Peter Follansbee, joiner's notes

This post is an interruption in my usual sort of writing. Recently I released a new video series on vimeo-on-demand about 17th century style carving. A friend connected me to Liz Davinci, who does marketing for people like me. https://www.davincimarketing.us/ Liz made up a plan for some social media “shorts” to attract new viewers – if you see stuff from me on Instagram, youtube or Facebook then maybe you’ve already seen these clips.

Here’s the part I never thought I’d say – I have a Tik-Tok account too! I thought hell got a little chilly lately… If you read this blog or my substack one, then you surely don’t need to see me on tik tok, but if you use that program and you click those short video clips – they’ll start to see me and bring new viewers into the videos. So any of you tik-tokkers out there…wanna give me a boost? I’d appreciate it.

All of this stuff is over my head. But the vimeo videos sort of flatten out after their initial release and Liz’s plan is to drive new people to them. It’s worth a shot for me, so that’s why you might be seeing a flood of these clips around. Thanks for your time & attention.

The new carving video is here – https://vimeo.com/ondemand/dedhamcarvingsfollansbee

I’m not the only ex-museum professional in this household. My wife was a curator at the museum where I used to work. We’ve been sifting through some books that she’s done with now – and our house is busting at the seams. These might be of interest to someone out there – pottery, archaeology, one about horn, one about glass. Museum reference materials are pricey and often go out of print immediately. Our challenge is to find the audience for these books, rather than just recycling them at the book bin at the transfer station. I’ve looked up prices for each of this and listed these lower than what I found. Prices include shipping in US, book rate through USPS. If you are interested in any of them, email me at Peterfollansbee7@pfollansbee – thanks, and sorry for the intrusion/non-woodsy, non-bird stuff.

Medieval & Post-Medieval Finds from Exeter 1971-1980 by J.P. Allan (Exeter Archaeological Reports: 3, 1984. Hardcover. $75.

a view inside:

Exeter book. sample pages

Next one:

Excavations in the Donyatt Potteries, R. Coleman-Smith and T. Pearson1988. hardcover. $50.

A sample inside that one:

—————–

One about horn – I used to make lanterns at the museum, with horn panes. Amazing material.
Horn: Its History and Its Uses Adele Schaverien, 2006, hardcover $75.

The table of contents for this book:

Hundreds of illustrations. One of the last books we bought before my wife left museum work…brand new condition.

One more for now – glass. Early Post-Medieval Vessel Glass in England, c. 1500-1670, Hugh Willmott, Council for British Archaeology, 2002. softcover. $65.

and inside:

[This is a copy of a post that just went up on my substack blog – so if you subscribe in both places, sorry for the onslaught. A new vimeo-on-demand series on carving patterns.]

Dedham carvings

I’ve just finished a set of 3 videos on carving the patterns from the chests and boxes made in Dedham & Medfield Massachusetts in the mid-17th century. I’ve been working on this series for about a month and think I’ve got it sorted out now.

There’s 3 videos in the set – running a total of just over 2 1/2 hours. I take the viewer through the layout and carving of 5 related patterns. Several are based on chest and box carvings and two are derived from fragments surviving from the pulpit in the 2nd meetinghouse in Medfield, Massachusetts.

Some of the layout I do on paper – only so it will show up better on camera than scratching the outlines on oak panels. Here and there I’m pointing out details shown on photos of the original carvings. As each tool is introduced I indicate its shape and size by citing its “sweep” – the circle its cutting edge is a segment of – and its width (in inches).

Here’s a PDF showing many of the gouges in my set of tools. A few of the ones I use in these panels are new, so not on this chart. When the chart is updated, I’ll repost it here and on my website.

The videos are on vimeo-on-demand. The full price is $50.

Paid subscribers to my substack blog will have a code they can redeem for 20% off – below the paywall on today’s (Aug 13) post https://peterfollansbeejoinerswork.substack.com/p/new-video-series-dedham-carvings

(I bet that code even works for those who just sign up and get a free trial – I can’t suss out all the details, it’s too much for me.)

I spent the last two weeks on the road, teaching at Lost Art Press then visiting friends in Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Tennessee. And doing some research in Pennsylvania and Delaware. And now I’m home, sorting photos. I wrote about the trip on my substack blog – you can read it there, open to all. https://peterfollansbeejoinerswork.substack.com/p/it-was-long-but-it-wasnt-strange

So this one is about the birds I saw at Drew & Louise Langsner’s – first two are cedar waxwings feeding on the mulberry tree.

cedar waxwing (Bombycilla cedrorum)

cedar waxwing w mulberry

One of the most visible birds there was male indigo bunting (Passerina cyanea). I didn’t see the female. This might be the first time I’ve ever photographed them…he kept in the shady places, hard to get enough light on him.

indigo bunting

I brightened this one up after the fact. Not something I’m good at, just used the auto-function.

indigo bunting

The hummingbirds were everywhere, zipping right past my ear many times.

ruby-throated hummingbird (Archilochus colubris)

A bird I’ve only seen a few times before is the hooded warbler (Setophaga citrina) – got a slightly-out-of-focus shot of the male:

hooded warbler, male

The female was around too – they both kept to the shade.

hooded warbler, female

The next one, in the mulberry tree with the waxwings – is a tricky one. The scarlet tanager (Piranga olivacea) a female. I saw a male, way up high.

scarlet tanager, female

It’s funny that the English name has the color of the male, while the scientific name has the color of the female. AND – turns out they aren’t even tanagers, they belong to the cardinal family. Learn something new every day…I’ll substitute a scarlet tanager male from last spring, just because I’ll never get a better picture of one of them anyway. I almost bumped into this guy last year. Now you see where they get the name.

scarlet tanager, male

and here’s the female one more time, better light on her as she wolfed some mulberries.

scarlet tanager female

There were lots more birds there, just not lots more good-enough photos. Black-throated green warbler (Setophaga virens) and black-throated blue warbler (Setophaga caerulescens). An ovenbird. Eastern towhees. Here’s a slightly soft shot of a yellow-throated warbler (Setophaga dominica)- a bird I had only seen once before.

yellow throated warbler

There were blue-gray gnatcatchers, northern parula and some I’ve forgotten. I’ll tack on one lousy photo, only because I’m 98% sure it’s a prothonotary warbler – a bird I had never seen. But I could be wrong. It’s different from the female hooded warbler, which is the only other thing I think it could be.

maybe a prothonotary warbler

July is often not the best month for birding, but around Louise’s garden, the birds don’t know that. I was barely outside the limits of this photo to see all these birds. Amazing fun.

Louise’s garden

Just a quick note here to say that over on the other blog there’s two carved and painted boxes for sale.

carved & painted box, red oak & white pine

They’re my usual sort of thing – oak and pine. Wooden hinges. Till inside.

details about the sizes, prices, etc on a substack post open to all

https://peterfollansbeejoinerswork.substack.com/p/2-boxes-for-sale

I’ve been picking away at things – making boxes these days to fill some orders and to have a couple to sell. I think this is only the 2nd time I’ve made a pile of boxes at once.

parts of 5 boxes at once

Today I assembled some of the bits on the bench for the 4th one. So this weekend I’ll make bottoms and lids for it and the small one there. While I’ve been doing all that carving, I’ve shot some video segments that I’ll turn into full-blown videos on carving different patterns. The “strapwork” design on the box with the carved lid is one I’ve been learning more and more about for the past 20+ years. Here it is incised, before any background removal. All these cuts are different sized gouges and chisels struck with a mallet. This sort of design cannot tolerate any mistakes. Lots of planning, lots of concentration.

the outline, struck with gouges & chisels

Then I go around and chop out behind all these cuts to begin removing that background. This step makes it safe to then have at it and really cut that background out.

background step 1

Then go over it again – this time working to get the background even. Not flat, even. It can & should have some facets showing, but not big bumps. Eventually a stippled punch textures that background. That step I think is more about making a clear distinction between the foreground and background than it is about “hiding” the facets. This photo below is not quite done – the volutes need hollowing. Another whole story.

not done, but almost

It’s staggering how many tools I use to cut these patterns, but I don’t see any other way around it.

lots of tools

Jump ahead – here’s the finished box.

PF red oak & white pine, June 2024

Two other things – one is Lost Art Press has the Joint Stool book I did with Jennie Alexander on sale – $17

The other is that I’ve been making a website, something I haven’t had for ages & ages. People wondered why I bothered, but someone last week was asking about having a carved box made. Now I can send them a link to a whole array of boxes I’ve made. And places to sell stuff like the carving drawings/plans & videos. Imagine – a website to sell stuff. What will they think of next?

https://www.peterfollansbee-joiner.com/