Finally getting around to photographing some stuff I’m finishing up. First is this box stool. It’s a form I’ve only seen in passing in England; but its construction is pretty straightforward. I have used some carving patterns from Devon, and the turnings are generic enough. Here’s a view of it open:
While I had the paper set up, I shot this detail of the interior of a joined stool’s upper rail, or apron. The hewing hatchet’s traces are evident, as is the tapered cross-section of the other rail, resulting from the riven stock used in the stool. Barely visible in this shot are two Roman numerals matching the mortise & tenon. (there’s a “I” just above the longest protruding pin, the corresponding “I” is washed out on the surface of the stile.)
Sorry I haven’t been keeping things coming too much here lately, been short on chances for photos, and without them, it’s just blather to me…my goal is to get it going again. Stay tuned.
PETER FOLLANSBEE: JOINER’S NOTES 
That’s a really handsome stool, Peter. Any plans to sell measured drawings for some of your pieces?
MY STOOL!
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An interesting set of carvings, Peter.
As the inspiration for the carving is from the Devon vernacular, is that a hint of a stylistic Green Man on the rail……?
One thing that interests me in English Elizabethan and Jacobean decoration is the idea that certain motifs (particularly in ‘above stairs’ personal items) were intended to express and convey forms of symbolism or allegiance. For example, Green Men had long lost their pagan image and passed into mainstream respectability; coats of arms, or parts of them, would indicate family lineage.
This was an era when Catholic imagery was introduced very subtly and covertly into items used by recusant families.
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