It is very thin koa and looks like it was played quite a bit. There are many scratches and a gouge on the tail end. One back brace is missing, and the bridge has been modified, probably to change string spacing. With a little TLC, it should be a lovely sounding instrument.

In the Studio

Meanwhile, work continues on the last major piece I’m making for my part of the Santa Cruz Woodworkers exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History (MAH), July 30 through November 13, 2011. I still have a couple of small pieces to finish, but they’ll take very little time to do. This large piece is my medieval-style chandelier. It’s all white oak, and I’ve carved the sides and also carved flowers, leaves, and a large bee for the bottom. The sides and bottom will have sandblasted-looking glass, and inside will be electric lighting made to look like candles. I just started applying the tung oil finish, and it should be done in another week or so. It’s been a lot of work, but kind of exciting doing something other than musical instruments for a change.

By the way, here’s the advertisement for our woodworking exhibit that will appear in the Summer issue of American Style Magazine:

As for other work, I need to finish carving the head for my next black walnut dulcimer. This one will be called Molly Malone. I also have parts cut out and ready to carve for another Pennsylvania German schietholdt, a symphony, and a double-sided harp psaltery, another instrument based on the Cantigas de Santa Maria illuminated manuscript. Little by little, everything will get done in the next three or four months.

And now for something completely different…

We’ve been thinking about removing our large tv from the living room so we can use the space for “regular” furniture. So the plan is to put the tv in our bedroom corner on a custom television stand/cabinet. Some of the free wood I acquired in Hollister several months ago included a large, 8-foot-long slab of black walnut. It was a full 2-inches thick and up to 30 inches wide in sections, and included some bark (and remnants of wood-boring critters). When I first looked at that slab, I immediately thought of the work of George Nakashima. My tv stand design is based on those wonderful desks and tables designed and built by Nakashima. I’m taking my time on it, and it’s turning out pretty nice. Stay tuned.

Until next time, onward through the fog…-

Welcome to My Workshop: A Detour

2011-04-15T15:29:00.000-07:00

Ah. A beautiful weekend. It was warm and sunny and perfect for gardening… and making sawdust. Actually, making wood shavings for this artist’s wife to soak and dye yarn for small weavings and knitting. She’s received quite a bit of natural yarn from her cousin who raises sheep, which got her thinking about how old natural dying processes were used to color the yarn. So far, she’s used flower petals, onion skins, tea, and now walnut wood shavings, which gave her yarn a lovely light brown color.

That was a very short detour. A little longer detour is the one I’ve been taking in my artwork. As I’ve mentioned several times before, the Santa Cruz Woodworkers, which I’m I member of, will be exhibiting at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, starting July 30th. I’ve finished all but one of the new pieces I’ll be displaying, so I’m kind of winding down from the 6-day-a-week grind I’ve maintained for so long. However, the winding down also kind of brought me down trying to overthink and work out the artistic direction I want to travel in the future. (More on that direction later.)

I’ve cut down on the number of craft shows and arts festivals this year to two, down from six a few years ago. Of course, the main reason for fewer shows is the problem with the economy. People stopped buying much art. Much of the jewelry and wearable art (mainly women’s clothing), continues to do well, but decorative art has not. Shows are expensive to do, so this year I’m only doing the local San Francisco American Craft Council Show at Fort Mason (August 12-14), and the very local (at home) Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour.

As you probably know by now, if you’ve followed my blog for a while, I’ve been a luthier, a builder of stringed instruments, since 1972. I’ve made more than 300 instruments, from autoharps to zithers (Ok, autoharps are zithers too, but I needed the A-to-Z reference), with occasional detours to small keyboard instruments (pianoforte, portative organ). Since we found out,nearly two years ago, about our woodworking show being scheduled at the museum, I decided to add to my medieval-style instruments, with medieval-style furniture. That’s the longer detour.

In past blogs, I’ve shown photos of my big medieval German box trestle table while I’ve been working on it. Well, it’s finally done! (See photo!) I’m very pleased with the results. The carving is totally different from anything I’ve done before. There are a few “faces” around, on the ends of the trestles and on the wooden padlock, but the entire box is relief carved in a floral pattern. Anyway, while researching this style of table, as well as benches and stools of that period, I got to thinking more and more about turning off of my luthier path and taking a detour to medieval furnishings.

The small white oak trestle stool I completed last year for the museum show has been a big visual success, and I’ve been asked to make more, with not only oak, but walnut and maple, for future craft shows and possible inclusion in gallery and/or art catalog sales. To make layout and cutting of the four pieces that make up the stool, last week I created templates out of scrap 1/4” mahogany plywood. That way, each stool I make will be the same size and cut at the right 12° angle.

This week I started on a new oak stool. Using the templates, and setting my saws and drills at 12°, I was able to dry fit the stool in less than 8 hours of work. Of course the carving will take much longer, but I plan to have this completed for the August American Craft Council Show in San Francisco.

Last year I picked up a couple of books on medieval furniture. Most of the pieces described in the books are examples from museums and tourist castles in England. Some are simple, but elegant, stools and chests, and others are intricately carved beds, chairs, and cabinets. I’ve been studying several of them for future projects.

A Modern Detour

Back in February, I wrote about traveling to Hollister where I found a treasure trove of free wood. I filled up my Jeep and its lumber rack with a ton of walnut, maple, cherry, and several types of exotic woods. One grand piece of black walnut I got was 8 feet long, 2 to 3 feet wide, and a full 2 inches thick. With it I’m making a custom corner television and media stand for our bedroom. When I first laid eyes on this piece of wood, the first thing I thought about was making something in the George Nakashima style, using the natural shape of the wood in the design of the piece. (To see what I’m talking about, check out the late George Nakashima’s work, and new work carried on by his daughter at their website: www.nakashimawoodworker.com.) One thing George Nakashima was known for was inserting dovetail “keys” in the wood over cracks for checks. I did the same thing on my tv cabinet.

The legs and shelves are made from the cut off ends of the piece I’m using for the top. They’ll all be attached by mortises and tenons.

New Tool

When I was using my old small 4” wide by 24” long jointer to plane down the surfaces of the black walnut legs for my Nakashima-style tv stand, the blade stopped turning after only two passes. Not only did it stopped turning, but I was getting an acrid smell coming from the motor. Well, after 20 years of fairly heavy use, it died. The motor seized up and the windings burned. This was an inexpensive jointer at the time, and the company went out of business less than 5 years after I bought it. In other words, I found no way to get a new motor for it. Instead, I searched around for a new jointer, small enough to fit my little shop, but robust enough to plane hard woods with ease. After reading reviews of the three I picked out, I decided on the Delta Shopmaster. It’s a 6” wide by 30” long jointer with a three-speed motor. (Slow for very narrow pieces of wood, faster for wider pieces.) As soon as it came, I made a roll-around stand for it so I can roll it out when I use it, roll it out of the way when done. I used it right away on the four black walnut tv legs, and it completed the task without a problem.

Meanwhile, In the Studio…

Oh yeah. I’m still a luthier. Right? Right.

A few weeks ago I finished my fourth autoharp. This one is based on the 1885 Zimmermann Autoharp, Model 2 3/4. It’s a five-bar autoharp that plays in either the key of C or key of F. I made this one out of scrap lacewood (Australian silky oak), maple, and black walnut trim. Autoharps have a sound like no other zither-style instrument, and the sweet sound of this one can make you think about simpler times and the music that told stories and inspired generations of folk singers (including me).

Also on the workbench is another black walnut dulcimer. I call this one “Sweet Betsey From Pike”. (That’s the way “Betsey” is spelled in the song.) The sides are already steam bent and in the assembly form waiting for me to finish carving “Betsey”. I’m currently on my detour on the medieval furniture path, but the paths do converge once in a while, so I hope to also have Betsey finished for the San Francisco American Craft Council Show.

Once again, I’ve gotten a little verbose… but a lot is happening, and a lot is going on. The days are getting longer, and a little warmer. I cleaned the BBQ, and already used it this last weekend. Yum.

On another note: A reminder that this summer I can take a few “apprentices” (one at at time) in intense two-week independent studies on the art, history, and construction of early stringed instruments. Students will make either a medieval lyre or psaltery (which they can keep) after researching and drawing plans for the instrument. Some power tool use, but most will be with hand tools. Cost is $400 for 40 hours of instruction and supervision. For information, contact me at ron@roncookstudios.com, or call me at (831) 425-4933.

Welcome to My Workshop—March 2011

2011-03-20T11:42:00.001-07:00

It used to be this time of year I would be well into show season, with the Baltimore American Craft Council Show in February and the Scottsdale Arts Festival in March. A few times, I’ve even spent time in the Baulines Craft Guild booth at the Contemporary Craft Market at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, sometimes the week before Scottsdale. More often it’s the same weekend as Scottsdale. Also, I’ve been cutting back on the number of shows I do each year, mainly due to the high costs and low returns (economic downturn).

This year,I’ll only do the San Francisco American Craft Council Show in August, and our local Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour in October. My main thrust now is in completing a couple of final new works for the upcoming Santa Cruz Woodworkers show at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. So, last week, no Scottsdale, but I spent a day showing off and talking about four of my newer instrument creations in the Baulines booth at the Contemporary Craft Market. This is a fun two day show, smaller then the big American Craft Council event, and with a few of the same craftspeople there that show at both. There is a different “vibe” at this show then any I’ve been in, and the arts and crafts range from “barely acceptable” to “exceptional”. Most of the artists I’ve never heard of or seen before in my show journeys.

On the (Crowded) Workbench

I have some pieces nearing completion, but I also have many pieces in various stages of work. Several are artistic “spec” pieces (hoping they sell some day), and some are for the Santa Cruz Woodworkers exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History. I’m working on the last three pieces now for that exhibit. (By the way, the title for the show is “Studio Made: Santa Cruz Woodworkers” and will run from July 30 to November 13.)

One of my exhibit pieces is a wooden medieval-style chandelier. I just finished the rough carving of all four sides, and will be doing the final carving and sanding in the next few weeks before assembling it.

Nearing completion is my century box trestle table. This is based on a German museum piece that’s from the 1500s. I’m currently applying a finish of tung oil. It will take a few days more to cure, then I can complete the project with some paste wax.

Meanwhile, on another section of my workbench, I’m finishing up my fourth Dolgeville-style autoharp. This one is based on the Zimmermann Autoharp Model 2 3/4, first made around 1880 in Philadelphia, then later in Dolgeville, New York, around 1885. The Zimmermann Autoharp Company lasted only six years, and the styles and patents were picked up by the Oscar Schmidt Company, which still makes them today (in China). Oscar Schmidt continued to make the five-chord Model 2 3/4 up into the 1950s, and many ended up in elementary school music classes. (I just acquired one that was used at the Sacramento Elementary School District.) My new autoharp is a little unusual for me, because I laminated thin pieces of lacewood (Australian Silky Oak) over 1/8” mahogany plywood for the top and back. I usually make everything with solid wood, but the lacewood is very thin (under 1/16”) and needed the backing. I’ve just started putting the tung oil finish on, and the wood’s beautiful grain is really coming out.

And, on the workbench across from the autoharp, is my next walnut dulcimer, called “Sweet Betsey From Pike.” Last week I steam bent the sides, and they’re now in the assembly form awaiting the head and tail piece. The female head carving is 1/2 finished. This is another gracefully thin hourglass dulcimer I base on the J. Edward Thomas dulcimer I saw at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.

There are, of course, several more instruments and furnishing pieces scattered around my workshop. Cut out and ready to start on is my second Pennsylvania German-style scheitholdt, this one made out of poplar. Started several months ago, but awaiting more time and workbench space, is another symphony, an 11th-12th century box-shaped hurdy gurdy. Also cut out and ready to start on is a unique two-sided psaltery, another of my Cantigas de Santa Maria instruments. Nearly done are two sets of walnut candle holders. The bases and stems are turned and polished, but the tops still need to be carved.

Anyway, as pieces get completed, others are waiting in the wings to take center stage on my workbench. At least, without so many shows to do this year, I’m getting a lot of work done in my studio. So…

Onward through the fog… and wind… and rain. (This is the first day of Spring???)

Wood, Wood, and More Wood

2011-02-14T11:36:00.001-08:00

After a month of gorgeous Spring-like weather, and watching the acacias (ah-choo) and plum trees bloom (nearly a month early), the rains returned today and will be with us all week as arctic storm after arctic storm are stacked up and heading to our Central California coast. Even though it has been a wet winter, officially California is still on drought alert and water restrictions will probably continue through the Summer. The rains are welcome.

The Wood Story

Two days ago, just before the clouds started arriving, I got a call from a fellow in Hollister who was getting rid of a lot of wood that had pretty much taken over his large workshop building. I expected just a bunch of scraps, but was pleasantly surprised to see large boards of many different types of woods lining walls and filling over a dozen plastic garbage bins. I arrived there probably ten minutes after one of my Santa Cruz Woodworkers buddies, and the two of us spent around two hours sorting through the stash. The weather was warm, in the 80s, and we worked up a sweat hauling out material.

Anyway, I brought home several 6 and 7 foot long boards, actually cross section millings of parts of trees, and many, many 3 and 4 foot long pieces and a few shorts. I brought home some beautiful black and claro walnut, including a 7 foot long by nearly 2 foot wide section of a tree that would make a great “Nakashima" style desk, side table, or bench; a couple of long sections of yellow acacia; several pieces of teak; quite a bit of cocobolo from short pieces to 4 foot long 1 x 2s and 1 x 3s; and some mystery woods that I need to plane off a little to see what’s under the weathered, dusty surface. There are also several beautiful large burl cuts of walnut, some that looked like part of someone’s chair/bench making project. Quite a find.

Of course, the main problem with bringing home so much wood (my Jeep Cherokee was pretty full) was where to put it all. Yesterday I spent several hours rearranging my half of the garage to fit the wood on racks, in my wood bin, and along one wall so I’d still have room to work at my saws, jointer, and sanders. It worked. And, my wife can still park her Mini on her side of the garage. Now, what should I make out of that nice wood… (to be continued).

Restorations & Repairs

I just finished restoring a lovely antique concert zither for a fellow back in the Washington, D.C. area. It was made by Franz Schonfeld in Vienna around the end of the 19th century. All I was able to find out about Franz Schonfeld was a reference to a couple of German-language books listing him as an Austrian violin maker who worked from around 1890 to 1915. Schonfeld, or his shop, must have also made zithers, which were very popular in Austria, Hungary, and Germany at that time. I’ve read about other violin makers, mainly in Germany, who did the same thing. I also refinished/restored the case. I’ll be writing the repair log today and tomorrow and should have it posted on my web site next week.

Next on the bench is a large, more modern German-made chord zither. The label says it was made by the Rauner. I found two Rauner references: F. A. Rauner, East Berlin, whose main business was harmonicas and accordians, and Johan Rauner of Nuremberg, who was a violin and cello maker. F.A. Rauner’s company lasted until 1972, and Johan Rauner was working around the same time. I’m pretty sure Johan Rauner is the maker of this particular zither, since, as I mentioned about Schonfeld, violin makers are known to have also made zithers on the side. From the style of the label, this Rauner zither is probably from the 1960s or 1970s. I haven’t checked the inside for a date yet.

Also on the bench is a harpsichord lid refinishing job. A lady’s harpsichord just happened to be in the wrong place during a heavy rainstorm. It was under a skylight that began to leak, and the water put a large “white” area on the mahogany surface. I’ll be cleaning and refinishing it within the next week or so.

In The Studio

There’s a lot going on and a lot planned. I’ve milled and cut enough pieces to last me through the next six months. (No, I haven’t cut any of my “new” wood yet.) This photo shows just a portion of works in progress and works waiting in the wings. In progress on my workbench, clockwise from the top, are two pairs of medieval-style candle holders, a symphony (early hurdy-gurdy), two walnut dulcimer heads and tailpieces awaiting more carving, and my second Pennsylvania German Scheitholdt (this one is poplar). On the far left is a stack of wood for a new Cantigas de Santa Maria project (more on that later), and in the center are some folk art spoons awaiting completion.

Other works in progress not in the photo include some pieces I’m carving and assembling for the upcoming Santa Cruz Woodworkers exhibit at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH) starting July 30th. Preparations for the exhibit are coming along, and I’ll be writing more about it as the exhibition date gets closer. It will be an exciting gallery show!

Something else I’m working on is actually in my office, not in the workshop: I’m working on updating the design of my web site. I want to make it easier to navigate, with fewer pages and with a better user interface, and to make it much easier for me to update and maintain. I had several professional photos taken of my work from the last year, and need to show them off. I hope to have the new site up before the end of the month. (If I can find the time!)

That’s it for now. It’s late morning, it’s raining, and I’ve got to open the studio and start warming it up. Onward…

Steel, Glass, Wood, & Recognition

2011-01-28T11:56:00.001-08:00

It’s not even February yet, and it feels like Spring. Sun is shining, days are pleasant, and even some of the plum trees in our alley are already blossoming. I haven’t had to turn on the heat in my studio for nearly three weeks. Global warming? Maybe, but it’s probably the old California La Niña weather pattern in effect again. Of course, that may also be why the eastern half of the country is having so much snow and freezing weather.

Recent Events

I have to toot my horn here. Yesterday, I got probably the biggest surprise of the last several years. One of my dulcimers, “The Lady With a Checkered Past”, is in the Winter, 2011, issue of Dulcimer Players News (scanned cover on the right), in a lovely article written by her owner and professional banjo and dulcimer player, Mary Z. Cox. Not only is the article interesting, but flattering. I feel honored she wrote about the dulcimer and complimented me on my work. Of course, the biggest surprise was when I opened the envelope the magazine was mailed in and saw “The Lady” on the cover! If your local book store doesn’t carry Dulcimer Players News, contact the DPN website to get an issue. It’s a wonderful magazine, and there’s always good articles on both Mountain and hammered dulcimers.

A couple of weeks ago, I attended the artist reception at the Baulines Craft Guild Master Annual Exhibit at the Marin Community Foundation, 5 Hamilton Landing (2nd floor), Novato, California. The show runs to March 17th, and the Foundation offices are open Monday through Friday from 9 to 5. The reception was great fun, and very well attended, including a school group of young teens who seemed very interested in the crafts. There are around 250 craft pieces on display around the large building, which is a remodeled hanger that used to house planes when the area was the Hamilton Air Force Base. I have six instruments on display, and my Summer student has two. The works of other Baulines Craft Guild members include fiber art, ceramics, glass, metalwork, and,of course, woodwork, including pieces by legendary Gary Knox Bennett and TV host and instructor David Marks. See the show if you can. I think it’s pretty spectacular.

In my last post I mentioned I was getting ready to start a Cabrillo College extension course on Lighting and Warm Glass. Well, I did it. Even with the head and chest cold I was carrying around the first week, I was able to design and build a new chandelier for our dining room. For years my wife and I hated the cheap and ugly chandelier that hung over our dining room table but were never able to find a replacement we both liked. Now we have a new “old” chandelier we love. I did some research on medieval and renaissance lighting fixtures and found one that fit the bill. However, it was all metal, and I hadn’t worked with metal (cutting and welding) for nearly 35 years. Also, the type of metal cutting and welding at the class is much different than what I used to do back then. Cutting was done using a plasma cutter, which, when used correctly can make fairly intricate, fine, and decorative cuts (it took me a few days of practice). I was working on it right up to the last minutes before the “artist” reception the evening of the last day. I spent quite a bit of the last day adding special “rust” patination to the piece. It really makes it look medieval. The next two days after the class was over I spent wiring and installing the chandelier. With the dimmer on low, it looks like candle light shining through the sandblasted glass. (Yes, I also learned how to bend and sandblast glass.) It was an intense two weeks, but fun and rewarding.

Finally, last week was the reception for the Santa Cruz Art League Members’ Show (A – K). I have one of my newest instruments on display there: The Dolgeville Autoharp, Model 1. It’s a reproduction of the original 3-chord 1885 Zimmermann autoharp. The Zimmermann Company started out in Philadelphia, and by 1890 had moved to Dolgeville, New York. It’s most famous autoharp, the Model 73, is still made (in China, unfortunately) by the Oscar Schmidt company, who has made it since the early 1900s.

On February 12th, the second half of the Members’ Show (L – Z) begins, with a reception on February 19th, 3 to 5 pm.

In the Workshop

Nearing completion (finally) is my Chapter House Portative Organ. I’m now rubbing out and polishing all the parts, and just finished putting tung oil on the pipe surfaces. This project has been going on for more than a year (close to two years now), and I’m pretty excited to be on the home stretch. Photos coming soon.

Another long-running project (only 6 months or so), is a box trestle table. This is my design based on a German table from the 1600s. The legs and the top and bottom of the table are complete. I’m now carving the sides of the box in a style similar to the original. This WILL be done for the Santa Cruz Woodworkers Show at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH), which starts July 30th.

My newest project is another lighting fixture. This one is square, but made out of wood. It will have a similar design to the metal one I made at the Cabrillo College “Lighting and Warm Glass” extension class. The sides will be joined with box joints, and it will also have frosted (sandblasted) glass on the bottom and sides.

There are, of course, several instruments in process and others waiting to be started, and I’m still working on fixing and restoring antique zithers. I just finished one, and I have one more to do in February. The completed one is a Viennese concert zither by Franz Schonfeld, from around 1880-1900. It has Brazilian Rosewood on the front and back, and what looks like an Indian rosewood on the sides. It’s a pretty instrument with a warm, full tone.

Well, it’s another sunny day, and it’s time for me to get back to work. Rain is forecast this weekend, and it’s supposed to get chilly again. I’ll go out and make hay (or rather sawdust) while the sun shines. Onward…

Welcome To My Workshop: 2011

2011-01-02T19:11:00.001-08:00

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out. Well, actually, it was firecrackers and sky rockets celebrating New Years. And now, here it is January 2, 2011, already. For me, it’s a new year with new ideas, new arts & crafts, and new things happening…, and both of us here have colds. Ugh!

But I refuse to let it get me down. I still spent a day in the studio, trying to get as much done as possible before my two weeks of intensive education at Cabrillo College. I’m taking an extension course on Lighting/Warm Glass. As the Cabrillo blurb says, “…a 2-week intensive course [for]students of any level--beginning to advanced--will learn the construction of working light fixtures and table lamps utilizing a variety of materials. By the end of the course you'll have a working light source of your own design. The course will cover beginning and intermediate techniques for fusing and slumping glass, safety, wiring, types of lighting, bulbs (Incandescent, Halogen, LED, Low Voltage, EL Wire, etc.), You'll have an opportunity to work in metal, wood, glass, paper, mica and found objects. Instruction will include: hot and cold metal forging, welding, soldering, patination, glass cutting, layering, drilling and grinding.” I’m looking forward to it, and hope to design and build a medieval style chandelier for our dining room.

Our colds are probably the result of our Christmas vacation in San Francisco. We spent time around a lot of people in museums and the crowds around Union Square and the stores there. Our first day in the City was spent at the DeYoung Museum, where we got to see the Musée d’Orsay Post Impressionist exhibit. Being face-to-face with VanGogh’s “Starry Night on the Rhone” was breath taking, as was many of the great and wonderful paintings by Gauguin, Cezanne, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, and Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Unfortunately, the place was incredibly crowded (cough, cough), but we wormed our way through to see everything.

We stayed at a really nice boutique hotel called the Hotel Rex. We ate at a really nice French restaurant there a couple of times (it’s closed now) and always thought it would be nice to stay there. For our San Francisco Christmas, I was not only able to get a room, but we were upgraded to a lovely fifth floor “executive queen” room that was large and included a nice comfy sofa. The windows looked out the back of the hotel onto a nice interior garden space. Lovely!

On Christmas Eve, we toured the stores around Union Square. My wife found a great custom yarn store that spun and dyed all their own yarns, and a huge fabric store where we both found some items to bring home. Later we went into the “regular” stores, including Neiman-Marcus, where the great “City of Paris” stained glass dome still resides. The original City of Paris was built in the late 1800s and was partially destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and fire. It was rebuilt, with the huge rotunda dome, in 1910. Unfortunately, the wonderful old building was torn down and a non-descript “mall-looking” Neiman-Marcus built in its place. Only the rotunda and dome remains from the original.

On Christmas day, Chinatown was hopping. Almost all the stores were open. You could even get a haircut there if you wanted to on Christmas. It was a rainy day, but we bundled up and walked through Chinatown into North Beach and back. Across from the Chinatown gate is a wonderful French restaurant, Café de la Presse, where we stopped for lunch, then back again the next morning for breakfast. We got a little chilled and wet that morning, which probably helped us get our colds.

The day after Christmas we walked down to the Ferry Building and walked around as all the shops were opening up. We then walked back up Market Street and cut over to visit the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Not at all as crowded as the DeYoung Museum, but just as fascinating. We spent a good four hours walking around viewing the huge collection of photos by Henri Cartier-Bresson, strange erotic and some disturbing photos on “Exposed: Voyeurism, Surveillance, and the Camera Since 1870, an interesting exhibit called “How Wine Became Modern: Design + Wine 1976 to Now”, and great modern works in the museum’s collection for its 75th Anniversary show by Henri Matisse, Georges Braque, Frida (Frieda) Kahlo, René Magritte, Jackson Pollock, Paul Klee, and Claus Oldenburg, and many others. Another breath taking excursion.

In the Studio

We haven’t been home that long, but I jumped right back into the studio to continue working on my pipe organ and box trestle table. Today, being the last day of the “holidays”, and before my two weeks at Cabrillo, I spent the whole day carving (and coughing) on the sides to the trestle table’s box. This table is my final and biggest piece I’m creating for the July woodworking show at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH). As I’ve mentioned before, this show will have many works by the members of the Santa Cruz Woodworkers. I finished carving one side and have three more to go, which I’ll have to take up next weekend and try to finish one more side.

The Chapter House Portative Organ is actually nearing completion. After 13 or 14 months, I have several parts ready for finishing with tung oil. A few days ago, I made a new organ pipe to replace one that was too short to tune properly. Unfortunately, my replacement didn’t work that well, so I ended up ripping more maple and made four more pipes, three that turned out great! I now have a full set of tuned pipes. Yes, I finally tuned them to a diatonic A Major scale. I also finally made the bellows, which I’ve been reluctant to do for months because I’ve never done anything like this before. They actually work!!!

So, tomorrow is a new chapter in my life: a new class at Cabrillo that might put me in a new artistic direction… or not. Who knows? Afterwards, its on to new and better instruments, furniture, carvings, and… who knows? My list of “things to do” keeps expanding. Oh, and…

Onward through the fog!

Happy 2011 From Ron Cook Studios

2010-12-22T14:58:00.001-08:00

Here’s hoping that 2011 will be an exciting, eventful (in a good way), and healthy year for all of you reading this. As 2010 comes to a close, I’ve been thinking back on how things came and went and how so much has changed over the year. I reached that age the Beatles used to sing about (“When I’m 64!”, and with that magic number, I’m rethinking my artistic future as well as my arts festival and crafts show excursions.

The economy seems to be kind of improving. Internet sales and commissions were good this year, and I had the biggest year of zither restorations yet, with more coming in around January 2011. But, with money still tight most of 2010, I had a poor showing at the arts festival and crafts shows I went to. I cut back to only three events this year, and will probably do only two in 2011. (My show and gallery schedule is listed on my web site at http://www.roncookstudios.com/Upcoming-Shows.htm.)

My artistic direction is changing. I’m planning and working on more unusual historic instruments, dating from early medieval to late 1800’s. In fact I just finished two yesterday and today. (See below!) My other plans are to make more medieval furniture and even some lighting fixtures. I’ll be taking an extension class at Cabrillo College on creating lighting by working with glass, metal, wood, etc. Should be a fun course.

In the Workshop

Around the beginning of December I got the idea to make two more autoharps. Earlier in the year I made an old style of the Model 73, which is still around today (made in China), but I wanted to make the older ones, that come from around 1880-1885, that only play in one key. The one I finished yesterday is the “Harmonette”, which is a higher pitched autoharp with only 17 strings. It is much smaller than other autoharps and was probably designed for children. The one I finished today is based on the original “Model 1”, the first autoharp developed by Zuckermann Autoharps in Philadelphia (later in Dolgeville, New York). The Model 1 has 21 strings.

The Harmonette is all maple with black walnut trim. The Model 1 has a cherry top and black walnut sides, back, and bridges. It has salvaged ebony binding.

On Exhibit (A Reminder)

The Baulines Craft Guild Master Show is currently on exhibit at the Marin Community Foundation, 5 Hamilton Landing, Novato, CA. It will be showing through March 17, 2011, and the reception is January 13th, from 4:30 to 7:30. The Marin Community Foundation is located just a little way off Highway 101 in what used to be one of the hangers at Hamilton Air Force Base. It’s an interesting place with all the hangers (10 of ‘em) rebuilt and remodeled for businesses. The old air field is being returned to Bay wetlands.

We’re getting ready to spend a few days in San Francisco over Christmas, visiting museums and doing a little last minute shopping around Union Square. It will be nice getting away for the Holidays.

So, to all, Happy Holidays, and have a wonderful 2011!

Happy Holidays from Ron Cook Studios

2010-12-04T12:06:00.001-08:00

My favorite Christmas song, one that I hear in my head over and over, is the classic that used to appear on the newspaper comics page every December from the 1950’s to 1970s: “Deck Us All With Boston Charlie.” This humorous tune was sung by a group of swamp “critters” in the Walt Kelly comic strip, Pogo. For those not familiar with Pogo, it was an incredibly well-drawn, funny, and often topical and controversial strip. Like today’s Doonesbury, some newspapers refused to print the occasional daily strip that was deemed too critical or made fun of something or someone politically important. Walt Kelly’s artistic views of the Nixon administration (with Agnew as a Nazi-garbed hyena), was often omitted from some of the Republican-supporting newspapers of that time. But I digress…

To get into the Holiday spirit, check out the lyrics to “Deck Us All With Boston Charlie” at the Official Walt Kelly Pogo web site at http://www.pogopossum.com/deckus.htm.

Welcome To My Workshop

Even though I’ve only done a couple of shows this year, it’s been a very busy year, and continues to be very busy. I’ve had more zithers to restore this year than I’ve ever had. As soon as I finished two in October, two more arrived and one more is scheduled to come in January. If you have an antique or vintage stringed instrument that is a family heirloom or part of your collection that needs repair, restoration, or conservation, send me an e-mail with photos so I can determine how much work needs done, method of work, and cost of work. For unusual instruments or instruments by little known or unknown makers, I try to find as much history on them as possible, which I include in my complimentary logs. To read my logs on recent and past restorations and repairs, go to my web site at http://www.roncookstudios.com/RepairLogs.htm.

With a big Museum of Art and History (MAH) show on wood crafts by the Santa Cruz Woodworkers coming up next July, I’m preparing a medieval installation piece with not only my musical instruments, but furniture of the period. I’ve completed all but the largest piece. It will be an exciting show. My most recent accomplishment is a medieval trestle stool. It’s like a trestle table but on a small scale. I carve green men on both ends as well as Celtic knots and floral patterns. It’s all white oak with a little ebony accent on the tenons.

The last piece of furniture I’m making for the MAH show is a 14th-15th century box trestle table. It has a table top, with wooden hinges, that opens to reveal a shallow chest that, in olden times, was used for the silverware and platters, items considered very valuable to the household. The chest was always locked. I recently made an old-style padlock, completely out of wood, that will go on the hasp I’ve carved. As you can see in the photo on the left, the key slot is covered by a tagua nut carving that flips aside so the wooden key can unlock the padlock.

Other Works in Progress

It’s been nearly a year now, but my Chapter House Portative Organ is still coming along slowly but surely. (Don’t call me Shirley!) I finally finished carving the top part of the bellows unit, and carved a pump handle to go with it. I’ve got the pipes seated in their mounting holes better, and I’m working on the decorative carvings on the front and back pipe holders. I’m hoping also to have this ready for the MAH wood craft show.

Earlier this year I completed my first Dolgeville-style autoharp. It’s based on the Zimmermann company’s 1890 model 73, the first 12-chord autoharp that’s still being made today (in China) by the Oscar Schmidt Company. I’m now working on the earliest Zimmermann design, the model 1, a simple 3-chord autoharp (C, F, G7) with only 21 strings. It’s coming along quite well, and I hope to have it done before the end of the year.

For new works next year, I’ve got plans (lots of plans) for several new and unusual instruments, furniture, and sculptural pieces. Most will be based on historic sources, but some will be original. Stay tuned.

On Exhibit

Well, that’s it for now. It’s a cold rainy day, but I’ve got my heater going in the studio to make it comfortable for more carving and woodwork. Until next time, have a very Happy Holiday season, and sing a verse or two of “Deck Us All With Boston Charlie”!

The Times (and The Seasons) They Are A’Changin’

2010-11-08T14:29:00.001-08:00

Fall back. Another time change, and cooler, wetter days ahead. The warm, typical October “Indian Summer” days in Santa Cruz, and much of California, are but a pleasant memory.

One of my favorite memories of October was going to Yosemite for four days. I headed to the Park two days after finishing Open Studios. I was dire need to relax a little and recharge my batteries. Open Studios took a lot out of me this year, what with all the set up, talking with hundreds of people over two weekends, and tearing down. It was three weeks of very intense work. Yosemite was beautiful. The first few days I was there it was in the 70’s and 80’s. Very pleasant for long hikes, and for just sitting around reading and writing. I went by myself this time, and, as always, stayed at the Wawona Hotel at the south end of the Park. I hiked around 18-20 miles while I was there. My longest hike was a 9-mile round trip to Chilnualna Falls. It was warm and fabulous. Many trees had the red and yellow leaves of Fall. My second day’s hike was a four-mile loop in the Valley. Another warm day. My third day’s hike was up on the cliffs overlooking the Valley. It was a 5-mile round trip to Taft Point, then over to Sentinel Dome (see picture). The weather was starting to change, but the cooler, cloudier day was still spectacular on top of the dome with the panoramic view of the entire Valley and beyond.

Meanwhile…

Halloween was pretty quiet for us. Our neighborhood has few children in it, and we barely had 10 or 12 trick-or-treaters stop by. On Saturday night, we did go to a Halloween-themed reception at the Santa Cruz Art League and had a wonderful time. The juried show, “Go Figure!” National Figurative Exhibit, running from Oct. 23 to Nov. 21, 2010, is a very exciting exhibition with paintings and sculptures from around the country. At the reception, a good time was had by all. By the way, Saturday, October 30th, was my birthday. We were singing the Beatles song, “When I’m 64,” over and over again. (“Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64.”)

In the Studio

It took me a couple of days after coming home from Yosemite to get back into the swing of things. But when I finally made it back into the Studio, I completed two zither restorations, a commission, and a new dulcimer. I’ve been doing a lot of carving and a lot of sanding.

I’ve mentioned the zither restorations in earlier blogs, but barely touched on my last commission. A Maryland customer sent me a large box of cut pieces of English boxwood earlier this year. It all came from her 8-foot-tall 100+ year-old boxwood hedge that fell down during a big storm last winter. She had some of the best wood cut and sent me a bunch of it to carve into spoons and holders. I met her in Baltimore at the American Craft Council Show a couple of years ago. The boxwood she sent is good, dense wood that carves very well and sands to an incredibly smooth finish.

The dulcimer I just finished is another instrument made from the white oak wood salvaged from an old, broken drop-leaf table that was given to me by a couple of our Art League friends. I previously made from the same wood two Cantigas de Santa Maria trapazoidal psalteries and a small epinette des Vosges. Originally, the table was not much to look at, but once I cut into the wood, a beautiful flamed pattern appeared. It really shows up nicely on my new dulcimer, “The Dryad”.

Ok. What’s a Dryad you ask? Here’s the Wikipedia definition:

Dryads are tree nymphs in Greek mythology. In Greek drys signifies 'oak,' from an Indo-European root *derew(o)- 'tree' or 'wood'. Thus dryads are specifically the nymphs of oak trees, though the term has come to be used for all tree nymphs in general.

My Dryad is, as I mentioned, white oak. She also has an ebony bridge and nut. The binding and sound holes are black walnut. The fingerboard is pine with a maple fretboard lamination. The hand-carved tuning pegs are black-stained (ebonized) maple. Scale length is 28 inches. The size is 36” long and 3” deep. The upper bout is 4.5”, waist is 3", and lower bout is 6”. The style of my hourglass dulcimers are based on the shape of J. Edward Thomas dulcimers from the late 1800s to around 1930 that are housed in the Smithsonian Museum and The Boston Museum of Fine Arts. J. Edward Thomas is considered to be the first person to make and sell dulcimers as a living. He wheeled his wheelbarrow around the Kentucky hills and hollers selling his work for around three dollars. It’s rumored he made 1500 instruments during his life.

New Work and Shop News

No sooner did I finish restoring two concert zithers, another one showed up on my door step. Then, another! Well, the second one isn’t a concert zither, it’s actually an old chord zither. It has six chords, four strings each (24 chord strings), and another 22 chromatically tuned harp strings. Not much to do on it, just a change of strings and a polishing. The concert zither, with 31 strings, is from around the turn of the 20th century and needs a little TLC to get it working again.

I’m back to working on some medieval furniture I’m making for the Museum of Art and History exhibit next July. I’m working on the box part of the box trestle table now. The stand, with carved trestles, is done. Now I need to finish the hinged lid, prepare to attach the sides to the base, and then do a lot of carving on the sides. I’ll also be making a wooden padlock to lock the lid closed. Box trestle tables were fairly common in Germany during the late Medieval and early Renaissance periods. They obviously contained the family silverware and platters, so they could be locked and kept away from the “help” and curious visitors. Also in the works, and back on the carving bench, is a trestle stool. I’ve started carving several floral and geometric patterns, and I’m now working on two green man figures, one on the outside of each leg. Both the box trestle table and trestle stool are made of white oak.

I’ve got a new toy. I bought a small stationary belt and disk sander for my studio. I already have a very large belt and disk sander in my garage shop, but I needed a small one for sanding small parts that are too dangerous to work with on the big sander. It’s lighter and movable, so I can put it out of the way when not in use, or if I need more room while working or carving on a larger piece.

Well, it’s November, and the holidays will be upon us, and gone, before we know it. During this time, November 29th through March 17th, I’ll be exhibiting six pieces in the Baulines Craft Guild Master Annual Show, at the Marin Community Foundation Offices, 5 Hamilton Landing, Novato, California. I’m proud to say that my student will also have two pieces in the show. The reception will be Thursday, January 13th, from 4:30 to 7:30.

That’s it for now. Onward…

Fog and Art

2010-10-15T12:19:00.001-07:00

There is an old Doors album called Strange Days. I thought about it today while walking along the coast in the fog. It’s mid October and it’s supposed to be clear and mild (usually), and the fog is supposed to be long gone. Well, we’ve had clear, warm days, then warm mornings and chilly, foggy afternoons, and now cold foggy mornings, just like it was most of the summer. Strange days.

News

Coming up is the last weekend, the Encore weekend, for the Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour. I’ll be open Saturday and Sunday, October 16-17, from 10am to 5pm. Last weekend was pretty busy, and it seemed a few more people visited than last year. Once again I set up a gallery in my wife’s studio, which is also our guest room. Outside, under my show canopy, is a more informal gallery with lyres and folk art, which is right next to my studio. For those who couldn’t stop by this year, here’s some photos of my Open Studio spaces.

Inside gallery showcasing new work and fine crafts.

Outside gallery of medieval lyres and folk art.

A very clean studio/workshop!

In the Workshop

In the week days between my two weekends of Open Studios, I’ve been working on restorations of two antique concert zithers. I completed one and very close to finishing the second. The completed one has a photo in it, but no label or any internal makers marks, but from its style and shape, it appears to be a German made instrument. As with many zithers this age (1880-1900), the top had cracked from exposure and/or stress. I’m finishing up a repair log, which will soon be on my Ron Cook Studios web site. The photo is an old pre-1900 studio shot of a young woman in a gypsy costume holding a Neapolitan mandolin. Quite interesting.

In previous blogs, I’ve shown much of the work that’s still in process. One instrument that will be finished soon is a new mountain dulcimer made from some of that wonderful salvaged flamed white oak. This wood came from an old broken drop-leaf table that did not show any of the beautiful flaming under its thick varnish until I started resawing it. It was quite a surprise to see such gorgeous wood hiding just under the surface. This is my third instrument with this wood. The picture shows the partially assembled dulcimer hanging on display in my workshop for Open Studios. Later this month, after I return from Yosemite, I’ll sand it, install the fingerboard, then finish it with tung oil. I’m pleased with the results so far.

Coming Up

In July, 2011, the woodworking group I’m with, the Santa Cruz Woodworkers, will be exhibiting at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History (MAH). After my Yosemite trip, I’ll be working on several new pieces for the exhibit. Some I’ve mentioned before in my blogs, and some are going to be surprises.

I’m again cutting down on the number of craft shows and arts festivals next year, at least until the economy improves. (It will some day!) I’ll still do the San Francisco American Craft Council Show next August, and, of course, Open Studios in October. I have quite a bit of restoration work to do, plus the new works for the MAH exhibit, so I’ll be keeping very busy. Which reminds me…

It’s time to get to work. Onward, again, through the fog…

It’s Open Studios Time Again…

2010-09-28T10:54:00.001-07:00

The fog has lifted—finally—and a mini-heat wave is in full swing. It seems as if Summer finally arrived, but only after the Autumnal equinox passed us by. Temperatures reached 103 degrees in Santa Cruz, which, I believe, is the first triple digit day of the year for us. That made for a hot, sweaty day in the studio.

News

My student finished up last week and was able to complete her second instrument on her last day here. It was a very rewarding experience for me, and from what she told me, her time with me “far exceeded [her] expectations.” I’m pretty proud of how much she accomplished in such a short (15 day) period. She learned how to research early instruments and got a better sense about the evolution of them. She drew up working drawings for the two pieces she completed, chose woods, and she used the power tools with careful assurance. The two instruments she made are a 13th century Spanish trapezoidal psaltery, and a Mountain dulcimer (19th & 20th centuries) of her own design. Both instruments sounded beautiful when she strung them up.

Yes, it’s Open Studios time again. The Preview Exhibit opened at the Santa Cruz Art League Saturday, and on Sunday the big “party” (reception) happened there. The weather was warm (almost hot), the music lively (Kuzanga played), the food good (but not enough of it), and the art work great, but overwhelming. There seemed to be more art on display this year than in years past, especially more that stretched the size limits around the walls. It was pretty packed in, and I did notice a few 3-D pieces that were hidden from view (you had to stoop to see them) and small 2-D pieces that got lost next to the larger ones. Also, the label groupings in several areas were way too congested, making it hard to read and tell what went with what. All that said, I admit that the Cultural Council volunteers and crew who set up the exhibit really did a pretty good job working in the large gallery space and with the number of pieces they had to arrange.

As for my Open Studio, I will be open the second and third weekends in October, (9-10, 16-17), from 10am to 5pm. I’m located in the North County section of Open Studios only three blocks from Natural Bridges State Beach. (Follow the green Open Studios signs.) The first weekend is for South County, from the Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor to Watsonville. If you are interested in woodworking, be sure to visit me, of course, but don’t forget my Santa Cruz Woodworkers compadres who are also in Open Studios, Ron Day and Mike Shuler (1st weekend, South County), and Mathew Werner and Michael Singer (2nd weekend, North County). We all do completely different styles of woodworking, and it’s fun to compare/contrast the techniques and finished pieces.

One more thing in the news: My YouTube channel, the Ron Cook Studios Channel, is up and running at http://www.youtube.com/user/RonCook10?feature=mhum. There’s four videos available, all edited from my From Sawdust To Sound, Welcome to My Workshop performance lecture that I gave a few years ago. My third performance was filmed at the Santa Cruz Community TV studio and appeared on Community Television for several months. I talked about the history and construction of the Mountain dulcimer, mountain banjo, and guitar. The Mountain dulcimer section, because of its length, is divided into two parts. There’s original music by friends playing my instruments at the end of each segment. Enjoy!

In The Workshop

Once my student left, I didn’t take any time to catch my breath. I jumped right back into the myriad of projects I’ve been working on since the beginning of the year, and started some new ones.

One of my long-running projects has been my last Chapter House-based instrument, the portative organ. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve made all the stringed instruments depicted in the 14th century wall paintings in the Westminster Abbey Chapter House in London. A portative organ is also shown in the paintings, and I’ve always wanted to make a pipe organ. A portative organ is small enough for me to make in my small studio, and it is coming along quite well. I’m now working on the bellows and pipe holders (shown in photo).

My student made a very nice dulcimer during her lessons, and it got me going on a new one of my own. I even got my student to steam bend one of the sides. (She did a fine job.) This new one is primarily salvaged white oak, some more of the beautiful figured wood that came from a broken drop-leaf table. I finished the head carving last week and just started assembling the parts over the weekend. I think today I’ll put on the top.

One of my ongoing projects for the Santa Cruz Woodworkers Museum of Art and History show next year (July, 2011) is another medieval-style stool. This is a trestle stool, like a mini trestle table. I’ve started carving the top, legs, and cross member using my new Foredom chisel handpiece. It’s pretty cool (but gets hot if the motor’s running too fast). I’m still getting used to the reciprocating chisel action, and I like what it can do. I’ll still have to use my regular flex-shaft carving burrs and some traditional hand tools to finish up the carved areas, but it should be done in a month or so.

Something new from the Old World. It’s been several years since I made my last hurdy gurdy type of instrument, one of the symphonies depicted in the Spanish 13th century Cantigas de Santa Maria illuminated manuscripts, and I’ve long wanted to do another. It’s happening. This design is based on the second symphony in the manuscript and is made from cherry and maple. This time, for the box, I joined the sides with box joints. I made a jig for my table saw so I could cut accurate joints. This is the first time I’ve used this method and it worked pretty well.

And lastly, my zither restorations are coming along quite well. I have two on the bench, one completed but still awaiting strings, and the other that needs some judicious faux wood grain to cover up a poorly done old repair. (Screws through the top!!! Ouch!) Another zither arrived on my doorstep last week, and another is due after Open Studios. I’m now booked up until next Spring. I can help with research, valuation, and, of course, the repair or restoration of unique stringed instruments. If you have an interesting instrument that’s been in your family or that you purchased, and it needs fixing up, contact me at ron@roncookstudios.com.

Coming Up

As I mentioned above, the Open Studios Art Tour is the first three weekends in October. That will pretty much take up most of my time during that period. After cleaning up my studio, I don’t want to make a lot of sawdust to have to clean up again for the Encore Weekend, so I’ll spend more time working on the zither restorations in my garage shop (my other studio).

I will take a breath after Open Studios. The Tuesday following Encore weekend, I’m heading to Yosemite for a much needed break and to recharge my batteries. Late October in Yosemite is beautiful, and uncrowded. The weather can be mild, but early snows do happen. Time for a little hiking, a little reading, a little writing, and a lot of relaxation. Sigh.

Welcome to My Workshop: 2010

2010-09-07T08:05:00.001-07:00

The weather’s been blowing hot and cold these last few weeks. We got a couple of “heat waves” that pushed the thermometer up into the 90’s, but that only lasted two days each, followed by many more days of chilly fog. I’ve mentioned in previous blogs how many, many days we’ve had without sun this summer, and as we start the second week of September, that’s still the case. (OK, the sun does come out in the afternoon, but the morning’s are still damp and cool.)

News

Meanwhile, there’s a lot going on this month, and more coming in October. For the first three weeks in September, I have, for the first time, an independent study student. She’s a college senior who seems to have a real thirst for knowledge, especially in the Arts. I’m teaching her about the history of stringed instruments, and she’s building both a medieval psaltery and a Mountain dulcimer. I had her research and draw up working drawings for both pieces. I’m very pleased with her progress.

Last Friday, a film crew arrived early in the morning to video tape me for a new woodworking show on our local community television station. I was interviewed by John Hall and gave a tour of my office/gallery and my workshop. It was a fun morning and we covered a lot of ground. It will be interesting to see how they edit the footage. It should be on TV (and the web) probably by the end of this month. To see the first two shows, they can be watched on the web at http://blip.tv/file/4034823. Both feature fellow Santa Cruz Woodworkers Mathew Werner (episode 1), and Michael Singer (episode 2).

In The Workshop

I’m still carving like crazy. I’m putting the final touches on the last three chess men for my long-running-process chessboard and pieces. I started carving these 32 medieval-looking characters back in January, and I’m anxious to get these last ones done. I’m also continuing little-by-little on my Chapter House Portative Organ. Like I mentioned before, this is my final piece from those depicted on one of the 14th century wall paintings at the Westminster Abbey Chapter House in London. I’ve completed all the other instruments and look forward to finishing this one. For thirty years I’ve though about building a pipe organ, and the small portative is a perfect way to start.

It seems like there’s been a lot of inquiries about repairing/restoring zithers lately. I currently have one on the bench that I’m restoring, and another arrive last week. And, another is to arrive right after the Open Studios Art Tour. The one I’m working on now is in fair shape, but had a large open shrinkage crack on the top. Because it was from wood shrinkage under the lovely walnut veneer, it couldn’t be closed by clamping pressure. I added tiny strips of walnut in the cracks, and applied some stains to make them appear as part of the wood grain. I cleaned all the corrosion from the tuning pins and the pretty gear plate, and I’ll soon put it back together and put new strings on it. (As soon as they arrive from Germany.)

Coming Up

The Open Studios Art Tour is coming up the first three weekends in October. This is the Silver Anniversary for the Art Tour, and the 10th year I’ve been in it. My studio will be open from 10 to 5 October 9-10, and 16-17. When you purchase a calendar/artist guide you’ll get maps showing how to get to each of the more than 300 artist studios. You can plan your trip and see as many or as few as you want. The first weekend, October 2-3, is South Santa Cruz County (Santa Cruz Yacht Harbor to Watsonville, and the second weekend (9-10) is North Santa Cruz County (Yacht Harbor to Santa Cruz, Mountain communities, north to Davenport). October is usually nice and sunny in Santa Cruz, and hopefully, all the Summer fog will have disappeared by then. Calendars can be purchased through the Santa Cruz Cultural Council’s web site, at the Santa Cruz Art League (where the preview exhibit is at), and at art stores, galleries, and other venues around Santa Cruz County. Come and enjoy!

For now, as I look out the window, onward through the fog…

The fog comes on little cat feet.

2010-07-30T11:16:00.001-07:00

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches
and then moves on.

- Carl Sandburg

Well, the cat’s been here nearly every morning for the month of July, sometimes moving on for an hour in the afternoon, but often not. Analogies aside, it’s been a darn foggy month.

On the Workbench…

Last month one day I was gazing through some of my older plans and drawings and came across the very first plan offered by the Guild of American Luthiers, and one that I purchased from them more than twenty years ago. The plan is of an early 20th century Oscar Schmidt 12-chord autoharp that was based on the 1895-1899 Model 73 by Zimmermann Autoharps of Dolgeville, New York. I always intended to build one, but was intimidated at the time by the complexity of the piece. Several years ago I built an autoharp kit and got to know the instrument inside and out, but then put the idea of making one from scratch out of my mind… until now. I spent hours researching the history and construction of the autoharp and located suppliers for all the various parts. Today it will be done. It’s all strung up and tuned. All that’s left is to trim the thick felt on the chord bars so they can actually play chords. When it’s finished, I’ll record a sound clip for my web site (www.roncookstudios.com).

Recently I found an original 1895-1899 Zimmermann Autoharp on an auction web site that was listed as “in bad shape, good for parts”. Well, no one was bidding on it, and I thought I could use it as for not only parts, but to study. I bid $8.00 and got it. I was extremely surprised when it came and found it to be in pretty good shape. There were no cracks, all the seams were intact, and all the decals and labels were in place. In fact, the decorative decal on the soundboard is the first one used—an ornate picture of a gryphon. It can be easily restored. The only things missing were a few strings and nine of the buttons on the chord bars. Needless to say, I’m excited about getting this historical instrument, the very first manufactured 12-chord Model 73 autoharp. It is virtually identical to the Oscar Schmidt Model 73 still being made today.

There’s a lot more work going on at my work bench, and it mostly involves carving. As you can see in the photo, my chess pieces are coming along fine. The bishops are nearly done and the knights are roughed out. After over a year of hard work, the chess board and pieces are almost done. Also on my bench are a lot of spoons. After the number of sales last year, my stock got pretty depleted. Just a few weeks ago, I realized I had very few “smaller” items for the American Craft Council Show in San Francisco. I’ve finished 12, and I have around 12 more to complete in the next two weeks. For the spoons, I also needed spoon racks. I had a few in stock already, but I made four more for all the new spoons.

Other items still in process: Portative organ (finally got good bellows leather and ready to finish the bellows), box trestle table (ready to carve), trestle stool (carving in process), and I recently started on another Mountain dulcimer, made almost entirely from salvaged white oak. Stay tuned!

Upcoming Shows

The American Craft Council Show in San Francisco, at Fort Mason in the Festival and Herbst Pavilions, is only two weeks away. I’ll be in the Festival Pavilion in b0oth 812. Show dates and times are Friday, August 13 (10-8--new extended hours), Saturday, August 14 (10-6), and Sunday, August 15 (10-5). Hope to see you there! (The photo is from last year’s show.)

The Santa Cruz Open Studios Art Tour is, as always, the first three weekends in October. This is my 10th year as an exhibiting artist, and it’s the 25th year (ta-da) for the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour. Go the the above link for more information on the event. The Open Studios preview exhibit opens at the Santa Cruz Art League on September 25th with a “meet the artists” reception Sunday, September 26th, from 3 to 6pm.

And Finally…

The Davenport Gallery show, “Wood is Good”, ends August 1st. If you missed the show, you can still see my work in San Francisco at the American Craft Council Show. The Santa Cruz Woodworkers exhibit in the Rittenhouse Building is still going on. I’ll be removing a couple of my pieces to take to the SF show, but I’ll replace them with something else. (Don’t know what yet.) If you’re in downtown Santa Cruz, either at the movies, bookstores, or restaurants, take a look in the Rittenhouse Building windows and enjoy the work of the Santa Cruz Woodworkers.

Onward through the… cat feet?

Onward Through the Fog…

2010-07-07T17:52:00.001-07:00

It’s that time of year again. California’s valleys are getting hot, and our beach town on the Monterey Bay gets all the natural air conditioning known as fog. It’s like this every year, and we can’t wait for late Summer and early fall when the sun comes out and warms us up again.

Fog Chaser

For me, working in my studio helps to chase the fog away… at least in my head. (An evening glass of wine helps too.) The carving continues, and I’m down to the last eight pieces for my custom medieval chess board. The Bishops are starting to look pretty “Bishopy”, and each one has acquired a personality. The knights are roughed out and are not yet to that point. I’m hoping to have the whole set finished by the Open Studios Art Tour in October. Be sure to stop by to see me and all my new work. The dates my studio’s open are October 9, 10, 16, 17.

Other carvings happening right now:

I’ve laid out and started on several relief carvings on a medieval trestle stool. Several of the carvings are traditional English/Irish green men, and others are Celtic-style geometric figures.
Spoons, spoons, spoons. I’ve got a commission to carve five spoons and holders out of boxwood given to me by my customer, and I’ve got around 20 more roughed out that I need to carve for upcoming shows. At the last few shows I’ve exhibited at, I’ve nearly sold out all the 20-30 spoons I made in the last year or so. Got to replenish my stock.
In my quest to do something different, I carved a couple of medieval-looking candle holders. I had some black walnut left over from other projects that had a few flaws in them, so I couldn’t use them for instruments. As I always save nearly every little scrap of wood (I hate to throw any away), it’s not often I can make something this size. I turned, sanded, and polished the bases and columns on my mini-lathe, then carved the king and queen heads. There’s brass inserts in their heads for the candles. They do need creamy-colored beeswax (or tallow-looking) candles to look more medieval.
I’ve been working on my Chapter House portative organ again. One of my biggest stumbling blocks to complete it is creating the bellows. I’m sure once I learn how to make them, future bellows will be much easier. Now, after much research and head-scratching, I’ve started on them. The top section will need Gothic-style decorative carving to match the case, and I just completed the design today. I need to purchase some bellows leather yet and hope to find it locally.

New Work

I purchased working drawings of a 1930s Oscar Schmidt Model 73 12-chord autoharp many years ago planning to someday build it. This particular Model 73 is the same design and size as the original Zimmermann instrument created around 1895 in Dolgeville, New York. (Oscar Schmidt took over production several years after Zimmermann closed down in 1899.) Recently, I finally started on it. I’m calling it the Dolgeville Model 73, after the original. To help in my research, I found on ebay one of the Zimmermann originals. It was being sold as an “autoharp for parts” and sounded like it was in very bad shape. However, when it arrived (I got it for a song), it was in decent shape with all the labels and decals intact. I will restore it to its former glory. My new autoharp is nearly complete. I just need to get springs for the chord bars delivered. (I ordered them the other day.)

Well, time to venture out into the fog again. Stay tuned…

The chalice with the palace has the brew that is true…

2010-06-14T18:21:00.001-07:00

“Say what,” you ask? No, it’s not Dr. Seuss, it’s a quote from one of my favorite “fake” medieval-themed movies, “The Court Jester”, with Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Angela Lansbury, and Basil Rathbone. And… it just happens I’ve been turning a few wooden chalices, goblets, and tankards to go with a medieval setting of furniture and musical instruments I’m putting together.

In the Workshop…

The world of Ron Cook Studios is evolving. Making instruments is still my primary concern, but lately I’ve also delved into the study and construction of medieval-style tables, stools, games, and accessories for ye olde Inn or ye lordes castle. I love to read the medieval mysteries of Susanna Gregory, Michael Jecks, Bernard Knight, et al, and picture quite vividly, through these authors excellent and researched descriptions, the settings of English countryside, cities, homes, inns, and taverns. Through my own research, I’ve been replicating furniture pieces and drinking vessels. It’s a lot of fun, keeps me busy and off the street.

As for musical instruments, I’m very pleased that I completed my Mountain dulcimer commission. It’s a lovely cherry and redwood instrument with a hand-carved head of my customer’s son. I really don’t want to show a picture of it yet until the owner receives it.

In my “second” workshop (the garage), I have a workbench where I do antique and vintage instrument restorations. Yesterday and today I finished stringing up and tuning a beautiful 1909 Franz Schwartzer concert zither. This wasn’t a “major” restoration, but there were a few tricky problems that needed solving, which I did. I’ll write up a short repair log for it and post it on my website. To read about other restorations and repairs I’ve worked on, go to my website’s Repair page.

Show News…

I’m now all paid up, got my lodging, and listed as an exhibitor once more at the American Craft Council Show in San Francisco. (Click Here for info.) It’s held at Fort Mason in the Festival and Herbst Pavilions. I’ll be in the Festival Pavilion in b0oth 812. Show dates and times are Friday, August 13 (10-8), Saturday, August 14 (10-6), and Sunday, August 15 (10-5). Hope to see you there!

Late Breaking Show News…

It’s official! I got my notice in the mail that I’m once again in the Santa Cruz Open Studios Art Tour. This is my 10th year as an exhibiting artist, and it’s the 25th year (ta-da) for the Cultural Council of Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour. The Art Tour is the first three weekends in October. Go the the above link for more information on the event. The Open Studios preview exhibit opens at the Santa Cruz Art League on September 25th with a “meet the artists” reception Sunday, September 26th, from 3 to 6pm.

And speaking of the Santa Cruz Art League…

My wife and I had a real nice weekend volunteering at the Art League for its annual Art Faire. The weather was very warm (for coastal Santa Cruz), and every one seemed to have a good time. My wife sat at the gallery’s front desk greeting and helping people, and I sold wine and tickets for the hourly prize drawings. It was fun and got me out of the studio for a while.

Well, time to make dinner and relax for the evening. Fog’s returning after several very warm days. Onweird…

Tour of California… Wood

2010-05-24T11:01:00.001-07:00

It’s been an interesting and busy week for me and Ron Cook Studios. The big news for our seaside community of Santa Cruz was the return of the Amgen Tour of California bike race. For the second year, Santa Cruz hosted the finish of the third stage. The race route came down one of the streets a few blocks from me as it turned on West Cliff Drive heading to the Beach Boardwalk finish line. I took a little time off from work to watch Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, et al speed past us on a sharp turn by the ocean. Exciting race on a beautiful day.

Meanwhile…

My Mountain dulcimer commission, “Avery”, is in its final stage. I put on the last coat of tung oil Saturday and letting it cure a few days before applying the polish. It will be done this week before my wife and I head to the Sierras for a Memorial Day (and my wife’s birthday) weekend.

Another commission I’m getting started on is a series of five hand-carved boxwood spoons for a lady I met a couple of years ago at the Baltimore American Craft Council Show. She purchased a set of spoons for herself then, and after her 100+ year old 8-foot high boxwood hedge fell during a fierce storm last winter, contacted me to ask if boxwood would make good spoons. Boxwood, being a very dense wood that, in England, was used for woodwind instruments, is, of course, very good for strong spoons—and good for detailed carving. I’ve roughed out the spoons, but I need to let the wood dry a month or so before carving, since it’s still a little “green” (damp).

A couple of months ago I found a company back East that, among other things, manufactures acrylic covers for exhibits. They’ll make them as big or small as you need. I decided to try them out to make a cover for the chessboard and chess pieces I’m working on. It arrived finally and looks great. It will protect the board and pieces from dust, and it will deter people from moving the pieces (or pocketing them) when on display at shows or galleries. By the way, I’m finishing up carving the queens and have the bishops and knights all roughed out and ready for fine carving. It’ll be a few more months before they’re done, but they’re looking good.

Another “aside” from musical instruments: I’ve been working on some medieval furniture to display with the chess set and some of my medieval instruments, and just finished all the hand-cut mortise and tenon joints for a box trestle table. For the first time, for me, I also hand cut dovetails for the box portion of the table. The picture shows the base and a portion of the top set up in a dry-fit test. White oak is a little hard to work with on my first dovetail attempt, since it splinters easily, but I was able to cut some nice tight-fitting joints.

On the antique/collectable instrument repair front, I’m just about ready to start restringing a 1909 Schwarzer concert zither I’ve been restoring this past month. It’s coming along nicely, and will be playable again when I’m done. Another customer should be sending her 1960-1970 family Mountain dulcimer to me soon for a fret re-fitting and “tune-up.”

I love working on old instruments (besides making new ones) and getting them to make music again. If you have an antique or vintage stringed instrument, whether a family heirloom or a newly purchased item, that’s in need of restoration or repair, contact me for a free estimate. (When contacting me, please include photo images of the instrument with close-ups of areas needing work.)

Well, May is starting to wind down, and my wife and I look forward to a little time off in the Sierras this next 3-day weekend.

Onward through the fog…

May Started Off With A Crash!

2010-05-10T16:07:00.001-07:00

May Day, May 1st, has been celebrated around the world many different ways. Ancient Romans had their Flora, celebrating the goddess of flowers; pre-Christian Germanic countries had their Walpurgis Night; Scotland had the Beltane Fire Festival, and Ireland had their similar Feast of Bealtaine. (Both countries burned huge bonfires in the evening of May 1st.) All these festivals celebrated the ending of winter and fertility and rebirth of spring. Several of these ancient versions of May Day also involved the traditional fertility rite of the May Pole dance. Similar, tamer versions are still around even in the United States.

Since the labor and Communist movements of the 20th century, May Day has become more and more a celebration known as International Workers Day or Labour Day. In Russia, during the Cold War, May Day celebrations included a huge parade in Red Square showing off their military might. Even the nature-based Bealtaine celebration in Ireland became a day of protest, often violent. And… that brings me to our Santa Cruz May Day riot.

Our little beach/college town had its own small gathering for workers’ rights and fair labor practices. However, a young militant group used the gathering as a rallying point for their “fight against the money-hungry, greedy businessmen”… etc., and began marching down our main street. A few began painting graffiti slogans on walls, then threw and broke bottles of paint on walls and windows, then threw rocks through the windows. A few more joined in, and when it was over, 15-20 buildings were damaged. Most businesses hit were local-family-owned stores, a couple that can barely afford to stay open. Some of the windows broken were in the new and vacant Rittenhouse Building where the Santa Cruz Woodworkers (of which I’m a member) had our exhibits in the windows. Several of our wood pieces were damaged. The picture is of the Rittenhouse building’s owner gazing at the rock that came through one of the windows and hit some of our art work.

Oh… enough of the downer news.

Meanwhile, back in the Studio…

For a few months now I’ve been working on a dulcimer commission. I’m happy to say that the carving is done and I’ve been assembling the pieces. I’m at a point now where I’ll be doing several days of sanding before I can put the last pieces on and finish it up. It has cherry sides and a book-matched cherry back and a salvaged redwood top. “Avery” is looking good.

Last week I got another commission. It’s a smaller one, but it will be as fun to carve as “Avery” was. This commission is for five spoons made from boxwood my client sent from Maryland. Boxwood (Buxus sempervirens) , known also as common box or European box, is a shrub that has very dense white-to-yellow wood. It can grow like a tree up to around 25 feet high and have a trunk 8-10 inches in diameter. Old box hedges in England grew quite large over 100+ years, but are becoming scarce as they’ve been cut for development or for their wood. Box Hill, Surrey, in England is known for it’s stand of natural, wild box “trees”. Box was brought to the United States and can still be seen used as short hedges lining yards and walkways.

I’ve started roughing out the spoons and letting the wood dry a little (it’s still fairly green). The boxwood spoons are the upper left group in the photo. I’ve also roughed out quite a few regular spoons and spurtles. After last year’s shows, I nearly sold out all my spoon stock. Time to replenish.

Another big carving project going on is my chess set. I just finished the rooks and the kings, and I’m now working on the queens. Only eight more to go after that.

Progress on the furniture pieces and portative organ has slowed down, at least until I finish my commissions. And in my front workshop, I’m still working on a zither restoration. It’s a small job, and I’m getting it done little by little. With everything I have to work on, I’m finding there’s just not enough hours in the day to do it all. My hands get sore and my eyes get hazy. (Age???)

Anyway… onward through the fog.

A Lot of Carving, A Lot of Wood

2010-04-20T12:03:00.001-07:00

Rain, sun, rain, sun, and now more rain. The first “official” month of Spring has been rather odd this year for the Monterey Bay area. We’ve had several very cold rain storms that left a little snow in the mountains here and in the Sierras, and some very nice warm weather that brought everyone out to the beaches. Last night, the rains started again. The big problem with rain is that the dampness can rust my power tools that have cast-iron tops, like my table saw. Usually, once a year in the Spring, I clean the tops and apply a couple of coats of paste wax. The wax not only protects the tops for the next year, but makes any sliding accessories (and wood) glide effortlessly through the blades or sanders.

But the rains don’t stop me from working, and a lot is going on in my studio and elsewhere.

First, elsewhere…

This week a gallery show opened up in the Atrium Gallery at 600 Townsend, San Francisco. It’s the Baulines Craft Guild Spring Showcase, called On The Make. It was juried by Julie Muniz, Assistant Curator at the Oakland Museum of California. I was fortunate to have two pieces accepted, Pianoforte “London Bridge”, and Courting Dulcimer “The Tie That Binds”. One is on the 600 Townsend web site at http://www.600townsend.com/artexhibit.htm . The show runs from April 19th to June 10th. A reception is Thursday, April 22, from 5:30 to 7:30.

And… I still have a piece on exhibit at the Rittenhouse Building in downtown Santa Cruz.

In the Studio…

Yes, I am doing a lot of carving right now. The next sixteen chess pieces are all roughed out and ready for the more tedious detail carving. All the pawns are done and waiting for their leaders on my custom chess board. I’m really pleased how they’re turning out.

I have two stools in process right now. There’s another medieval 3-legged stool and a medieval trestle stool. Both of them will have carvings on them.

Spoons and spurtles have been so popular this last 6 to 8 months that I sold out all I made last summer. A few weeks ago I roughed out twenty more.

I’ve also revisited my Chapter House Portative Organ. I still need to carve the pipe braces and a couple of decorative heads here and there.

My big project right now is a commissioned Mountain dulcimer. The head carving is a highly detailed figure of the future owner’s son. I’m still working on the features, and it is getting to look more and more like the photos I use as a reference. I only work on it an hour or two at a time so I don’t over carve any of it. I strive to be as accurate as possible on a carved “portrait”. I keep checking the areas needing work and only work on that portion the next time I sit down to carve. When I carve heads that are from my imagination and not from photos, I’ll carve for hours until a character emerges from the wood. Those usually take around four or five hours to complete. Accurate portraits can take around eight to twelve hours, one or two hours at a time. At least the Mountain dulcimer body is all ready for assembly as soon as I finish carving the “portrait”.

More Wood…

A recent friend, who also works with my wife occasionally, lives on property in South Dakota. He had a black walnut tree that died and was cut down. He sent me two logs, around 24 inches long, that I ripped into boards last week. The wood has some beautiful figuring in it. I now have to let it dry for a year or two before being able to use it. Earlier this year I went to my local lumber yard during their annual inventory reduction sale and picked up some nice white oak for the medieval furniture I’m working on. Beside working on the trestle stool, I’m getting ready to cut more oak for what’s known as a box trestle table. It’s a late Medieval or early Renaissance table (1400-1600) that has a storage box under the lid. It’s not a big table, but the box probably held plates and/or utensils for dining. Mine will be set up as more of a “pub” game table of that period.

And…

Another commission is heading my way. Soon I should be receiving some boxwood from a customer I met when I exhibited at the American Craft Council Show in Baltimore a few years ago. I’ll be carving five spoons from her boxwood. Boxwood is a very hard, dense, yellow-to-cream-colored wood often used in the past for wind instruments, goblets, plates, and for decoration. The old box hedges in England had large trunks are not that plentiful anymore, and I understand some are even considered historical and can’t be cut for its wood. Most that are cut for their wood nowadays are newer hedges and relatively small, but large enough for spoon carvings. Boxwood purchased at lumberyards is usually from Turkey and other eastern Mediterranean countries. It’s not the same variety of boxwood as that in England and is much whiter in color.

Also, in for restoration is another Schwarzer zither. This one has a serial number, 9667, which shows it was made in 1909. It shows evidence that it was played a lot, and has a name scratched in the back that might be the first owner: Anna (or Ann A.) Eringer. It’s in pretty good shape, and really only need some cleaning, polishing, and new strings.

For now, I thinks that’s enough. Enough work, and enough rambling on…

Onward, through the fog… uh, rain.

Back in the Studio Again

2010-03-22T10:38:00.001-07:00

A few days ago we returned from exhibiting at the 40th Annual Scottsdale Arts Festival in Arizona. The weather was perfect, around 70 to 80 degrees and sunny, and the crowds were in good spirits.

We drove for over 13 hours on Wednesday to get to our friend’s home in Phoenix. The long drive left me pretty worn out, and the Thursday set-up day was harder on me than usual. I was exhausted by the end of the day and slept real well that night. That helped. From then on, and even on Sunday’s tear-down, I was better rested and in better spirits. Unfortunately, on the day we left Phoenix (Tuesday), my back went out. It is now almost a week later, and it is still healing. Ouch!

Shortly before I left for Scottsdale, I had my recent and newest pieces professionally photographed. It had been over a year since my last photo session, so I had several pieces from last year to get photographed. Photos of all my newer pieces will soon be on my website.

Coming up next month is the Baulines Craft Guild Spring Showcase, at the 600 Townsend Atrium Gallery, San Francisco. The Gallery is next to the Concourse Pavilion. Show dates are April 19th through June 30th, and the reception is April 22, from 5:30 to 7:30.

Back in the Studio

After a few days of trying to recuperate from my back problem, I bit the bullet and went back to work in my studio. The amount of work I have to do is almost overwhelming. The main project right now is a commissioned cherry and redwood dulcimer. The other day I sanded down the top and back and cut out the soundholes. I also started working on the head piece. I finished the pawns (seen in previous postings), but I still have 15 more chess pieces to carve, plus 31 turned chess pieces with simple carving for the first (prototype) chessboard I made last year. And just two days ago, I decided, why not turn some checkers too. I can turn them as a group on one long piece of maple, cut them, hollow the backs a little for stacking kings, then carve small faces on the top, in that unique, dare I say it, “whimsical” Ron Cook style.

I’m still working on (slowly) the Chapter House Portative Pipe Organ, and I’ve started on another dulcimer, made completely out of salvaged white oak. My back still hurts just thinking about all the work. Plus, there’s another zither repair heading my way, and I still have an old cheap Weisenborn clone that I need to finish up. Work, work, work!!! Oh, and I have to finish my article on the Pennsylvania German scheitholdt I restored. Whew!

So, until my next posting, onward and upward…

Very Busy for a Short Month

2010-02-26T13:12:00.001-08:00

For the shortest month of the year, a lot has transpired. Somehow, every day seemed full of work, exhibits, meetings, mini-vacation/anniversary, and, unfortunately, the small health problem that I mentioned in my last blog.

Studio Notes

I’ve been incredibly busy carving new pieces and finishing two instruments that have been on the workbench way too long. The Starnina Harp, which I’ve been working on for over two years, is finally done. I’m happy to note that it looks and sounds wonderful. The beautiful woman I carved as a figurehead doesn’t have a name yet, but we’re working on it. Today I’m completing the display stand for it. Professional photos are coming next week.

The second completed instrument is “The White Lady” Mountain dulcimer. This has been a year in the making, because there always seemed to be other projects and exhibitions getting in the way. Also, this dulcimer has more intricate carvings and salvaged, segmented ebony binding. The binding alone took a few weeks to complete. She sounds and looks wonderful. She’s mostly birdseye maple, with a spalted maple fingerboard lamination over pine and with salvaged ebony decorative features. The “White Lady” is a legend that pops up in several cultures and can refer to a beneficial angel or a harbinger of birth or death. My “White Lady” is patterned after the Irish Banshee, singing out (wailing) with her captured souls (the tuning pegs). I’ve tuned the dulcimer to the Aeolian (minor) mode, and it sounds great when I play those wonderful old ballads, like “Three Ravens” and “Matty Groves”. Even contemporary ballads, like Richard and Mimi Fariña’s “Another Country.”

Meanwhile, back in the studio, there’s a lot more carving going on. There’s two more medieval stools in the works and well as a large number of chess pieces. There’s also the other long-term project I need to get back on: my portative organ. It’s been in the works now for over a year and a half.

Other News

I had another piece on exhibit at the Santa Cruz Art League, my small medieval harp, and got back Courting Dulcimer #2 from where is was exhibited in Pennsylvania. I’m a member of the Santa Cruz Woodworkers, and I still have two pieces on exhibit at the Rittenhouse Building in downtown Santa Cruz. Now, in about two weeks, I’ll be heading for Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Scottsdale Arts Festival.

A little over a week ago, my wife and I celebrated our 30th (we met on Valentine’s Day 30 years ago) by spending a couple of days in the West Marin County communities of Inverness, Point Reyes Station, Olema, and Bolinas. Actually, the reason we traveled up to those locations was to attend a Baulines Craft Guild meeting at the new board president’s home and studio in Inverness. There were three people at the meeting who gave very interesting presentations, including Katie Nartonis of Bonhams & Butterfields Auctions, who talked about the auction used as a source for selling contemporary crafts; Carol Sauvion, who was instrumental in putting the “Craft In America” series together and aired on PBS and talked about the series (and to meet the Baulines); and Tom Killion, who is an incredible woodcut-style print craftsman, and, hopefully, a future Baulines Craft Guild Master Member. He gave a talk about his materials and technique. The meeting was capped off with a tour of Bruce Mitchell’s studio and seeing his fantastic pieces and works in progress. A good time was had by all.

I’ll write up the next blog after I return from the Scottsdale Arts Festival sometime mid-March. I should have some nice photos to post of the show. Until then, onward…

Sawdust in My Veins

2010-02-09T19:56:00.001-08:00

Punxsutawney Phil said we’re up for six more weeks of winter, and California is definitely getting hit with winter’s wind, rain, and mudslides. The weather mavens say it’s another El Niño pattern, but I put more trust in Phil’s prognostication than in theirs.

In The Shop

FINALLY! The Starnina Harp, which is loosely based on an altarpiece painting by Gherado Starnina (Italian-active, 1387-1413), in the Laurentian Chapel of the Certosa, a Cartusian monastery near Florence, is nearly done. Originally, around five years ago, I started on this piece as one of my Chapter House Series of instruments. I made all the parts, including a soundbox, and began carving a woman who I called Rapunzel. I planned to have her hair curl all the way down the post almost to the base of the harp. Other projects kept taking up most of my time, and I never got around to completing the carving. About a year and a half ago, I decided to go a different route with the harp and redesigned my piece to the one depicted in the Starnina altarpiece. I built a new, coopered-style body, similar to others I’ve made, and just last week finally completed the carving and assembly. I now call my carved harp, “Diana, The Huntress,” since she looks kind of like a bow that’s pulled back. She just needs some tung oil finish and then stringing up and she’ll be done.

The year 2010 is my year of change. I’ve been working on musical instruments since 1972 and had an occasional foray into the period furniture/cabinetry realm up into the 1980s. I was building early American pine furniture then, and now I’m studying medieval European furniture to go with my early European instruments (Sound Sculptures). My first pieces are different styles of stools: two different three-legged stools and a trestle-style stool. The first one completed is a three-legged stool that I originally intended to make only as an experiment. It turned out better than I imagined (shown in the two photos). It’s all salvaged poplar, urban forest wood that I was given a couple of years ago. I cut it up and dried it for the last two years before using it. Poplar works fine as a furniture wood, but doesn’t turn well. It has a tendency to splinter. However, this stool polished up fine and will soon get a padded seat similar to those in the medieval period. By the way, three-legged stools were very popular (and depicted in many early paintings) because they were so stable on uneven plank or dirt floors.

Other Work

Close to being finished is my next Mountain dulcimer, “The White Lady”. I spent nearly three hours sanding the sides and back, working from course to super-fine sandpaper, until the wood had almost a mirror finish. Photos will be in the next blog entry.

Also, I’ve started cutting and shaping pieces for a custom Mountain dulcimer that was ordered, and will begin carving the head in a couple of weeks.

Other News

I’ll probably have to take a few days off soon, reluctantly, since I’ll be “going under the knife,” so to speak. This Friday I have to have a “procedure” to remove a small growth from my arm, and it will keep me from making very much sawdust for several days. The “sawdust in my veins” reference in the title means I’ll be leaking sawdust instead of making it. Oh well, if I can’t be in my studio shaping wood, then it’ll be a good time to catch up on my reading. (Current read: A Play of Treachery, by Margaret Frazer. It’s a good, medieval mystery page-turner, number 5 in a series.)

It’s been raining again. Onward… through the winter!

Welcome to My Workshop-2010

2010-01-25T11:39:00.001-08:00

Well, we’re already three weeks into the New Year and a lot is happening at Ron Cook Studios. Some of it is a continuation of the crazy-busy end of 2009, and some of it is new or in the planning stages. Crafts shows and arts festivals are over until Spring, but exhibits are still going on in window displays and art galleries. In my workshop, older projects are getting close to wrapping up, and newer projects are beginning to obsess me.

Exhibits

I’m one of the founding members of the Santa Cruz Woodworkers, a group started a little over a year ago with the plan to pool our resources and get our work on display at a museum or other venue, and we succeeded in getting ourselves accepted and scheduled for a four-month exhibition at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, July, 2011. In the meantime, in December, 2009, we were fortunate to have been able to set up window displays of our work in a large brand-new downtown building that is still vacant. Our work is still on display and will probably be there into February. If you’re in downtown Santa Cruz, stop by to see my work. The “Rittenhouse” building is just down the street from Cinema 9.

The Santa Cruz Art League is holding the first of their two-part members’ show. For January and February, it’s for members whose names begin with A-L. February and March, it’s for the rest of the alphabet. I’m exhibiting there now with my little Medieval Harp “Mercury, The Winged Messenger”. The reception was last Saturday, and it was a splendid, well-attended affair—a place to see and be seen. Everyone wanted to hear my harp, so I spent a lot of time by the display pedestal plucking the strings.

Meanwhile, Back in the Workshop…

Back in my studio, I’m finally getting one of my older projects close to completion. The Mountain dulcimer, “The White Lady”, has been in process for several months. The edge binding has held me up for some time, but I’ve now got the back binding on and I’m ready to put on the top binding. What’s taken so long is that all the binding is very small 1 inch long pieces of ebony that I salvaged and cut out of keys from an old broken, thrown-away piano. Each little piece has to be sanded into a slightly curved shape and glued into place. The back binding took me over six hours to complete.

Several months ago I decided to re-evaluate my artistic direction and change the ways I express myself. I’ve been a craftsman and luthier since I built my first stringed instrument in 1972, and after a few hundred instruments, I feel a little—how should I say—burned out. My new artistic direction still includes building some of the instruments I love, but I’ll be very selective about what I make and not in the number and diverse nature of those I’ve made in the past. The main change is in studying and crafting medieval-style furniture and sculptures that are heavily carved with the old-style characters/caricatures I’m known for. Here’s a couple of “sneak peeks”. Stay tuned.

Other than that, I do have the ongoing harp and portative pipe organ projects going, albeit slowly, but the late breaking news is that I got a commission the other day to make a custom cherry and redwood mountain dulcimer. Again, stay tuned for updates.

For now, that’s about it. No craft shows or art festivals until mid-March when I’ll take my annual pilgrimage to Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Scottsdale Arts Festival. Until next time, onward through the fog.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T18:19:00.001-08:00

It’s been a while since my last blog entry, and my only excuse is that the Holidays snuck up on me. We took off to exhibit in San Francisco, then it was off to Santa Fe and Grand Canyon for a well-deserved 10-day Christmas vacation. Now I’m back, with new ideas, new projects, and resolutions. Happy New Year!

It’s Showtime!

A long time ago (it seems), back around December 11-13, 2009, we went up to San Francisco and exhibited at the KPFA Craft & Music Fair. This was my first time there, and it was a lot of work for a two-day show. We did make a few sales, but, unfortunately, that weekend was a very wet one, with a huge Pacific storm dumping a lot of water and keeping many people away.

Fortunately, several of our old craft show buddies were also there, so we didn’t feel alone in a strange, new environment. (Exhibiting at a new venue is always stressful. Having friends around to give a little moral support helps relieve some of that stress.)

Several of our booth neighbors were very friendly, and we made some new friends, including a fellow from Burkina Faso who was helping out at a friend’s booth , who stopped by to show and play the African-style harp that he made. He played very well, and his instrument sounded wonderful. It made for a magical few moments out of three days of hard work.

More Showtimes!

For exhibiting in Galleries, December was a hoot! I send a piece, my Courting Dulcimer, to the international CraftForms 2009 show at the Wayne Art Gallery in Wayne, Pennsylvania, and two pieces, both birdhouse carvings, were accepted and delivered to the Santa Cruz Art League for the National Sculpture and Drawing Show. I’d been trying to get into the Wayne show for years. This year, my Courting Dulcimer was a hit, and they used it in some of their promotional literature. Fantastic!

Also, during December the woodworkers group I belong to, the Santa Cruz Woodworkers, got space in a new vacant building in downtown Santa Cruz to exhibit our work in window displays for the Holiday season. The Rittenhouse Building is on Pacific Avenue, the main drag, on a prime corner right next to the big Cinema 9 building, a couple of busy restaurants, and the two-story parking lot where most park for downtown enjoyments. I just found out after I got back from vacation that we are going to be there through January. It’s a great promotional opportunity for our group.

A Southwest Holiday

I barely got back to work in my studio when we had to pack up again and head for Santa Fe, New Mexico, for a beautiful Southwest Christmas. We left on the Saturday after the KPFA show and drove for two days to get to Santa Fe. We shared a house with two friends who drove up from Phoenix. It was cold when we got there, and a couple of days later it snowed heavily. It was another magical time when we walked Canyon Road visiting galleries in the snow. Last year I had my first white Christmas while we were in Yosemite. This year, my second white Christmas (two in a row), was in New Mexico. Beautiful!

Just before we left, and on the spur of the moment, we decided to make a stop at the Grand Canyon. I checked online and found a room available at the Yavapai Lodge, which was 1/4 mile from the south rim. More magical moments. The Canyon rim was covered with around a foot of snow, and the temperature was as low as it was in Santa Fe (around 10 degrees or so). We had a wonderful dinner at the Bright Angel Lodge at a window table overlooking the canyon, then a fantastic breakfast at the old Fred Harvey built El Tovar, also at a window table overlooking the canyon. After breakfast, we hiked about a mile along the rim from El Tovar to Maricopa Point, where the wind-chill factor seemed like zero degrees. We stayed at the Grand Canyon until nearly 1 pm, when we knew it was time to leave and head home.

Back in the Studio

Well, we’re back now, and we rang in the New Year last night by drinking a glass of bubbly around 9:30 or so and going to bed before midnight. On New Year’s Eve day, I started gearing myself up for a New Year of projects, old and new. The old ones, which I’ve been working on for quite a while, are starting to take shape and look more complete. New ones, which I’ve been thinking ab0ut and planning for a few months, are beginning to take shape. My Starnina Harp,which had been in and out of process for over two years, is finally nearing completion, if I can ever finish the head carving. The Portative Organ is kind of on hold, while I finish the White Lady dulcimer and the three-legged stools. And today, I started on the first chess piece carving. I almost finished it in one day. It just needs a little clean-up and sanding. (Only 31 more to go.)

Anyway, after that much needed vacation in the Southwest snow country, I’m rested and ready to carve. Onward through the fog!

Welcome to My Workshop—Part 3

2009-11-19T12:48:00.001-08:00

It always seems that during the two to three weeks in October I’m set up for the Open Studios Art Tour, and my work slows down so as not to dirty things up too much (and sit around waiting for customers), I not only think of new things to work on, but also on how to improve my workshop/studio.

One thing I’ve always wanted to do was improve dust collection. I already have a filter to capture the dust as I carve, but my power tools never had permanent hookups to a dust collector. In the near and distant past, I hooked a shop vacuum directly to my power tools. This method, even though it worked, constantly clogged up the vacuum’s filter, and I had to clean it almost every day.

Well, this year at Open Studios, I decided to connect all my power tools to a central vacuum and dust collection system. Since my workshop is so small, a regular dust collector with 4” hoses would take up so much room, I wouldn’t have space to work. Fortunately, a company known for industrial dust collection, Oneida, invented a small cyclonic separator that fits between a regular shop vacuum and the power tools. So now I’m connecting all my tools with 2” to 2 1/2” hose and blast gates to my new separator and vacuum. (A new vacuum, by the way, since my other one died a couple of weeks ago.)

On another shop tool front, as I mentioned in a previous blog entry, I got a bed extension for my mini wood lathe. To install it, I had to move my scroll saw to where the sharpening station sat, and then I had to make a new space for the sharpening station in a lesser used space on one wall. My workshop is evolving little by little.

Meanwhile, On the Workbench

I’m not spending all my time trying to improve my shop, I’m actually working on several concurrent projects. My main goal is to have my new dulcimer, “The White Lady”, finished for the KPFA Crafts & Music Fair in San Francisco’s Concourse Exposition Building, December 12th and 13th. No pictures yet, she has some surprising carvings I’ll show when she’s completed.

The Starnina Harp is coming along. I’m adding segmented binding to the both ends of the body. Once the binding is complete, it will be time for me to lay out the top for soundholes and strings. This has been another long project that changed from one style to another then to the current style in the two years since I started planning it. I think this is the one that’ll go. In the meantime, I still need to finish carving the lovely lady who’s adorning the front of the peg block.

The Chapter House Portative Organ is also coming along—slowly. I started laying out and fret sawing the first of three pipe holders, but it’s a slow process. Like I said, there’s three of them to do, and the outside two are much more intricate—and with some of my infamous carvings. Stay tuned.

One of my new directions is the study and making of medieval furniture. My first effort is coming along nicely. I’ve turned several test pieces for a three-legged stool, and I’m planning other styles of furniture. Hopefully, I’ll have a couple of new items to show and to compliment my medieval instruments at the Scottsdale Arts Festival next March.

Finally

The Holidays are almost upon us, and there’s quite a bit happening and possibly about to happen with me and Ron Cook Studios: gallery shows and newsworthy tidbits. More on this will be in my Holiday Newsletter, which will be popping up in your e-mail box in a few days. If you’re not on my e-mail list, and want to receive my quarterly newsletter, go to my website and sign up at the bottom of the home page.

Today is sunny and a little cool, but perfect for being in my workshop with the door open to our garden.

No fog this time of year to be onward through…

Birthday Boy

2009-10-30T20:06:00.001-07:00

Like Jack Benny said when asked how old he was, I’m still 39—again. Another year’s gone by, and I’m thinking more and more about Grecian Formula. I’m also thinking a lot about (time to get serious, folks) my life, and how to complete everything that’s on my “do-before-I-croak” list. Hm-m-m. I had an early mid-life crisis, maybe now I’m having an early later-life crisis.

Well, it is my birthday today. I missed being born on Halloween by almost six hours. (Thanks Mom.) I celebrated by getting up at my normal time, seeing my wife off to work, and carving/sanding in my studio all day. (My wife is taking me out to dinner tonight. Yum!)

Meanwhile

A lot is going on in my studio. I recently got a bed extension for my Jet Mini Lathe, so I can turn longer pieces. The reason I got it is that I’ve decided to make some medieval furniture to go along with my medieval instruments. The first piece I’m working on is a medieval-era 3-legged stool. There’s several visual references to 3-legged stools in mid- to late-medieval and renaissance paintings. Remember, floors weren’t flat like today’s. In fact, many homes had dirt floors, or unevenly sawed planks, that a four-legged stool would rock on. Three legs mean the stool sits stable. I’ve already turned the legs and rails for one stool so far. The wood is salvaged urban forest wood, poplar logs given to me over a year ago. They’re pretty dry, but turn easy like green wood. I sand them while the lathe is turning, and they turn out quite polished and ready for a finish.

I’m still working on a Mountain dulcimer (“White Lady”), Chapter House Portative Organ, and Starnina Harp. Off and on, in between stints on the instruments, I work on spoons and spurtles. I finished two today, and four more to sand down tomorrow.

On the restoration and repair front, I’m working on a 1927 Kumalae “Royal Hawaiian” ukulele, and a Hawaiian guitar, a sort of inexpensive Weisenborn copy. I just started on the guitar, so there’ll be more info on that later. On the uke, I still have to put a few “cleats” on the inside to the top to help strengthen the cracks, similar to the cleats on the back crack repairs in the photo. After that, it will be time to glue everything back together and start working on matching the old finish.

That’s about it for now. We just got back from my birthday dinner at one of our favorite local restaurants. My grilled Alaskan salmon and pumpkin pie desert were fantastic.

Time change this weekend. Onward through the fog…

Open Studios Time - 2009

2009-10-07T16:59:00.001-07:00

I’m exhausted! I spent most of last week getting ready for the first October weekend of the Santa Cruz County Open Studios Art Tour. This is my 9th year, and you’d think everything would be second nature to me and very easy to set up. I say “ha”!

When I got to arts or crafts festivals, I go with just enough exhibit panels and pieces to get by. For the Open Studios Art Tour, I set up everything I have: tour panels (11 of them), old peg board panels (from my first shows), and the canopy. Plus, I have to trim the hedges, weed, pressure wash walkways and patios, and generally clean everything inside and outside. Yes, as you can see from the picture, I’m exhausted.

Before I got too exhausted, earlier in the week things started off with a bang with the Open Studios reception at the Santa Cruz Art League. The Art League hosts the Open Studios preview exhibit where people can get an idea of what all the artists do, and which ones they might like to go see. The place was packed, pieces sold, and a good time was had by all. There was food, wine, and good entertainment, as well as all the artwork. The next picture is me by my exhibit piece, the Epinette des Vosges I call “Philip and Clement in the Confessional”.

The first weekend of Open Studios was for the artists in North Santa Cruz County, which is the area north of the yacht harbor. We had around the same number of people come through on Sunday as we did last year, but Saturday was fairly light. There was a lot going on around the county on Saturday, and I think some people might have had event overload. This Saturday and Sunday, October 10 and 11, is for the South County artists, and the following weekend, October 17 and 18, is the encore weekend, which is for all of us who signed up for it. This will be another chance for all of you who are in the area to stop in and see my art and studio.

Since I have two weeks between the Open Studios openings of my studio to the public, I’m working on another antique instrument restoration project. (Can’t dirty up my work space until after Open Studios.) By the way, it’s not a zither this time. It’s a Kumalae Royal Hawaiian Ukulele.

This Kumalae uke is from around 1927-30 and was labeled and sold at the big new pink Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which opened in 1927. It’s very similar to the Kumalae Style O model, but with three decorative rings around the soundhole instead of one. I believe this to be one of the first to be sold at the hotel, because the peg head still has the Kumalae Hawaii decal, and the label is oval with the Royal Hawaiian name and a picture of an outrigger canoe riding a wave, with Diamond Head in the background. Later Royal Hawaiian ukes had a Royal Hawaiian decal on the head and a round more colorful label inside. Also, when I removed the back and looked under the label, which was partly loose, I saw a round area of glue where another label once was, probably a Kumalae label.

There’s lots of cracks to repair, and, unfortunately, a lot of big globs of glue to remove that someone spilled all over the sides to try to “fix” the side cracks. This is the second Kumalae uke I’ve worked on, and the first had pretty much the same types of cracks in most of the same places. It’ll take time, but it will be beautiful and playable again.

Anyway, that’s what I’m up to at this time. Soon I’ll be repairing an old copy of a Weissenborn guitar and getting it in good playing shape. Then, after Open Studios, it’s back to work to try to get several more new instruments and sound sculptures ready for the KPFA Craft & Music Fair in San Francisco December 12th and 13th.

Next time, I might have some very interesting news regarding my future in arts and crafts. Stay tuned.

Sausalito and Beyond

2009-09-10T17:00:00.001-07:00

Most people take that final vacation of the Summer over Labor Day weekend. My “holiday” was an intense 10 to 12 hours a day from Friday through Monday setting up and showing my crafts to many of those vacationers and locals. The weather was great (perhaps a little too warm on Sunday), and the aisles were packed as were many of the artists’ booths.

My booth was in a single row of booths in the side and back of the main area. It was, unfortunately, facing the sun a lot, so we got an umbrella to help shade the instruments. The upside was that it was far away from both the music venues, which made it easier to demonstrate. If I get juried in next year, I’ll request a booth facing away from the sun.

I’ve been home a few days, and I’m still exhausted. However, there’s no time to sit back and relax, the Open Studios Art Tour is only three weeks away, and I’ve got to get a few more pieces done for it. Plus, I’ll have to clean up my studio and yard the week before Open Studios.

On the Workbench

Today I really got back to making sawdust again. After selling so many dulcimers last year, then only completing one more for the shows I just did, then selling another in Sausalito, my stock is, once again, depleted. I have to get cranking on my next one, the “White Lady.” The head carving is nearly done so I figured I’d better steam bend the sides and clamp them up to dry.

Steam bending is a process that took me years to master, and years more to learn to be patient. When I first started bending wood, I would boil it in a long pan on a pair of hot plates, then clamp the wet and pliable wood in a form until it dried. Now, I use a hot iron (top photo) to bend dampened wood. I still clamp it in a form (bottom photo) for a few days until the wood is totally dry. It take patience. Try to bend to fast and the wood can snap.

I’ve also been working on my Chapter House Portative Organ. Just before I left for Sausalito, I made all the 1” pins that the keys will press. These pins open the airways so each pipe will play. The next step is to do some carving on the fronts of the keys then install them.

I’ve also been carving the gothic-style decorations on the sides. I still have a lot of smoothing and sanding to do.

The pipes are working well, but not tuned yet. I also want to carve faces at the top of the front rank of pipes.

Today I also cut out 9 more spoon and spurtle blanks. My spoon stock is also low, and I need a few more for Open Studios. So enough writing, I need to head back to the studio and work, work, work!

Onward through the fog.

San Francisco and Beyond

2009-08-24T18:03:00.001-07:00

Last week, we had another fun American Craft Council Show at San Francisco’s Fort Mason. This year we actually seemed to have made a profit, which is great in this still-weak economy. It was a little cool and windy on setup day, but it warmed up during the three-day show quite nicely to short-sleeve weather.

I’ve done this show seven years now and this was the first time my booth was in the back of the exposition hall. All other times I’ve been very close to the front of the buildings. This used to be sort of a “dead zone”, where people didn’t quite make it to, but the new arrangements with wine tasting and “Alt-Craft” artists in the back really drew everyone to the area. We did have a lot of traffic.

Now it’s time to get ready for another big show, the Sausalito Art Festival, booth 121. That will be over Labor Day weekend, starting Friday evening and running through Monday.

Shop News

Once I get home from a show and unload, I try to take a day or two to decompress, to relax a little before jumping right into carving and creating again. Sometimes it’s hard to get myself back into a creative mode again, but I do finally get the energy flowing, and I did a couple of days ago. I finished another little fun birdhouse project that I’ve tentatively titled “Thrasher.” I started doing a few “folk art” birdhouses a few years ago to use up some logs and branches that have been cluttering up my side yard for years. These were pieces of wood I couldn’t use for my instruments or carving, but I didn’t want to through them away. So, the idea came to create a few birdhouses to see if they sold. Little did I know that there are quite a few birdhouse collectors, so a couple of them sold right away. They’re fun pieces, and people really get a kick out of them.

Recently, I got into a research mood when I accidently came across a reference to the Trossingen lyre. The Trossingen lyre is a Germanic-style rote discovered in an 8th century grave (c. 785) in Trossingen, Germany. If was found being clutched by the body of a soldier. What made this find so exceptional is that the instrument had hardly any decomposition. It is the most complete instrument of that type and from that period of any yet found. All other lyre discoveries so far have been highly decomposed. None of my early music magazines or online resources ever mentioned the 2002 find, which came just one year after the English Prittlewell discovery, so I just had to keep searching to find out all I could about it.

Well, I did find a poorly translated (from the German) preliminary report on the lyre. It gave most, but not all, of the dimensions, types of wood used, and distinguishing features, like the use of sound holes and leather strap hooks. It was enough to allow me to draw up my own plans. There are a couple of luthiers in England who have already made copies, but I really want to make my own, as close as possible to the original as I can. More news on this as it progresses.

Meanwhile, time to think a little, carve a little, and create a lot. No fog. Onward anyway.

Barbara Allen

2009-08-10T16:07:00.001-07:00

“In Scarlet town where I was born,
There was a fair maid dwellin'
Made every youth cry Well-a-day,
Her name was Barb'ra Allen.”

The other day I completed another Mountain dulcimer in my Folk Legends series, Barbara Allen. She’s black walnut, with a walnut and pine fingerboard and maple tuning pegs. Even though most of my dulcimers have upside down heart soundholes, they are more significant in their representation of “hard-hearted Barb’ra Allen”.

The song, “Barbara Allen, has been played since at least the 1600s. One of the earliest references to it is in one of Samuel Pepys Diaries in 1666, calling it the “little Scottish tune”. There are countless versions of Barbara Allen, some called Barb’ry Ellen, Barbara Ellen, and Bonny Barbara Ellen. Its origins are somewhere in the British Isles, and both Scotland and England both claim it. The author is unknown. Other versions are found as far afield as Italy and Scandanavia, but there are over 98 versions found so far in Virginia alone. In the late 1800’s, Francis J. Childs compiled and published several volumes of folk music sung in the British Isles. Often, even today, old ballads and folk music is described as Child Ballad number such-and-such.

Barbara Allen is Child Ballad #84. For lyrics, and a MIDI example of the music, go to http://www.contemplator.com/child/brballen.html. For lyrics to three different versions, mainly Scottish, go to http://sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch084.htm. My lead-in first verse above is the start to the most common version, made famous by Joan Baez on one of her first albums in 1960-61. Here are first verses to three other versions that show not only age, but possible location of origin.

Version 1:
IT was in and about the Martinmas time,
When the green leaves were a falling,
That Sir John Graeme, in the West Country,
Fell in love with Barbara Allan.

[Martinmas-St. Martin’s Day, around 1st week in November][West Country, the far western peninsular region of England, ending with Penzance]

Version 2:
IN SCARLET TOWN, where I was bound,
There was a fair maid dwelling,
Whom I had chosen to be my own,
And her name it was Barbara Allen.

[Scarlet Town is not a town, now, but might have been then. This was a place where cloth was dyed. The city of Lincoln was one such place where cloth of scarlet and green were dyed in medieval times.]

Version 3:
IT fell about the Lammas time,
When the woods grow green and yellow,
There came a wooer out of the West
A wooing to Barbara Allan.

[Lammas today is August 1st. In medieval times, and up into the Renaissance, Lammas was celebrated around the end of July or the beginning of August. It was a time for the early harvests, fairs, and markets. Baking bread from the first wheat harvest on Lammas Day was a custom, and still is with some Christian cultures.]
[West. Again, West Country, or perhaps Wales]

Back in our West Country

I’ve made quite a few dulcimer ancestors and “hybrid” dulcimers this last year, but it’s been well over a year since I made my last Mountain dulcimer, Matty Groves, which was another in the Folk Legends series. Other Folk Legends dulcimers I’ve made and sold in the past are Lily of the West, My Creole Belle, Ol’ Black Joe, and Anna Thea. Examples of these carvings are in the book, “Ronald Cook, Craftsman”, by Stella Sexmith. (Available through me, or you can order through booksellers. Ask for ISBN #9 780615 275796.)

On my bench about 75% carved is the headpiece for my next Mountain dulcimer, “The White Lady”. This will be part of my mythological series of dulcimers. The name refers to a type of female ghost that legend says appears in rural areas, and who is supposed to have died or suffered trauma in life. White Lady legends are found around the world. Common to many of them is the theme of losing or being betrayed by a husband or fiancé. They are often associated with an individual family line, as a harbinger of death. The Irish Banshee is one such White Lady. (Maybe I’ll have it done for Halloween. Br-r-r.)

Show Time!

Coming up this weekend, August 14-16, I’ll be exhibiting at the American Craft Council Show at Fort Mason, San Francisco. (Booth 729.) Two weeks later, over Labor Day Weekend, I’ll be at the Sausalito Art Festival. (Booth 121.) I probably won’t be able to update this blog until after I get back. However, I should have several photos to share of both shows.

Anyway, onward, yes, through the fog.

Baulines Craft Guild at Garry Knox Bennett’s

2009-08-03T12:11:00.001-07:00

It was an exciting weekend! My wife and I were invited to spend Sunday afternoon in Oakland at the home and studio of woodworking legend Garry Knox Bennett and his wife, Sylvia. This was a party to benefit the Baulines Craft Guild, which I am a Master member of, and Garry is an honorary member. Also in attendance were many other Baulines members as well as their guests.

Three of the Santa Cruz Woodworkers, all Baulines Master Members, were there. In the photo, from left to right, are me (Ron Cook), Garry Knox Bennett, Roger Heitzman, and Michael Singer.

Over the 50+ years Garry has been creating his artwork, he has amassed a fine collection of furniture and artwork by many well-known crafts people and artists. This photo is an iconic desk design by one of the founders of the Baulines Craft Guild, Art Carpenter. The chair is, of course, by Garry Knox Bennett.

It was a wonderful Sunday afternoon. Meeting Garry was an honor, and he and Sylvia were incredibly generous to open their home and studio to the Baulines Craft Guild and their guests. Their warmth and good nature made for a good time had by all.

Meanwhile, back in the studio:

All of the mini hog-nose psalteries are done. (Whew!) Finishing them up all at the same time was three day process. Putting 105 strings of 7 instruments took a lot of wrist action. I only strung up two instruments at a day to save my wrist. It was a lot of work, but they all turned out sounding very good and with a lot of resonance.

Taking a break from my “Sound Sculptures,” I took a little time to carve another of my “folky” birdhouses. I haven’t settled on a name for it yet, but it’s a fun little piece made from salvaged poplar and birch logs and branches.

It may be a while before my next update. In two weeks I’ll be at the American Craft Council Show in San Francisco (Fort Mason), then over Labor Day Weekend, I’ll be at the Sausalito Art Festival. (Follow the links for more info.)

Onward through the fog…

One Down, Six to Go!

2009-07-21T13:59:00.001-07:00

The pile of mini hog-nose psalteries is slowly going down. I finally completed the first of the seven, have four more to polish, and two just getting their first coatings of tung oil. Whew!

The mini hog-nose psaltery I finished yesterday is the one that’s larger than the others. It’s a full 2 inches wider, so it has longer string length and a bright resonating tone. The top and back are ziricote, which is a highly figured hard wood found in Central America, from Southern Mexico to Belize. I usually don’t use exotic woods, unless they’re salvaged, but I bought this beautiful stuff around 15 years ago thinking I’d use it on a guitar. (I stopped making guitars nearly 8 years ago.) The frame, bridges, and binding are maple. I’ll be recording some sound clips after I complete a few of the standard-size mini psalteries. I also plan to try stringing one with brass and perhaps another with gut, just to hear what they’ll sound like. If I’m happy with the sound, I’ll also record them.

Meanwhile, in the shop:

I glued the bridges on the last of the seven mini hog-nose psalteries the other day.

Yesterday, I put the last coat of tung oil on four more of the mini psalteries. Today, I put the first coat on the last two.

Waiting in the wings are several other instruments in the middle of construction or nearing completion. My newest dulcimer, which is nearly done, is “Barbara Allen”. She’s all black walnut with a pine and black walnut fingerboard. Her pegs, which still need carving, will be maple. In the background in the above picture is the “Chapter House Portative Organ”. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the pipes are done and voiced, but not yet tuned. The body is together, but I still need to carve the tall side walls. Not in the picture is another instrument based on the Chapter House wall paintings, the “Chapter House Harp”. There has been a lot of carving to do on it, and there’s still more. It’s taken a long time to finish it up. One of these days…

In the back of my mind are several ideas for new instruments and sound sculptures. (That’s probably why I have a headache.) However, I really need to finish most everything that’s in process before starting on something new. But who knows? I might just have to jump right into working on one of those ideas right away. Anything’s possible. As I always say, “onward through the fog.” (Or, as Roseanne Roseannadanna used to say, “it’s always something.”)

Psaltery after psaltery after psaltery…

2009-07-01T18:10:00.001-07:00

I finally completed the third and final Hans Memling-style hog nose psaltery. Where my others had 21 to 22 strings spaced approximately 5/8” apart, Memling #3 has 29 strings at 1/2” apart. It is a full 4-octave diatonic instrument. Because of the high tension of the strings, I used steel strings instead of nylon. It has a very full rich tone and is capable of being played in all the modal scales. It has a salvaged redwood top and black walnut back. The rosettes are maple and black walnut. As I mentioned, this is another psaltery based on the painting by Hans Memling, “Angels Making Music”, the image is a detail of the full altar painting, which is quite wide and narrow and looks almost like medieval Cinerama. Because this is a Flemish painting, the detail is quite exquisite. You can actually count the strings on most of the instruments. I haven’t made plans, yet, to do any other instruments depicted in the painting.

One psaltery down, seven more to go. Or rather, seven smaller ones to go.

My mini hog-nose psalteries have been very popular for several years, and I completely sold out in 2008. Also in 2008, I picked up quite a bit of salvaged lumber and sale pieces from my local hardwood dealer, so I ripped and cut enough last week to put together seven more of the little instruments. It’s taken a few days, but I now have all of the frames made and the backs sanded and glued on. My small workshop was wall-to-wall psalteries yesterday.

Meanwhile, I have another dulcimer about ready to sand down and complete—probably in a few weeks. Stay tuned.

Yes, it’s been very foggy. Onward through it.

Making Sawdust

2009-06-22T18:57:00.001-07:00

There are times when I feel I make more sawdust than crafts. That may be true or not, but I do fill up the dust filters and containers every once in a while. At least I use it for compost.

The Summer Solstice is here, and the weather is almost Summer-like. It’s been in the 70’s off and on for a few days, a little windy, and dry. Actually, it’s good weather for putting finishes on instruments, which I started doing on the new Hans Memling psaltery.

Just yesterday I did the last step of assembly on the Memling: gluing the bridges. This is a time-consuming process due to the amount of preparation. I first have to place the bridges and temporarily clamp them, then use painter’s tape to mask the areas next to the bridges so glue won’t smear or leak on to the soft redwood top. A small bit of glue on the redwood would show as a light spot when the finish is applied. Today, with the glue set and the weather so nice, I did a final light sanding and cleaning and started applying tung oil. I’ll put on 3 or 4 coats, then it will be ready to polish, put on the pins and pegs, string it up, and play away.

On the other side of the shop (actually, a few feet to the left), I’m working on Barbara Allen, my new black walnut Mountain dulcimer. It’s another hour-glass shaped instrument in the style of the J. Edward Thomas dulcimer I saw at the Smithsonian many years ago. However, this one is a little larger than my other designs. The larger size allows for a little more volume.

Last week I steam bent the dulcimer sides and clamped them in one of my bending forms for a few days. While the wood was drying, I built a new assembly form for the larger dulcimer size out of old MDF (Medium Density Fiberboard). When I finished it, I transferred the sides from the bending form to the assembly form. Within two days,

I prepped and glued the head and tailpiece to the sides and started gluing in the kerf strips (lining on the side edges that add gluing surface for the top and back).

Meanwhile, instead of watching the glue dry, I started cutting wood (making more sawdust) for several new mini hognose psalteries. Up to last year, I had several in stock, but after the 2008 show season, I had none. They are popular and easy to play, so it’s time to make some more. Seven more.

The “Chapter House Portative Organ” is now on the back burner for a short time until I can obtain some leather felt custom made specifically for the tracking systems on organ pipes. While I’m waiting, I’ll finish up the Memling psaltery and “Barbara Allen.”

No fog outside right now, but onward through it anyway.

Hans Memling is alive and well…

2009-06-13T19:43:00.001-07:00

Uh… well he was 500 years ago. I’m referring to my Hans Memling inspired hog nose psaltery, which is number 3 in a series of three. Hans Memling painted a very detailed altar piece called “Angels Making Music”, in which many of the heavenly winged-ones are playing a lot of the instruments of the time, including a very graceful hog nose psaltery. The first one I created several years ago and was sold to someone who fell in love with its design and harp-like tone. I started numbers 2 and 3 earlier this year at the same time, but got side-tracked on to other projects after completing number 2. Well, I’m back to carving again, and finally finished the rosettes for number 3 and glued then onto the soundboard. It should be ready to finish and string up in a few more weeks.

Another pair of projects that have been sitting on my bench for an eternity (actually, a couple of months), are two more Mountain dulcimers, one black walnut and one figured maple. I’ve had the head carvings for both at about 75% completion for months and today started working on them again. (I’ve had too many ideas for new works lately, and it’s kept me from continuing on my older projects.) I hope to have these two dulcimers finished by August.

Meanwhile, back at my organ…. I mean my Chapter House portative organ. This is one of those projects that’s kept me from working on the pieces I mentioned above, because I’ve done so much research and planning on it. It’s actually coming along nicely, though, with all the pipes done as well as the pipe (wind) chest. I’ve cut and shaped the side pieces and laid them out with a Gothic design, so now they’re ready for my carving tools. I’ve also cut and shaped all the keys and the pallet pieces, which are the internal workings that control the air flow to the pipes. Whew! Lot’s of pieces.

Well, once again, onward through the fog. (It’s actually rather nice out right now, but the fog will be back in the morning.)

Put that in your pipe…

2009-06-02T11:38:00.001-07:00

Fog, fog, and more fog. It’s been cool, breezy, and there’s been very little sun for over a week. Time for a change.

Well, there are changes in the shop. Projects are proceeding, little by little,and they do seem to be getting done. I’ve finished all the new pipes for my Chapter House Portative Organ and voiced them so they all have a nice, recorder-like sound. They still need to be tuned yet, and that will take a little time. Next I need to make the keys and all the interior mechanics. That has to be done just right so no air escapes and only goes through the pipes. Then there’s the bellows. I have several pieces of thin leather for the bellows, but I still need to come up with an efficient design. I have some reference material that shows how to build bellows, but they’re more for the larger organs than small portable ones.

My second Memling Hog Nose Psaltery is kind of on the back burner, while I’m working on the organ, but I am finishing up the pierced rosettes that I’ll soon mount behind the soundholes.

I was saddened to hear of the passing of Sam Maloof. I was fortunate to have met this very friendly, wonderful man at the Good Wood show, April of 2005, at the Pasadena Museum of California Art. Sam was a juror for the show and had accepted one of my mandolins to be on display. I took this picture of Sam as he was trying out a chair made from a roll of newspapers and some twigs. (He actually said it was comfortable.)

We will all miss him.

…and onward through the fog.

The Pipers are Comin’ (again)

2009-05-18T19:12:00.001-07:00

Heat. Cold. Heat. Cold. Mother Nature can’t seem to set her thermometer to the right temperature yet. We just had three beautiful warm days, in the 70s and 80s here (90s to 100s over the hill), and today the fog came in and it didn’t get up past 55.

I’m in the process of finishing up another of my “Memling” psalteries. Today, I polished the first of two and got it ready so I can start stringing it up, which I’ll do tomorrow. I want to have it all done for the Santa Cruz Art League 90th Birthday Art Fair this Memorial Day Weekend, May 23-24 (10-6pm each day). That’s me in the photo at the Art Fair Preview section of the Art League 90th Birthday reception with my newly completed small medieval-style harp.

One of my “long-term” projects, which is my final “Chapter House” instrument, is a portative pipe organ. I’ve been working on test pieces for over a year now, and got several wood pipes of both hard and soft woods to make sweet “tooting” sounds. A few months ago, I found a self-published booklet on how to make small portative pipe organs. I purchased it and immediately started re-thinking my own designs.

I’ve now started on a complete new organ, in, of course, the medieval style, with 16 pipes tuned in a diatonic (major) scale. The pipe block (on the left in photo) is cut and sanded and laid out for drilling. I’m making new pipes (in clamps in photo), using the measurements from the book I got, all out of thin pieces of maple.

I do have a few other projects going (actually, 4 or 5), so the pipe organ will be filling in time as the glue or finish dries on my regular stringed instruments. However, I do want to have it completed before the year is over.

If any readers of this blog are in Santa Cruz on Memorial Day Weekend, stop by the Santa Cruz Art League’s 90th Birthday Celebrations and Art Fair, 526 Broadway, Santa Cruz. It’s just off Ocean Street, which is the main drive to the Beach and Boardwalk Amusement Park. I’m in Booth #1.

Again, onward through the fog.

Harping on It a Little

2009-05-11T14:09:00.001-07:00

Whew! After a few weeks of rain and cold that kept me out of my partially-heated studio for most of the time, we’re now experiencing our more typical May weather of sun, some fog, and some warmth. (Warm in Santa Cruz is anytime the temperature is over 65 degrees.) The warmer days make it better for glues to set well and for finishes to dry more efficiently.

Because of the nice days, I was able to finally finish the small, medieval-style harp I’d been trying to complete for the last month. It is approximately 75% salvaged wood. The back is coopered, like old wooden barrel and tank staves, and made from strips of poplar and black walnut. The soundboard, post and peg “beam” are maple. I call it “Mercury, The Winged Messenger.” It has 15 nylon strings, tuned diatonically, two octaves, in a C-major scale.

The poplar came from a friend who had been contracted to remove the tree, and he gave me several good two foot long logs that I milled and let dry a few years. The black walnut strips and binding are all scrap from previous projects. The maple soundboard is also scrap. I re-milled some small pieces of maple to 1/8 inch thick, and glued it top-to-bottom, so the grain runs horizontally.

Just yesterday, I finished a small stand so the harp can be displayed upright. Actually, I finished it just in time to take everything to the Santa Cruz Art League to put on display for the 90th Birthday show and Art Fair, May 23 and 24th. I’ll be exhibiting at the Art Fair in Booth 1. Hope to see you all there!

Warm weather beckons. Time to head back to the studio.

Onward through the fog!

More Shop Notes

2009-04-24T11:57:00.001-07:00

After a record-breaking hot spell, I was able to get back into my shop for longer periods of time again and get a lot of work done. The temperatures got up into the high 90’s, which is pretty unusual for us, being only 1/2 block from the Monterey Bay. My shop got even hotter so I was only able to work early in the day. By mid-afternoon, the interior was 98 degrees. Now the fog is back and the temperature’s dropped to a cool 55-60 degrees—typical for this time of year.

On the workbench are two instruments that are coming along pretty well: a small medieval-style harp, and another Memling-style hog-nose psaltery. I have other projects I need to get back to/continue on, such as two more dulcimers, the larger Chapter House harp, and also the Chapter House portative organ. (So many projects, so little time!)

The top picture shows me sanding the “coopered” staves of the small harp’s body. Shortly after the sanding, I laid out the string spacing and drilled the soundboard for the string pins.

The next picture shows me using a small violin maker’s hand plane to shape the hog-nose psaltery’s soundboard bracing.

The last picture is my carving work area with some of the hog-nose psaltery rosettes in the process of being carved. Next to them are two dulcimer heads nearing completion.

On the restoration/repair front: I’m now working on two concert zither restorations simultaneously. I try to work an hour or two in the morning on these before I head to the studio. I have a work table set up in my garage workshop just for my restoration work. My repair schedule for the rest of the year is now full-to-overflowing with work. And… I better get going!

Onward through the fog.

Arts & Crafts in the Desert

2009-03-26T14:45:00.001-07:00

The Scottsdale Arts Festival is over for another year. It was another eventful outdoor show with around 180 really, really good artists. Many of the fine crafts and artwork were imaginative and well done. The Festival is held at Scottsdale’s Civic Center Plaza, a very nice, green-grass park with an odd profusion of trees, palms, and cacti. It doesn’t look like it, but the heat tells you you’re in the desert.

Last Friday, on the first day of the show, several experts walked the grounds judging all the arts and crafts, which they do every year. That night, there was an awards ceremony and buffet dinner for all the artists. I was surprised and very fortunate to get awarded third place in the Wood category. (That’s me in my booth by the ribbon.)The big plus to getting an award is that I don’t have to get juried into the show next year. I’m automatically accepted!

I’ve done this show for five years now, and I think this year I had a better booth location than I’ve had before. It was a corner booth on a very well traveled intersection of walkways. It also was situated so most of my instruments were out of direct sunlight. And speaking of sunlight… the temperature the first two days were pretty warm, around 85-90 degrees. On Sunday, it cooled down a little because of the wind, which we all thought was going to be around 40 mile per hour, prompting the Festival officials to warn everyone to “batten down the hatches.” There were a few strong gusts, and one glass artist lost one piece that blew off a table, but the day turned out ok.

My wife and I spent one extra day on Monday visiting friends in Phoenix and left early Tuesday morning. We got home at almost 11 pm. After unloading everything yesterday and putting it all away today, I’m pretty exhausted. I can barely raise my hands to type this blog. I plan to rest up a day or two before getting back to work in the studio.

While staying with our friends in Phoenix, I began planning and drawing up some new and different types of artwork, and I can’t wait to start on it. However, I’ve really got to finish up the several pieces I’m currently working on before jumping ahead to those new works.

Anyway, once again, onward through the fog. (And it has been foggy here in the morning lately.)

The Rains Came—and show season begins

2009-03-05T13:18:00.001-08:00

The cloudbursts these last few days have left the yard soaked and made it hard to make it from the house to my studio. At one point yesterday, the rains fell so heavily that it couldn’t drain fast enough and the back patio had an inch of water on it. But… we do need the rain. We’re still in drought mode.

Next week I’ll be attending the Contemporary Craft Market at Fort Mason in San Francisco. I am a member of the Baulines Craft Guild, and the promoter, RoyHelms, has graciously donated space again this year for the organization. We each get to exhibit one piece, and I’ll be there to help set up and tear down. I’ll also be in the booth to answer questions Sunday afternoon. Oh yes, the dates and time: March 14 and 15, 10am to 5pm.

The following week I’ll be heading to Arizona for the Scottsdale Arts Festival. This show often ranks as one of the top shows in the country, and I think this is my fifth year there. It’s a fun show and very well attended. It runs March 20-22. It’s open 10am to 6pm, Friday and Saturday, and 10am to 5pm on Sunday.

Meanwhile, back at the Studio…

After finally finishing “The Burgermeister”, my new Pennsylvania German Scheitholt, I scheduled a photo shoot with Paul Schraub Photography, my long-standing and excellent photographer. I took around 7 new pieces to get photographed, and they’ll soon be up on my web site. For now, here’s a couple of thumbnails of my newer pieces.

Onward through the fog…

"Der Burgermeister" is Finished!

2009-02-22T17:07:00.001-08:00

Barely six weeks ago I started on a reproduction of the Pennsylvania German Scheitholt I restored last year. It's been in the planning stages for a lot longer, ever since the instrument arrived for repair in Spring of last year. When it came, I immediately started researching its history, taking measurements, and drawing up technical illustratons, thinking I might replicate it one day.

That day came shortly after the first of the year. I got into a carving mood, starting on a couple of heads for future dulcimers. I was cleaning and rearranging my shop a little and came across my technical drawing of the Pennsylvania Scheitholt. I got to thinking about it more then decided to start carving a head for it too. I got very occupied with the carving, and with getting all the pieces together for later assembly.

Yesterday, it all came together, with the final polishing, stringing, and playing... and naming. I call it "Der Burgermeister." And, no, it's not named after a beer. A Burgermeister is considered a German town leader, like a mayor.

My new Pennsylvania German Scheitholt is all black walnut except for a small maple strip for the nut and a bone saddle for a bridge. It's a 30" long by 3" wide by 3" deep box. To me the tone is wonderful. It has that sweet Mountain dulcimer sound but with the added feature of 1/4" wide melody strings that allow chording in the concert zither and epinette des Vosges style.

Sound clips and professional photos will be coming soon.

Onward through the fog.

Something Old, Something New

2009-02-14T11:56:00.001-08:00

Quite a lot has happened over the last couple of weeks. My ex, who I hadn't seen for 10 years or more, called to say she was going to be at her parents for a few days and only about 45 minutes away. She wanted to get together for lunch and give me an instrument she found at an antique store. Also, she has an old Gibson J-45 that she felt needed new frets, so she brought that along too. We met at a Mexican restaurant that we used to frequent in the 1960s-1970s in San Juan Bautista. She brought her 90-year-old mother along. It was good seeing them both again.

My ex had no idea what the instrument was when she bought it. All the dealer told her was that she though it was Hungarian. As soon as I saw it, I knew immediately that it was a Hungarian zither, an instrument that dates back several hundred years. It is incredibly weathered, looking as if it had been left outdoors for the last 75 years or so. It looks like weathered barn wood. It was probably found in a California gold rush town, since that's the area where my ex lives now with her family. It was simply made and the hand carving was elementary chip carving--no real design elements, just some edge fluting. The wear next to where it was strummed shows it was played a lot.

Traditionally, Hungarian zithers are backless. The back is open. Since these were usually played on a table top, the table would act as a resonating surface. This one has 13 strings. Nine come off the main head piece, and two each on the two shorter side heads. Inside there is some faded writing that looks like a Hungarian name and possibly a date. I first thought it was kind of a stylized representation of 1928 or 1938, but on further examination, the numbers seem to represent something else. Also, the writing seems to be in faded ink and might have been written many years after it was made. There are nails used as bridges and some are used to hold the top to the sides. They are not old 19th century square cut nails, but manufacture round wire nails. That means this would have been made after 1890, when round nails became more common.

The first thing I did with the old zither after I got it home was to measure it and create a technical drawing so I could reproduce the instrument one day.

Meanwhile, back in the shop...

I few weeks ago, my old Dremel rotary tool started to act up again. The flexible shaft began to get hot to the touch, which means the cable was unraveling and about ready to break. I've gone through several cable already, and the cost was getting to high to maintain the tool. I bit the bullet and ordered a larger, professional quality Foredom rotary carving tool. So far, it's proven itself to be a good heavy-duty carving machine. The first results are shown in the next picture. Two walnut heads and one maple. I've also carved out bowls on ten spoons. The Foredom has a foot pedal, so it makes it easier to regulate the carving speed.

There are three dulcimers and one Pennsylvania German-style scheitholt on my workbench right now, as well as the Chapter House Harp, that I've started working on again. More about those later.

Onward through the fog.

B-a-a B-a-a Black Sheep...

2009-01-22T21:03:00.001-08:00

The first month of 2009 is speeding by and is almost over. In the last few weeks I was able to finish three of the instruments that I started after Open Studios last October. With guests, holidays, traveling, and the big business and web site change from Coog Instruments to Ron Cook Studios, I felt guilty for not spending enough time in the studio. I just have to keep telling myself that there's not enough hours in the day to do everything. Plus, I have to stop to smell the roses once in a while--and sleep.

New Work

Well, I'm awake now.

I've shown little bits of some of my new works, and now you can see the finished pieces. My newest pride is called "The Black Sheep". It's the third of my banjo-dulcimers. Like the others, this one is almost 100% salvaged and recycled wood. The neck is laminated lacewood and zebrawood, more woods from a local spear gun maker (for diving sport fishermen), with a maple fingerboard (the only new wood). The rim is mahogany, cut from an old patio table. The back is olive, poplar, and maple. The olive came from a tree cut down to make way for a new house across the street from us. The poplar was from logs given to me by a friend. The maple was scrap. The top is 125+ year old Douglas fir, salvaged from a Portland, Oregon, warehouse that was torn down. The body is larger than the previous banjo-dulcimers and has a much deeper tone. It's very easy and fun to play.

My other two pieces are nearly identical. They are the second and third of my Cantigas Psaltery series. The surface wood is all recycled white oak, like the first one, that came from an old broken drop-leaf table some friends gave me. Bindings are purpleheart, on one, and black walnut on the other. These small psalteries have 15 nylon strings (two diatonic octaves) and have a pleasant harp-like tone.

Coming Up

I've returned to the carving of my Chapter House Harp. I've been working on this off and on for the last few years. Originally, I was carving not only a face, but braids and decorations all the way down the harp's post. It got a little overwhelming, and I put it away for a while. Recently I re-thought the design and came up with a lovely and more traditional look. It's going to be a spectacular piece. More on that later.

I'm also working on another test piece for my Chapter House Portative Organ. I'm trying a different key and wind chest design, and I thing this one will work much better than the first. More on that later too.

In March I'll be heading for Scottsdale, Arizona, for the Scottsdale Arts Festival. It's held in the Civic Plaza Park area March 2o-22. It occurs during baseball's spring training and is one block from the Giants training field. If you're there for the baseball, or if you're vacationing, or if you live there, come on by and see the great arts and crafts at the Festival. My booth number will be available soon.

Once again, for now, onward through the fog.

Time Marches On

2009-01-11T17:46:00.001-08:00

The last year went by so fast it was a blur. We're two weeks into 2009, and I'm already in a panic that I won't have enough done for the Scottsdale Arts Festival in March. I'm also in a panic over the number of old, antique zithers needing restoration that have somehow stacked up in my office. My yearly repair/restoration quota is nearly reached. One more around April, and that will have to be it until 2010. The zithers I have standing on the sidelines are all very beautiful. Some are in decent shape and only need small crack repairs and a few strings replaced, and some need a lot of work. It is very satisfying to be able to bring these instruments back to life.

In The Studio

Three instruments will be getting a finish applied in the next week. My third banjo-dulcimer is the largest and has taken the longest to finish. Today I glued the last pieces on it, so I can put the first coat of tung oil on it tomorrow. The picture on the left is the hand-carved ram's head that will be the focus of the piece. The horns are carved from tagua nut.

I'll also be applying Tung oil to the two Cantigas de Santa Maria psalteries I've been working on. I drilled the pin and peg holes today and started gluing the bridges on.

I'll be taking a little time to finish up a couple of restoration projects while my three instruments are drying. A couple of the zithers I'm working on date back to around 1885-95. A couple others are from the 1920s, and one is from war-time Germany, 1938.

Other News

It appears we're in for another drought year here in Santa Cruz. We're two weeks into January, and no rain is in sight. In fact, the temperature rose to 71 degrees today, and is supposed to get up to 73 tomorrow. Spring weather in January??? What's wrong with this picture? Actually, the warm, dry weather is great for applying finishes to my instruments. When it rains, my finishes take forever to dry. On days like these, I can put a coat of tung oil on daily, instead of every two or three days.

I'll be taking pictures and cataloging the different types of zithers I'm going to be restoring soon, and posting them here, so stay tuned.

Onward through the fog!

New Web Site

2009-01-05T17:42:00.001-08:00

It's official! Coog Instruments & Folk Art is now Ron Cook Studios. The new web site is up and running. Be sure to check it out at http://www.roncookstudios.com/. There is still a little work to be done, but the important pages are all there and ready for viewing (and buying???)

The Coog Instruments web site will be online for another 6 months or so, for those who have direct links to certain pages. Hopefully, after 6 months, those links will be set for similar pages on the new Ron Cook Studios web site.

New Instrument News: Another banjo-dulcimer is nearing completion. Pictures coming soon. Also, two more Cantigas de Santa Maria psalteries are in the works. They should be done by the end of January.

On another note, my Mountain dulcimer, "Matty Groves", will be on display at the Santa Cruz Art League, January 10 through February 1, for the first part of the Santa Cruz Art League Members' Exhibition. The reception is January 17th. You can find out more at http://www.scal.org/.

As I said before, "Onward through the fog!"

The New Buzzword: Changes

2008-12-15T16:11:00.001-08:00

For months before and after the elections, all we kept hearing was the word "Changes." I'm not one to pick up on current buzzwords and slang that quickly (I adhere to classic English language and grammar), but "change" is appropriate to the future of my craft.

The big change is that as of January 1, 2009, Coog Instruments & Folk Art will be no more. Ron Cook Studios will be the official name, being more descriptive of my work space and less limiting on the type of artwork I create. And... as of today, all newsworthy updates will be posted here.

Work in Progress

I recently completed my first test keyboard for the future Chapter House Portative Organ. If you don't remember from past postings, my wife, Stella, and I visited the Westminster Abbey several years ago when we were touring London. We took a Verger tour that allowed us to see the oldest parts of the Abbey, dating back to the 1200's. One of the older sections was known as the Chapter House. That was where the monks held their abbey business meetings as well as meetings with and by medieval rulers, lords, and businessmen. On two walls are 14th century paintings depicting the judgement and resurrection. All the richly garbed ecumenical figures encircling heavenly host are all playing instruments of the period. I've reproduced all of the stringed instruments, and for years have planned to one day to build the portative organ. That time is getting close. I've made all the pipes, and now I'm working on tests of the wind chest and keys. My first attempt works, but not well enough yet. Too many leaks. Soon I'll have another test piece to try.

Another piece that's coming right along is Banjo-Dulcimer #3. This is another of my 100% salvage wood pieces, made of old mahogany, from a garden side table, Douglas fir, from a Portland, Oregon, warehouse that was demolished, and various woods from the scrap pile of a local salt-water spear gun maker. I'm finishing up the head carving, but that's not to be seen yet until the Banjo-Dulcimer is finished.

New Works

I've sold five dulcimers in the last couple of months, and that's depleted my Early American inventory quite a bit. Last week I started to rebuild the inventory by cutting the slots and installing frets on seven dulcimer fingerboards. I still have to dress the frets (file the ends smooth), and prepare more head and tailpiece blanks to get them ready for carving.

Last week I journeyed to Watsonville to take advantage of a year-end inventory reduction sale at a hardwood lumber yard. I was able to get some nice pieces of cherry, maple, black walnut, and poplar for as much as 50% off. Some decent pieces were only 25 cents a foot, which are perfect for cutting into blanks for my future chess men/women carvings. Much of the other wood I've already cut and milled into thin pieces for new instrument tops, backs, and sides. I often use mostly salvaged and recycled material, but I do like to use new woods on special carvings and instruments. The lumberyard I purchase wood from is FSC certified, which basically means they sell responsibly harvested woods. They don't purchase any lumber that might come from areas that are damaging the environment. I stay away from tropical woods, unless they're salvaged, and tend to use mainly domestic hard and soft woods.

There will be more "changes" coming later next year, and I'll keep them posted on this blog.

It's been a while since my last posting, and much of the reason for my tardiness is because we've had some terrible internet connection problems that I've only recently (today) solved. Ever since before the election, our internet connectivity was intermittent to non-existent. It finally shut down completely last week. No internet. No e-mail. After what seemed like hours of trying to get AT&T to solve the issue, and going round and round with automated phone support and getting nowhere, I bit the bullet and opted for a cable modem. After running a new cable line to my office area, it took very little time to hook it up and get surfing again. Web pages appear almost before I finish typing in the web address. In other words, pretty damn fast. E-mail is running great now, and I can finally answer e-mails that piled up the last few days. (I used dial-up one time to get my e-mail, but everything was so-o-o-o slow.)

Anyway, change is happening. I'm changing my name, changing my focus, and changing into my work cloths so I can get back into my studio.

Onward through the fog!

Coming Soon!

2008-10-23T20:06:00.001-07:00

Coog Instruments and Folk Art will be going the way of the dodo soon. Early in 2009, it will become extinct. However, around the same time, a new entity will emerge, and it will be called "Ron Cook Studios".

This new company will pave the way for me to expand my wood carving and sculptural creativity into places where no one has gone before. I will be able to direct my interests into not only musical sound sculptures, but also into other artistic and sculptural pursuits, both functional and decorative.

Stay tuned as the evolutionary drama unfolds!

Anyone for Chess?

2008-06-28T21:18:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, mainly because I've been working very hard on instruments more than folk art, and also due to the hard disk crash that took me away from my work for several days. However, today that changed a little, since I started doing more work on the chessboard I've tinkered with for several months. It was time to sand the uneven surface to make it an even surface. That took several passes through my drum sander.

Since my drum sander is only 10 inches wide, I had to pass the chessboard through twice, turning it around to get both sides. Fortunately, my sander has an open end and can sand pieces up to 20 inches wide in two passes.

Today I also ripped some maple strips to carve and mount on the board as a decorative frame. As soon as that's done, I'll start thinking more about what type of figures I want to carve as chessmen. More to come!

Yeow!

2008-06-19T20:44:00.000-07:00

Hard disk crash! My old main computer, an aging Dell 1st generation Pentium 4, ate the hard drive, and it's taken two days to get it running again.We knew it was having problems because we kept hearing unusual squeaking sound coming from the computer's case. Fortunately, I was able to back everything up before it finally quit. It took several re-boots to get everything, but I saved all the data before the final gasp. I went out and bought a new hard drive, installed Windows XP Professional on it, and spent the last two days re-loading software and data files. That kept me from doing what I really wanted to do: work on my new instruments and folk art pieces.Tomorrow's another story. I have to make time to have photos taken of all my new pieces. My photographer had time on Friday to schedule me in, so I'll be taking around 10 things to get photographed. When I get the photo files, I'll set them up for the web and blog, and, of course, for submitting for show jurying.Stay tuned.

Lady Libertree

2008-06-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I finished another birdhouse to submit to "Birds + Their Dwellings" at the Museum of Craft + Design. I call this one "Lady Libertree". (Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled nesters.)

The deadline for submissions is July 10, so I might have time to do one more. The exhibition, in the Museum Shop, runs from October 2 to November 14 and is open to crafts in clay, fiber, glass, wood, and metal.

As the prospectus says, "This show is inspired by the amazing variety of shapes, forms and designs of birds and the places they dwell. Found on every continent from the Artic to Antarctica, birds have found an enduring place in our cultures as figures of myth, art, food and pop icons." The show is open to all U.S. artists, and artwork must be original and made in the past 2 years.

Another idea is forming in my head. Guess I'll have to go do some carving.

Say Ah-h-h!

2008-05-23T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ron Cook Studios has been pretty active lately. A few weeks ago, I got a call-for-entries notice from the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design. The subject: "Birds + Their Dwellings."

Almost immediately, my mind started thinking about a type of birdhouse. It would have a hand-carved face, sort of a green man or wood spirit face, but with an open mouth for the birds to enter through. Then I though it would be great to have a long tongue sticking out for birds to perch on.

I'm given quite a bit of urban orchard wood, as well as salvaged woods from old furniture and demolished buildings. Usually, I resaw logs into boards that I let dry for a few years before using. Shorter, small logs and branches, I set aside to use for things like carved spoons, whistles, or other type of folk art, like the bird house I thought up.

I took a piece of cherry and hollowed it out. I drilled a 1 1/2" hole, carved a mouth around it, then carved the rest of the face to match the mouth. For the perch, I used some salvaged purpleheart and carved it into the shape of a long tongue.

The base hides 1/2" threaded pipe and inserts and can be unscrewed to change to a longer pole for displaying outside. The wood is salvaged mahogany and a piece of cherry branch, hollowed out for the pipe to fit through. I call this piece "Say Ah-h-h."

I plan to make another similar birdhouse soon so I can have two of them to submit to the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design. The deadline is July 10, so I have a little time to get another one completed.

Onward through the fog.

Life's a Beach

2008-05-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Here I sit, just a 1/2 block from the Monterey Bay, with its migrating whales, nesting cormorants, porpoises, otters, and seals, enclosed in my home office typing away on my laptop. The weather is pleasant, and I should really be outside walking along West Cliff Drive to enjoy the scenery.

There are new things happening in Ron Cook Studios. A chess board is nearing completion, and a hand-carved bird house is in progress for a special gallery showing (if I get juried in).

The chess board is only the start of a very ambitious project to carve a full set of chess figures. With all I have to do for Coog Instruments, this will probably take a few years to complete.

The Museum of Craft and Design in San Francisco sent out a call to artists to create works relating to avian topics. The first thing I thought of was a hand-carved bird house, carved like a person's head, with the mouth as opening and a tongue sticking out as a perch. I need to work on this quickly, since the deadling for submit pictures is in June.

No pictures yet on any of these works, since they're not far enough along to show. Instead, I think I'll take a break and walk down to the end of the street to watch the Wednesday night sail boat races. It's Wet Wednesday here in Santa Cruz, so called because if you show up at the harbor with a six pack, someone will invite you to go sailing with them. Maybe?

Little Carvings

2008-04-17T20:17:00.000-07:00

Folk Art is the arts and crafts produced to fulfill a function by someone who is not artistically trained. In other words, "Joe Blow" needs a ladle to dip fresh water out of his well bucket, so he carves or whittles one. Today, I needed a handle, or pull, for a new maple vanity door, so I carved one instead of wasting the gas to drive to the hardware store to get some little doodad made in China.

It's a very small, but "grabable" pull around the same size as a regular cabinet drawer or door pull. I took a small piece of maple and turned the base on my mini lathe, then carved a small woman's face for the grip. It turned out ok. I put on two coats of tung oil, polished it, then installed it. Here 'tis:

Big Plans, Little Plans

2008-04-02T20:43:00.000-07:00

Ron Cook Studios houses my main business, Coog Instruments & Folk Art. (Web: http://www.cooginstruments.com/. Blog: http://cooginstruments.blogspot.com/.) Ron Cook Studios is also the location for my original, non-musical sculptures and carvings.

I'm getting into an artistic growth period where my creativity seems to want some change. My first love will always be Early American and Early European (medieval) stringed folk instruments, but my mind's been reeling with new ideas and concepts, all within the category of folk art. I've been heavily influenced by my visits to the Museum of Folk Art in New York, especially this last year with the fantastic "From the Synagogue to the Carousel" exhibit." It's hard to put into words how great the folk art carvings were, from the simplest and elementary to the grandest and opulent. It was awe inspiring.

I've always wanted to carve a full-sized carousel animal, and perhaps one day I will. However, for now, I plan to do some smaller carvings this year under the Ron Cook Studios banner. I've ideas, but not yet into the planning stages. Once I get some started and far enough along, I'll take some pictures and post them here.

Onward through the fog.

School Days, School Days

2008-03-20T21:40:00.000-07:00

I want to thank Don Carmen and the students in his Wood 1 and Wood Sculpture classes at San Benito High School for the nice reception and interest in my work.

It was an honor to be able to give talks at both classes and discuss my craft. The students seemed interested and some of their questions were intelligent and thoughtful. I hope I, in some way, inspired some of them that a future in arts and crafts can be an attainable goal.

New products?

2008-03-08T13:27:00.000-08:00

Whistles, nutcrackers, pen and holder. All carved!

Stay tuned!

Baulines Craft Guild at the Contemporary Craft Market

2008-03-05T20:08:00.000-08:00

Back in the 1970s, I journeyed up to Bolinas to attend one of the most memorable craft shows I've ever attended. It was a small gathering of woodworkers, potters, jewelers, fabric and glass artists in a forest glen on the north side of Bodega Bay. I saw musical instruments of all types by Steve Klein and others. I saw some of the most unique furniture designs I'd ever seen at the time. My eyes were wide with excitement seeing all the wonderful craft creations. This was one of the first Master shows put on by the Baulines Craft Guild.

I envied all those craft artists. At the time I was a blue-collar worker, who had left the minimum/minimal pay job as a professional musician, to go to the steady, well-paying labor of a union carpenter. I had art in my soul. Since grade school, I always drew, wrote, and created "things" that I thought of as art. Fortunately, my parents were supportive of anything I attempted, and always told me that I should learn from my mistakes or failures so I'd be better next time. In the 1970s, I was still trying to bring out the art or craft that I knew was inside me. Shortly after seeing the beautiful works of those early Baulines Craft Guild members, I did find my craft: stringed musical instruments.

Jump ahead around 30 years or so. In October of 2006 I was voted into the Baulines Craft Guild as a Master Member. This was due to an exhibit of one of my instruments in a gallery show in Walnut Creek, California. It was a juried exhibition of crafts that artists from all over the country had pieces accepted, including a few Baulines members. The director of the Baulines attended and was intrigued by my rebec with a hand-carved head and body of a gargoyle figure I called "Quasimodo." She asked for me to apply, with her as my sponsor. I did, and soon became a member of the Baulines, a guild I wanted to be part of for over 30 years.

Being part of the Baulines Craft Guild is not just meetings and the occasional member show, it is also about teaching what you know through education and apprenticeship and also taking part in group events. One such group event is coming up this weekend at Fort Mason, San Francisco. It is the Contemporary Craft Market and runs Saturday and Sunday, March 8 and 9, from 10 to 5. A booth was made available for the Baulines Craft Guild and several members will be showing pieces as well as spending time there to answer questions and talk about their works. I will be there Sunday, from 2 to 5.

And, if you want to see more of my work, you can always go to my web site at http://www.cooginstruments.com/. So, 'til next time, onward and upward.

2008-03-01T18:05:00.000-08:00

Welcome to the new Ron Cook Studios Blog.

I just got back from the American Craft Show in Baltimore a few days ago and had a wonderful time there. We decided to reserve a corner booth this year, and it turned out to be a wise decision. I was able to ship fewer display panels, and we bought new pedestals to display my newest work. I also advertised in the American Craft Magazine and the Wholesale and Retail programs, which brought in quite a few people into my booth. Of course, having a good location in a giant convention center where 750 exhibitors are selling is often a luck of the draw, but we had a good location near the food court.

One of the best things about the American Craft Shows is meeting the other artists. We had great neighbors in the booths around us, and, I think, began some beautiful friendships. I look forward to seeing them all again. (The picture is Holly Fisher, the industrial prom queen, and wonderful artist blacksmith.)

March 2, 2008

After a major show like the American Craft Show in Baltimore, it takes me several days to get back into the swing of things. I do go through a short period of "post-show depression" (thinking of what I could have done, should have done, didn't do, etc., etc., etc.), but today broke out of it with a vengence. Not only did I start work on three new instruments and complete several pieces of folk art, I seem to have gotten another zither repair. I've worked on several zithers now, and Google searches for zither repair put me right at the top of the list. When I returned from Baltimore, there were three zither inquiries in my e-mail inbox. So far, one is ready to contract me to restore her old Slovenian zither. I'll keep you all posted on the progress.

Tomorrow I pick up all my crates that came back from the Baltimore show, then I have to get ready to be part of the Baulines Craft Guild booth at the Contemporary Craft Market in San Francisco. (Ft. Mason, San Francisco, March 8 and 9, 10 to 5pm.) Then I need to get a presentation ready for a talk I'm to give for a sculpture and woodshop class at San Benito High School in Hollister, California. That's in one of my old stomping grounds in what is often called the "earthquake capital." Hollister is where I first went to college back in 1964 and also became a semi-serious folk singer. (That endeavor seemed to take precedence over my studies).

The evening and dinner preparations beckon.