A Chamfered Mirror

John Ruskin wrote, "to those who love Architecture, the life and accent of the hand are everything."

One age-old kind of handwork is chamfering, and its application to frames is one of the greatest joys in my work.

This is a quartersawn white oak mirror I just made for a customer to give as a wedding gift. It measures 34" x 22", and features a carved initial "S" at the top and the year at the bottom.

Here's the story, with pictures, of its making.

Wedding Gifts

With wedding season approaching I thought I'd put out a couple of examples of pieces we've recently done as wedding gifts. This picture's framed close in a simple walnut "Hudson" frame with a gilt slip. Walnut, which is a tight-grained wood, has a smooth finish which suits the finish of the photo. The form gives a picture some space but has a graceful shape that suits the figurative subject matter. I think we struck the right balance between the formality of the image and occasion and the informality of the rustic porch (it's actually a kind of stage set at the Museum of the New South in Charlotte, NC).

The second example is a mirror made for a customer who found an image in tile that she liked as an appropriate image for newlyweds, and wanted it integrated into a mirror to give as a wedding gift. (Mirrors make great wedding gifts, because when you get married you have to watch yourself.) I also carved the year of the wedding, 2009, into the bottom. The tiles are by Motawi Tileworks (the two on either side of the landscape tile are actually glaze samples). Made in quartersawn white oak (Weathered Oak stain) it measures about 38" x 18-1/2".