Think Pink

I'm seeing pink. Pink is bubble gum, Bermuda sand, a bunny's nose, the perfect sunset. It's also my 5 year old neighbor Ava's favorite color. It makes an excellent custom color for one of my Weekender chairs. Pink is festive, fun and magical. Next time your trying on colors for your home or garden think pink.

Product Testing - Brrrrrrrrrr!

This is the third winter spent outdoors for "Karl". I name all my test chairs. Karl is made from weather tight white oak and protected with three coats of Benjamin Moore's finest grade of exterior house paint. Bunged stainless steel screws are used as fasteners. Only spring will tell, but I must say, in previous years, Karl has passed my winter endurance test with flying colors. If my chairs can survive the worst weather Maine winters can throw at them, imagine how well they'll hold up for you all summer long.

Attack Cat!

Here is Grace, my trusty workshop companion. When she's not helping me build chairs, she spends her time defending her turf against rodents, small children and those feral cats from next door. Her ferocity is well known in these parts. Her friendship and loyalty are firm and never ending.

Order Your Spring Chairs Now!

I recently received an order for 6 more Weekender chairs due May 1, 2010. I only have 12 production "slots" remaining in my Spring 2010 schedule. If you want your chairs by early May, I kindly encourage you to place your order soon. A fully refundable 30% deposit is all I require to "slot" your chairs. I love thinking about Spring in January. I can almost smell it in the air. It smells a bit like the white oak I'm shaping out in my workshop.

Back To Work

I am just about finished with a new batch of chairs. This one still needs seat planks and finish. The customer has requested the natural look so I will use Waterlox tung oil varnish to give the wood a warm luster and some protection from the elements. The wood is white oak, cherished for it's strength and water tight capabilities. These chairs will give the customer years of good use and, I hope, will be treasured and passed along to the next generation.

Digital Digressions

This one is called "sunday_drive". Click on the image to make it pop. I think half the fun of producing abstract artwork is the ability to name them anything you want. At the moment I completed this image I was thinking about a time in my life when I'd just had to get out and drive. Physical speed. It's just what I need.

Digital Imaging

This is called "charmed_life". I started with a 32" by 48" painting I did on Masonite called "Mass Pike". Then I took a digital photograph of the painting. At the computer, using Photoshop, I manipulated the image through the use of filters and blending modes. Add a little noise on the back end and voila! Painting with pixels. Click on image to enlarge and get a sense of it's printed proportions.

Weekender Chair Indoors!

Bring the outdoors in. A Weekender chair can be a very useful and comfortable companion when brought indoors. Here it supports my wife and her laptop at a very relaxing height. The natural cherry looks quite handsome in our house and lends an informal, warm feel to the whole living room. I have noticed a trend of bringing the outdoors inside and vice versa over the past decade or so. The resurgent interest in rustic arts is spreading, with designers and decorators adding camp items to their clients' homes, cabins and cottages. Rustic Chic works well in many interior environments where an eclectic mix is preferred. Blending old and new, formal and informal works for folks who in Thoreau's words, "love a broad margin to [their] lives".

Floor Samples Sale!

I have a collection of 8 floor samples and prototypes. They are all in excellent condition. I am trying to find good homes for them. There's nothing my Weekender chairs love more than serving you, our valued customers. I am willing to play let's make a deal. each chair comes with paint for touch ups or fresh coat. If you are one of the first callers I will throw in one of my famous and no longer available Walden Walkers walking sticks. I must be crazy! Call today (207) 351-6966.

No Competition

Here we have my Weekender chair on the left and Brand X on the right. If you want a chair that develops a bad case of the wobbles, practically seats you on the ground and is guaranteed to fall apart in a couple of years, then buy Brand X. It kills me that a company so obsessed with "quality" would sell such a crappy product. If on the other hand you want a chair that's rock solid, whose seat and back angles provide for easy egress, and will be passed along to the next generation, then I humbly suggest you buy my Weekender chair. Our "quality" is not just a convenient catch phrase. Call today, operators are standing by... (207) 351-6966.

Best Adirondack On The Planet! - Only $375 !

I still have a few slots available in my Spring 2010 build schedule. If you call today I can guarantee late April delivery. Just in time to open up the camp. Imagine, if you will, relaxing in your brand new Weekender chairs after a long day of spring cleaning. You and your special one(s). You sit back and look around you. It's time to appreciate all you've worked so hard for. Contentment fills your heart as the early Spring sunset fills your eyes. Call today to place your order (207) 351-6966.

Winter Interlude

I am back at the digital easel. Taking a break at the computer while the shop warms up. January is half-way gone. In February, I can almost see the end of another long winter. It's that white light at the end of a very long tunnel. I am looking at "Winter Interlude" and thinking some of those patches of strange light would make great chair colors. Well, enjoy. Click on the image to reap the full effect. It's like a big colorful wool blanket. Meanwhile I'll head back to the sawdust and wood chips!

Back to Back

This is still one of my favorite photos taken last summer. Back to back Weekender chairs. I got a note from the owner over the holidays saying she had put them away for the summer but decided they were much to handsome for the garage and placed them in her family room to weather the long Maine winter. Add a couple of cushions, and she says they are the most comfortable chairs in her house. If she feels those winter blues coming on all she has to do is sit in her Weekender chair and scenes of summer come shining back. Won't be long now Lauren, spring is right around the corner!

Baby Blues

I have been experimenting with changing the back profile as well as the shape of the back leg. The angle of the seat to the back is perfect. I won't mess with that. I am also changing the shape of the arm for 2010. It's still going to be a full 8" wide where it matters. As I've discovered many of my customers use the arms to hold their laptop computers. Try that with your average Adirondack chair. Tomorrow I will compare my chair with the competition. As you will see there is no comparison. Sure they beat me on price -- $200 vs. $375 for my Weekender, but then again what would you rather be driving, a Yugo (remember those?) or a BMW. For guaranteed quality there is just no comparison. Go with a Weekender. You can pass them along to the next generation.

In The Beginning...

In the beginning there was the Westport chair. Designed by Thomas Lee at his shop on Lake Champlain around 1905. It is considered the great grand daddy of today's Adirondack chairs. Today I am building my Weekender chairs with the same spirit. Lee was a tinkerer.

He would come up with a design he liked and had members of his family give him feedback until he got the angles just right. My chairs were designed in much the same way with a keen ear to customer needs and wants. I have come up some changes to the Westport design in order to fit the 21st century American body. We aren't getting any thinner are we? But I think you'll agree the Westport and the Weekender are indeed kindred spirits.

Certain Blue

I take a break from chair making to make some fresh art. This is called "Certain Blue". I photographed a painting I had done last summer then used Photoshop CS4 to manipulate the image. It's like painting as you get to create layer upon layer digitally then "flatten" all layers into a single image. Best part is there is no mess. I can store it on my thumb drive or produce a 1200 x 2400 giclee print. I think it would look awesome hanging on your wall with one of my chairs below it.

Millin' and Chillin'

I am in the process of building 10 chairs and have milled about 200 ft of white oak for starters. Next step will be to glue up the wide panels needed for the arms and legs. At this point I start spreading the work out, so there's always something different to work on. That way I remove the "factory work" aspect and it makes the whole process much nicer. A happy woodworker is a productive woodworker. I have some chair parts ready for final sanding. My sanding area is unheated. That's where the "chillin" comes in. I like the lemon-lime color of this Weekender chair. Makes me think of a tall cool beverage on a hot summer day.

Free Delivery!

My GMC "Big Red"is gassed up ready to roll to your home, camp or cottage. I am offering free shipping to any location in New England. From Caribou Maine to Darien, Connecticut, from Nantucket, Mass to Burlington, Vermont I am offering free shipping on all orders received through February 28, 2010. I must be crazy. No, it's just there's nothing better than a nice road trip to shake off the ol' winter blues!

So Many Books So Little Time

Thoreau had the right idea. Build a cabin in the woods, plant some beans, have lunch at Mrs. Emerson's and take the rest of the day for yourself. I'd spend my time reading. Grab my latest "book stack", for I always have 4 or 5 books going at a time, set out my favorite chair and have right at it. I build my Weekender chairs for all you bookworms out there. Plenty of room on the arms for your "stack" and a beverage. So what's stopping you. Call in well. Set out on your own armchair voyage. We've so many books and so little time.

Sweet Summer Dreams

There's nothing so nice as hanging out with friends on a nice summer day. Plenty of food and beverages and good conversation. At camp we've six of my Weekender chairs arranged on the back deck overlooking Bonnie Eagle Pond in Standish. The party boats meander round the Pond while the jet skis rev and bolt like wild horses. It's all good. It's nice to think of those times on a cold winter's night. I'll sit in one of my chairs out in the shop and close my eyes. Soon it is summer again if only in my mind. I swear I can here the boat's wake lapping at the dock and the quiet murmur of conversations past. My chairs are little time machines.

Color Your World!

Customers picked some pretty awesome colors last summer. From "Prairie Grass" to "Warm Earth",

"Watertown" to "Chic Lime", the combinations have been amazing. I already have my color fan decks out dreaming of what will be big in 2010. I can't wait to see. Right now the landscape is full of dirty whites and pale grays and the temps are hovering around 20 degrees of Fahrenheit. It's warm as toast in my workshop as I work on next summer's inventory. I invite you to start looking ahead to opening up your camp. Those fine spring days are right around the corner. Head on down to your Benjamin Moore retailer and immerse yourself in all those wonderful colors. Now imagine your deck with four or six weekender chairs painted in your special colors. Call now and I can make your dreams a reality. I am offering special pricing on 4 or more chairs. Call today for details. In the meantime have a colorful winter! (207) 351-6966.

21st Century Woodworker!

Just a quick note to say I have entered the 21st century by dropping my land line.

My only phone contact now is my cell (207) 351-6966. Call early, call often.

Wow, next thing you know we'll be wearing jet packs! And sawing wood with laser beams.