Cabinet design (3)...

The evolution of the cabinet on stand continues, or should I say the devolution. In consultation with the client, the radical front with exposed drawers was a bit much. After even scaling back to a single drawer it was decided to not have any exposed drawers. I will instead embellish the door panels with some decorative treatment, an inlaid design. I will probably make a piece such as I had preciously drawn at some point in the future for purposes of speculation. In the meantime, I have almost finalized the drawing for this current cabinet on stand. As mentioned previously, the stance of this cabinet will have a lower, wider profile and it is to be purely a showcase type cabinet. With this in mind, I will leave the configuration of any interior drawers until later and focus on the case of the cabinet at the moment. I'm kind of excited about this project in that the form of the cabinet I find very aesthetically pleasing and the uniformity of the woods comprising the cabinet itself is a change from my previous commission. I also have artistic freedom to an extent with this commission with respect to detail work, interior layout, and the stand for the cabinet.

The European Quartersawn Beech I intend to use is a very fine wood, tight-grained and very uniform in texture, color , and appearance. This allows me more flexibility with any inlay adornment on the front of the doors later, a little like a having blank canvas to work with. Over the next few days I will begin to rough cut the wood to be used in the cabinet carcase or case. I do this in stages, allowing the wood to both acclimatize to my studio and to provide it enough time to release any internal tensions which have been exposed through cutting and dimensioning of the wood.

Next I will finalize the dimensions and exact measurements of the case and begin to prepare a cut list from which I can determine how best to dimension and prepare the wood I will be using. The case will be solid wood, the doors veneered with the same wood, and the back I intend to have a frame and panel.