I need to paint some decoration based on ovals & circles on the cupboard project in my shop these days. We saw evidence of the layout on the original cupboard & its related objects. The one above has lost most of its paint, but the scribed lines are still evident outlining the decoration.
I looked up the steps in using a compass to draw ovals in Sebastiano Serlio On Architecture: Volume One, Books 1-5 translated from the Italian with an introduction and commentary by Vaughan Hart and Peter Hicks (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1996).
It will take some practice to get the squiggly lines right; so there will be more of this. I hope to get permission to post some details of the originals, (the detail above is an outlaw, hence no context) the paint that survives on them is quite striking…
PETER FOLLANSBEE: JOINER’S NOTES 
I like to do it the ‘two pins and a loop of string’ way.
RF; of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat – but in this case, I’m matching my work to that of the original (I’m making the upper case for an existing lower case of a cupboard) and the lower case still has the scribed lines showing exactly how this joiner marked out his ovals. It’s simple, quick & precise. Loops of string can have some play in them…
Dear Peter,
Several years back while you were working in the Plimouth Plantation shop, I accosted you with many questions on the construction of turned triangle stools. You very patiently answered my questions and explained my errors. I just wanted to thank you for your guidance and inspiration. Your work is truly amazing. You can see some of what your kindness has wrought on my web site: bloodandsawdust.com.
Thanks again!
Tom R.
Did you see the amazingly sophisticated oval marking device in Roy U’s latest series ?
Tom – like your website and got through to many interesting links. Thanks.
Peter,
Will you post pictures of the cabinet when finished?
-I saw the episode with the elipsograph on Roy U’s show. Really neat!
-Tom you have a great site
peter, I was looking in the back of Safford’s Met furniture book remembering there was a piece with a similar paint scheme (fig141). Are you making the top section for the Museum of Fine Arts Boston piece in fig. 141d? That will make a very interesting exhibit at the museum.
Steve
yes, that’s exactly the case. Without permission, it’s dicey for me to upload images of the originals (too much) so I have kept it somewhat vague…
But I can talk about it. Yes, the MFA in Boston has a lower case of a cupboard. The upper case is missing. The Met in NY has an over-restored example, well documented in Frances Safford’s book on early furniture there. So I will build a new upper case for the MFA which will be displayed just above the cupboard base. The new piece will be colored like new; thus doubling the interpretive punch – it will show the original format of the full cupboard, and also the color/paint scheme to its intended impact. It will be on display at the MFA when the new galleries open in 2010.