ROBERT GILMOUR

Chopsticks and Hand Dishes by Bob Gilmour

I have often made chopsticks with little rests ... like the traditional Asian ones. These days, however, I tend to make what I consider as 'modern' chopsticks. These, I generally sharply double-taper. Also, they are mostly asymmetrical ... in that, they are usually thinner in one dimension, so they lay better in the big hands of us westerners.

The idea for the hand dishes came one day when I was making some salad servers for Forest Treasures. While sanding, it occurred to me that the blade part of the salad servers fitted quite nicely in the hand and I thought "hmmm ... that would make a nice little dish". Then, the idea of marrying a pair of chopsticks to it evolved.

I think it's a really stylish little set. OK, our Asian friends who use chopsticks in real life might think it's a bit of a folly, but we're allowed to fudge a bit over here in knife-and-fork land.

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Comments (0) October 01, 2009

Three Serving Dishes in North Queensland Forest Redgum

This is a set of three dishes which I have just completed as a possible inclusion in a wholesale order.

The wood for these dishes served it's first life as an exposed ceiling beam in a mate's house in Port Douglas. About a year after he had the house built, Keith found a few cosmetic defects in the beams which he wasn't happy about and ... after a series of legal threats ... had the builder replace the whole roof structure. A huge task resulted ... and I was a lucky winner because I carted away some of the more figured beams ... about 8 in all.

In it's figured form, forest redgum (northern bluegum) gets a broad fiddleback pattern which can be seen in these three dishes. The wood is heavy, strong and quite stable.

I have made quite a few of these dishes from this stock of wood over the last 5 or 6 years and am now down to my last beam. This wood was destined to be burn't had I not gone in and retrieved it.

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Comments (0) September 22, 2009

Two Serving Dishes in Silky Oak by Bob Gilmour

I completed these two serving dishes in silky oak last week as part of a wholesale order spread.

My mate Ben bought a train station ... as you sometimes do ... and relocated it to Mount Molloy where we both live. It was built almost 100 years ago and entirely from timber local to the area.

Whilst the building comprised sections built in several distinct stages, the older section contained mostly kauri, Australian red cedar, Queensland maple and silky oak.

After the old windows and frames got ripped out and replaced, I took the window sills and discovered that they were silky oak and with enough thickness to be usable. Most of the timber that I had salvaged was wall cladding and paneling ... which is only about 22m thick

This is the second set of serving dishes that I've made from window sill silky oak stock. I have enough left for another 8 or 10 of this size.

These pieces measure ...

280mm x 120mm x 30mm
270mm x 120mm x 35mm

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Comments (0) September 21, 2009

Elongated Bowl Form in Spotted Gum

I have just completed this shallow bowl form in Spotted Gum today. This is a long freeform organic shape with large overhang and a very small base. I've created it as a functional item, although it's really more art-functional than straight functional ... due, of course to the small footprint.

This piece measures 470mm (18.5") x 130mm (5.1") x 40mm (1.6").

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Comments (0) September 17, 2009

Wren Timbers :: Cairns :: Australia

Wren timbers is a specialty supplier of fine cabinet timbers and building supplies in Cairns (Australia). The business is owned and operated by Bruce Allen who has a strong specialty in timbers from Papua New Guinea.

They also have an in-house machine shop where they manufacture moldings, decking, flooring, paneling, windows, doors, staircases and other components as well as supplying a wide range of sawn, dressed and turned timbers.

Contact :: Bruce Allen :: http://www.wrentimbers.com.au

Comments (0) September 16, 2009