Onward through the Fog

Our Summer fog has arrived. Quite a few mornings, the "pea soup" floats through our neighborhoods or hangs over our heads for anywhere from a few hours to several days. When the sun does come out, it can get warm, comfortable, and very, very pleasant.

Well, the epinette des Vosges #3 is done! It's a lovely sounding, small, and very light French-style zither. I'm thinking of calling it "Jacques et Jillienne".

As long as I've been making instruments, I'm still excited when I first string one up and pluck the first note. Nearly every instrument I've made has surprised me by making a joyful noise. (In 35+ years, I think there's only a couple that didn't sound good to me.)

On another note (pluck), it's now less than a week until I hit the road for Bellevue, Washington, for the Bellevue Art Museum ArtsFair. It's a two day journey, then four days of hard work. Thursday is setup day, then Friday and Saturday are 12 hour booth days (9:30am to 9:30pm), and Sunday is around 8 hours in the booth. Then there's 4 or 5 hours of tear down. Whew!

No sooner do I get back, then I have to get ready for the American Craft Show in San Francisco. This is the 33rd Year that the American Craft Council has put it on in the City. The venue is at the pier warehouse buildings at Fort Mason (Herbst and Festival pavilions), by the Marina, almost in the shadow of the Golden Gate Bridge. I'm at booth 401 (Herbst pavilion) and will be there August 15-17.

Then, no sooner is that over, then its time to get ready for the Sausalito Art Festival over Labor Day weekend. This is a new one for me, and everyone tells me it's a great and fun show. I'm looking forward to it.

In between the shows, I'll be working on the restoration of an 1885-1900 era Pennsylvania German scheitholt. More on that later. I'll also be doing some small carving work on spoons, spurtles, and more whistles. These are fun little carvings that don't take too long to do, and are good projects for the short weeks between shows.

Onward through the fog!

Epinette des Vosges

Time is just a-slippin' by. It seems that very soon I'll be getting everything ready to pack up for the Bellevue ArtsFair, then San Francisco, then Sausalito. I'm still trying to get a few more things done for the shows. I will have a new epinette des Vosges ready to go very soon. Like I've mentioned in previous installements, it's a small one, based on an 1850 5-string I found on the internet. Today I put the first coat of tung oil on it. I haven't thought about a name for it yet, but I'll think of one soon.

This epinette is 100% salvaged wood. It is a gorgeous flamed white oak that I resawed from a broken drop-leaf table, probably from the 1940s or 1950s. This is the second instrument I've made from this wood. I've got quite a bit left, so I'm sure there will be other completely different instruments coming later in the year.

A Whiter Shade of Pale: Part 2

The two instruments I'm making with the salvaged white oak are coming along nicely. I've started carving the peg head figures for the small epinette des Vosges, and I've put the second coat of tung oil on the small psaltery.

As I've mentioned before, the epinette is based on an original from 1850, and the psaltery is based on one depicted in the 12th century Spanish illuminated manuscript, Cantigas de Santa Maria.

My long-range plan is to make several of the stringed instruments in the Cantigas de Santa Maria, including some other styles of psalteries, some plucked and strummed instruments, and another of the small symphonies (early hurdy gurdy). Of course I'll be making more Mountain dulcimers (my first love), and some other dulcimer ancestors, like an 1850 Pennsylvania German scheitholt-style dulcimer, which is one I'm currently restoring. I took many pictures and measurements and recently drew up a set of plans so I can build one, probably after this year's show season.

More to come!

A Whiter Shade of Pale (i.e., white oak)

That beautiful flamed white oak I was given last month is shaping up into two new instruments, both that I should be able to finish before I start running around getting ready for Summer craft shows and art festivals.

The psaltery (right) will be done first, within a week or two, since it doesn't require as much carving. The picture in the photo is one of dozens from the Spanish 13th century Cantigas de Santa Maria illuminated manuscript, this one showing people playing small trapazoidal psalteries. This image was my inspiration for creating the white oak psaltery shown in the photo. The Cantigas de Santa Maria, sponsored/funded by Alfonso X, is one of the greatest illumunated manuscripts from the 1200s, and it is also one of the most complete surviving "paper" works from that era. Most of the illuminations are of figures playing various instruments of that time. It is of incredible historical importance on the evolution of musical instruments in Europe

The other white oak instrument I'm currently working on is a small Epinette des Vosges. It is based on one that sold several years ago that I found on a musical instrument dealer's web site. It is reported to be from 1850, and the measurements given show it as being a very small instrument, barely 19 inches long. It is a board zither without a raised fingerboard. The frets are attached directly to the soundboard. This is an old style that dates back to the scheitholts of the 1600s. Frets on board zithers were either wire "staples" or wood (like on early Norwegian langeleiks). I, of course, used modern fret wire, but it is very small and similar in thickness to the wire staples used on the early board zithers.

There are a few more instruments I'm just getting started on, and I'll report on them as they start taking shape. There are also several new "types" of instruments and folk art waiting in the wings. In other words, they're still in the planning stages. Tune in later. Film at 11.