NEW Mesquite Furniture Design: Walker CURVE Entry Table

They say a picture is worth a thousand words so this mesquite furniture blog post will be mostly pictures, a video and a only a few words.....  

The "Walker Curve" Mesquite Entry Table by Lou Quallenberg

The "Walker Curve" Mesquite Entry Table is the newest sculpted, live edge design by Lou Quallenberg Studios and while there are a few photos of the piece none of them come close to capturing the true essence of it as you stand next to and touch it.  When Lou took the order for this table he thought it was going to be one of his standard designs for entry / hallway tables.  That was NOT what the client had in mind. Even after they decided on the sketch below Lou still had no idea what was in front of him.

The challenges on a new concept and design style, both artistically and technically, can be both inspiration as well as torture at the same time.

This new bespoke piece emphasizes Lou Quallenberg's move in a more sculptural direction.  It also proves a point that while his look and style can be copied, they cannot get into his head and take the latest design, so he will always be at least one step ahead.  Always searching to see where the limits on design and mesquite sit and pushing to that point to create his work.  

Lou Quallenberg with new design: The "Walker Curve" Mesquite  Entry Table

Sketch for the Mesquite Entry Table

Making a jig for the curves

Making the jig's curve

Finished jig for the curve

Wood to be cut in thin slices to create the curves

Watch the YouTubeVideo making the curves:
Mesquite Furniture: Making the Walker Entry Table CURVES - Lou Quallenberg Studios

The jig is loaded and sits for 4 days

The first curve for the table

Jig to square the base of the curves

Squaring the base of the curves

A mock up of the table and design

Mesquite table ready for hand rubbed oil and wax finish

"The challenges on a new concept and design style, both artistically and technically, can be both inspiration as well as torture at the same time."

Photographing the "Walker Curve" Mesquite Entry Table

"Always searching to see where the limits on design and mesquite sit and pushing to that point to create his work." 

The "Susan" Mesquite Table: A "Birth" Day

Birthday Ride to Enchanted Rock

April is our birthday month here at Lou Quallenberg Studios.  Mine arrives first on the seventh followed a week later with Lou's on the fourteenth.  Two Aries rams butting heads until one of us decides to be the lamb. We celebrated mine  this year with a beautiful, bluebonnet filled ride to Enchanted Rock on the Harley.  Lou spent his in the shop where he is truly happiest working with his mesquite. I tried to get him out but he said it was his birthday and he could do what he wanted.

April is also the "birth"day for the "Susan" Table.  She was all finished up and delivered on Sunday the 29th. I know Lou felt a few pangs as he let her go.  She went to a very good home and we know she will be well loved for a few generations at the very least.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Susan Table!!

Here is her story:

"Susan" Table Mesquite  Slab Top

We first met with the clients knowing that they wanted a mesquite table that would go in an entry way under a painting.  Lou had carefully selected several mesquite slabs for them to choose from.  When  she saw the slab that would become her table our client knew it was the only one for her.

Conception: Lou created a sketch based on the mesquite slab that was chosen and the process began.

Conception: Lou Quallenberg's sketch of the "Susan" Table

Once the sketch was approved the slab and it's flitch (the rest of the slabs from the tree) was taken to Brandon Berdoll in Cedar Creek. Where they were placed in his kiln for drying.  Brandon has kiln drying of mesquite down to a science and he provided us with regular moisture content readings throughout the entire process.  The mesquite was in the kiln for a good eleven weeks.

Mesquite slabs stacked and ready for the kiln

The Kiln

Final moisture content reading on mesquite slabs dried in the kiln

Once the slab and its sisters were all dried throughout to a 7.5% moisture content it was brought back to Llano to begin the construction process.

Removing the mesquite bark

After the basic shape was defined and the outer edges were cleaned up the base curve was copied and calculated to create the laminated curve that is a signature to Lou Quallenberg's mesquite work.

Calculating the curve for the table base

Once the curve is designed the jig to capture that curve is created and carefully crafted.

The jig that creates the matching curve

Lou Quallenberg in the shop with his curve creating jig

The Laminated Mesquite Base Curve and Leg Pattern

The "Susan" Table got a new set of legs.  Lou gave the leg design a bit more curve because he is always trying to improve the design and look of his mesquite furniture pieces.

Mesquite Table Clamped and Ready for Final Design Tweaking

A First Glimpse at How the Mesquite Table Will Look

The Mesquite Base Curves Finally Together

Curved Mesquite Base Ready for the Finish

Lou's finish is a two week process of lovingly hand sanding the tung oil based finish into every nook and cranny on the piece.

Applying the Finish to the Mesquite Slab Top

 He then rubs the piece with a cream wax to seal it all in.  It is so satiny smooth to the touch.

First Coat of Finish on the Mesquite Base

Mesquite Slab Top With the First Coat of  Tung Oil Based Finish

Curved Mesquite Base All Finished

When he is finished with his finish each piece calls out for you to touch it. We encourage the touching an rubbing of a piece.  Even the underside of his mesquite furniture pieces are as finished off as the top.

The "Susan" Mesquite Table Ready for Her Closeup and More

Photography is the next step of the process.  Lou photographs each piece utilizing his skills and experience in commercial photography. The "Susan" was photographed in Tom Suarez's Studio because she was too large to set up properly in the shop.  Lou's work is difficult to capture photographically because of all the curves and curves and curves.....

Lou Quallenberg's "Susan" Table in Mesquite 116"L x 24"W x 31"H

After her photos the "Susan" Table was ready for delivery. Once a piece is "delivered" to the client the process comes to an end  for us and the delivery date becomes each pieces "Birthday" in our catalog of Mesquite Furniture pieces. Where each piece is photographed and the original client/buyers name and location is recorded to help track the provenance of the individual pieces.

Check out Jamail's in Horeshoe Bay, Texas

So going along with the birthday theme, I mentioned last month that I have stepped back into the world of work and my first love: flowers. The birthing or start up of a grocery store is such an amazing thing to be a part of.  It is very much like the birth of a baby with a great deal of pain at the end,  along with the reward of shiny new entity.  I have been involved in several store start ups with HEB's Central Market being the biggest and most difficult. It is challenging, frustrating work, that is at times very exciting and ultimately rewarding. I have seen it make grown men cry many times over.

The Jamail Family has handled this overwhelming task with such grace and efficiency, producing a wonderful gem of a store in the heart of the Hill Country.  I hope the floral department that I create for them can hold up to their high standards in quality and value.  I can't wait to finally get my hands on some of these flowers I have been carefully sourcing and ordering. Because that is when the real fun begins.

'Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it. Autograph your work with excellence'

"Every job is a self-portrait of the person who did it.  Autograph your work with excellence." -Anonymous

Each of Lou Quallenberg's mesquite furniture  pieces are signed, but even if they were not signed they are easily identified in several unique ways.

Lou Quallenberg's Signature Design Elements

• Mesquite Wood Construction
• Floating Live Edge Slab Tops 
• Laminated Curved Bases
• Clean Curved Design Style
• Curves Upon Curves
• Original Curved Bow Tie
• Cracks, Holes and Character 
• Artist's Signature

Artists began signing their work near the end of the Middle ages, first in France then spreading throughout Europe.  The practice of signing the work developed as art making left the hands of the Monks working collaboratively in Monastery workshops and individuals began to strive for greater artistic skill and recognition.

From 1890-1938 Pilkington's Royal Lancastrian Pottery produced some amazing pottery, tiles and glazes. I find the Makers Marks artistic pieces in themselves.

FROM SOCIETY WEBSITE: The pottery artists at Pilkington's each had their own distinctive mark. The male artists also used a specific mark to denote the year a vase was decorated. Whilst the tile artists occasionally put a mark or signature to their work this was not common. Some artists works are much more scarce than others which influences the value of an item. The marks of certain artists  for example Evans or Ormerod are very rarely seen.

The Society is able to identify most marks and the year of production for members. A stylized presentation of the marks is shown here.

 I recently read about the following  hidden signatures in the Steve Jobs biography.  It made me wonder if I might find something like this on the inside of one of our many old and outdated Mac's that we keep as a mini museum of all things Mac.  Most still work and are kept around for our

entertainment purposes only. I really liked the way Mr. Jobs wanted these computers to be considered art because it is how I think about them.

Signatures Inside an Early Mac

COPIED FROM www.folklore.org: "The Mac team had a complicated set of motivations, but the most unique ingredient was a strong dose of artistic values. First and foremost, Steve Jobs thought of himself as an artist, and he encouraged the design team to think of ourselves that way, too. The goal was never to beat the competition, or to make a lot of money; it was to do the greatest thing possible, or even a little greater. Steve often reinforced the artistic theme; for example, he took the entire team on a field trip in the spring of 1982 to the Louis Comfort Tiffany museum, because Tiffany was an artist who learned how to mass produce his work.

Since the Macintosh team were artists, it was only appropriate that we sign our work. Steve came up with the awesome idea of having each team member's signature engraved on the hard tool that molded the plastic case, so our signatures would appear inside the case of every Mac that rolled off the production line. Most customers would never see them, since you needed a special tool to look inside, but we would take pride in knowing that our names were in there, even if no one else knew."

I thought the example below of signing ones work was a great way to stay on top of quality control. Imagine if we all had to sign our name to our work (whatever it might be) before we released it out to the world. Taking ownership of whatever work we produced because we knew we had to sign it. I think those Big Mac's at McDonalds would actually look like the photos on the Menu.  I can see why these probably are the best axes in the world.  I want one just because I know the story and that the artist signed it.

COPIED FROM THEIR MARKETING MATERIALS:"Gränsfors axes are forged by very professional smiths. The proof of this professionalism is that they are able to forge axes with such precision that no supplementary work, to hide mistakes in the forging, is needed.

Gränsfors axes are forged and signed by the smiths.

At Gränsfors Bruks, the forging craft is allowed to take its time. The smiths do not work by the piece. They take care and do the right forging from the beginning. There is no need to stone or grind or smooth or paint the axes in order to hide or eliminate imperfections in the forging. A smith at Gränsfors Bruks has nothing to hide and he is proud of his professional standards. When he is satisfied with his work and has accepted his axe, he marks the head with his initials beside the company's crown label:
LP: Lennart Pettersson, MM: Mattias Mattsson, BA: Bert-Ove Andersson
US: Ulrika Stridsberg, KS: Kjell-Äke Sjölund, RA: Rune Andersson
UN: Ulrik Nilsson, DG: Daniel Gräntz, AS: Anders Stromstedt
DP: Domingo Gas Pallares, TT: Tobias Thelin

Made in Sweden."

Modern Silver Hallmarks

COPIED FROM SILVER HALLMARKS WEBSITE www.silverhallmarks.org.ukwww.silverhallmarks.org.uk:

Silver hallmarks are an invaluable aid to collectors and dealers for identifying the date & maker of antique silver, and indeed any piece of silver made in England.

Hallmarks on silver were first introduced in the UK in 1300 as a method of proving that the silver object contained the correct amount of silver, since pure silver is a very soft metal and consequently any object made from silver requires some base metal to be added to it to strengthen it.

In these early days it was not uncommon for silver objects to be melted down and converted into coinage, and so it was imperative that the silver used was of a sufficient grade, especially with continental silver containing a much lower percentage of silver.

Silver Hallmarks were the answer to this problem.Any piece of silver had to be officially approved to be of a high enough silver content, and would be given it’s hallmark only when this was the case.

As a consequence the hallmark became a standard of quality and assurance, and the presence of a hallmark on a silver object was an official seal of approval.

English silver, or Sterling silver is often referred to as solid silver, but it does in fact contain 7.5% copper, so it is 92.5% pure, which is why modern silver often has a .925 mark stamped into it. Continental silver is often only 80% pure.

English Silver Hallmarks evolved over time, with the eventual inclusion of the standard or sterling mark, the assay office, the year of manufacture, the maker, and sometimes an additional mark for special reasons.

All of these silver hallmarks can help in identifying exactly when and by who any piece was made, which is not only helpful to collectors of antique silver, but also offers a fascinating dimension to any old silver object that you may possess.

So with all these beautiful examples of artists signing their work, I hope it inspires you to take ownership of your work - whatever it may be and remember that it is a reflection of yourself.  With that said we have restarted the video creation process to showcase  Lou Quallenberg's Mesquite Furniture making techniques and had hoped to post one with this blog post but it was just not ready for our signature.....

(This blog post was greatly inspired by a blog post, "would you sign your work" that Hubertus Von Lobenstein wrote in his blog that was inspired by a blog post that Tom Fishbourne wrote in his blog http://tomfishburne.com/ prior to his post dated January 2011.)

Making an Entrance: Mesquite Entry Table

Live Edge Mesquite Entry Table with Turquoise Inlay by Lou Quallenberg more at: www.LouQart.com

After looking into our delivery options: Fredericksburg Shipping and Custom Delivery Service (both companies are really great at what they do!) we delivered this latest piece to Houston ourselves. Lou did not want to take the time off to run to Houston but he likes seeing where his babies will reside and getting a little taste of city life.  I'm up for travel anytime I can get him out of the shop!  

Slab for Mesquite Table Top

Slab Top on old style legs

This commissioned mesquite entry table was ordered as an anniversary gift for the clients. I think she mentioned that it was this table or a trip to Hawaii.  WOW! Now that is a compliment. They contacted us while they were visiting Fredericksburg.  They had seen Lou's work on the internet and wanted to see it in person and meet him.  We were low on mesquite inventory at the time so I did not think he would have much to show them but I told them to come on to Llano and we could show them some of his work, the shop and get an idea of what they were looking for.  I did not know that Lou had squirreled away a special slab of mesquite for an entry table.  He does this sometimes with special pieces and then he has to make sure the client is worthy of the slab or slabs in the case of the Dancing Trees.  These two clients  were VERY special and he showed them the mesquite slab right away.  It fit their length and width requirements and practically sold itself.  We even had several new clients that wanted to buy the slab away from them once Lou had started the table.

They left the shop that day knowing they would have a sculpted, live edge, mesquite, entry table made by Lou Quallenberg for their anniversary. They also knew that due to the schedule it would not be finished until several months after their anniversary - but that it would probably be worth waiting for.

Sketch of Mesquite Entry Table

The sketch was emailed later that week and Lou began working it into the already full schedule.  He was excited to get it started because he wanted to use the new more curved leg design. The clients had agreed to use the new design for the legs.

New Leg Design Pattern

New Leg taped out & ready to cut

New Leg Design Pattern

Lou made a pattern of the new leg to be sure he liked the curve and shape of the new design. Then he taped it out and then cut the legs from sturdy chunks.  I always think he is crazy when he goes changing up the design style but he seems to know what he is doing because it never fails, I always prefer the new style of whatever he does.

Slab Mesquite Table Top and Base Curves

New Legs put together

New Legs and Front Curve

Next its all pieces and parts kind of like a large 3D puzzle. It is always exciting to see it go together for the first time and to finally stand on its own four legs!  The laminated compound curved stretchers are usually the last part to be made. Each one is carefully created custom to the curve of the slab top.  While this curve is a distinctive design element in his work it does actually serve a purpose.  Lou's work is stable it does not wobble.  This curve and the base curves provide an added measure of strength to the tables.  The l/8th inch laminated pieces of mesquite once glued up are actually stronger than a piece of  uncut mesquite of the same size. 

Ready for some turquoise

It stands on its own

Matching curves in need of final stretcher

Adding the turquoise is the final step before the labor intensive two week hand rubbed oil finish.  The turquoise inlay process is not a rushed step. Careful thought is put into adding just the right touch of turquoise.  Each tiny piece of gem quality turquoise is added to the epoxied crack by hand with a pair of tweezers.  Lou looks at the placement as an art form in itself and you can see the difference in his work compared to others.

Mesquite with Turquoise inlay

Turquoise Inlay

We have seen some craftsmen use cheap turquoise powder or even colored aquarium rocks as a filling for the cracks.  Lou Quallenberg takes pride in his work and he treats each piece as a work of art. We abide by the saying: 

"There are no short cuts to anyplace worth going."

Lou Quallenberg and Lou Quallenberg Studios stands for quality and we will not rush a project or compromise on quality. While our materials may cost more and the work may take longer, in the end it is worth it. We hope that the value is evident but there are some folks that just don't "get it." He has a few wood working friends that don't understand why he tortures himself with the compound curves, laminated curves and the extreme sanding and finishing.  They don't understand that he is pouring his heart and soul into the piece and that when he is finished a part of him will be fused forever with the piece in a concept the Japanese call "takumi" (also meaning artisan or hand made.)  These same folks also don't understand why he bothers to finish off the bottom of the piece as completely as the top and they REALLY don't understand how he can charge what he charges for a piece. Again they just don't "get it", but we do and we know our clients and future clients do as well.....

Lou Quallenberg's Live Edge Mesquite Entry Table with Turquoise Inlay

What an ENTRANCE! Mesquite Entry Table with Turquoise Inlay ready for Delivery.

Lou Quallenberg's Finished Mesquite Entry Table with Turquoise Inlay