Jewelry Armoire

The end of summer is a few weeks away and the weather is already changing. The nights are cooler, the days shorter but warm. I usually become busier in the shop at this time leading into the fall. We've experienced an exceptional summer, no complaints in this area. My focus from now until completion is a large cherry jewelry armoire. This is a custom order with the design, sketching and drawing phases complete. I have acquired the cherry lumber and tiger maple veneer for the door panels. The design is primarily case construction with a cabinet on legs. The tapered legs form a base which is pegged and detachable from the upper cabinet.

This is a proven design and will allows for the easy knock down and setup of the armoire. The black cherry to be used for the cabinet carcase is clear, select cherry with quarter-sawn door components, rails and stiles. The reason I am using quarter-sawn door frame components is to make sure the components are straight-grained and do not detract from the graphics of the door panels.The door panels are tiger maple and kind of on the wild side so in the grand scheme of things the cabinet frame needs to be subdued to have the tiger maple effect pronounced. I've had great experience with tiger maple door panels in the past and the shimmery, wavy effect produced when finished with multiple coats of thinned blonde shellac.

I've designed multiple dovetailed drawers into this particular piece. This will be by far the most time consuming part of the build process. The base has two side by side drawers and the upper cabinet has multiple stacked drawers along the lower part. The upper part is free and clear to allow for any hanging chains, this will be accomplished with two revolving solid brass carrousels. The client is excited about this piece, so am I, as it utilizes most if not all my acquired skills and techniques.