kirkpoore1
Old Oak
After today's shameful insurrection on Capitol HIll, I'm kind of keyed up. Posting something will help me sleep. So here we go.
I'm going to be repainting my small hallway bathroom later this winter, and decided I wanted some decorations for the walls. Current decoration has been there since I bought the house 17 years ago, so the wallpaper dividing strip is starting to peel and things are getting a little rough around the edges. The room has oak floors (What? In a bathroom?) and an oak cabinet under the sink, so going with oak elements will work OK.
I've accumulated a dozen or more vintage wooden bodied planes that I never use (including a few family heirlooms). I decided that displaying them would be better than having them sit in a box in the basement. But now I needed shelves, and something that would go with the woodworking bathroom theme. I decided on--misericords.
Misericords, for those who haven't run across them before, were little supports for seats used by monks during church services. Sometimes they were supposed to be standing rather than sitting, so the seats in their stalls folded up out of the way. But a lot of monks got old, and it was hard to stand up for a long time during Vespers (or even worse, Nocturns) so under the seat was a little shelf where they could park their posteriors and take the weight off of their old feet. Under these shelves, the woodworkers had often carved scenes, figures, or other decoration. There are _lots_ of these still in existence. I've seen scores of pictures and even a few in person in my visits across the pond.
So my misericords vary in side and shape, but all give me some excuse to practice some carving. Most have a woodworking subject. They're not all done yet, but I think once I attach the shelves to the carving I'll have enough. Anyway, here we go:
I've made 11 altogether. I'm pretty happy with them, but I need to practice with bigger carvings and go more three dimensional. And I think they'll make great gifts.
Kirk
I'm going to be repainting my small hallway bathroom later this winter, and decided I wanted some decorations for the walls. Current decoration has been there since I bought the house 17 years ago, so the wallpaper dividing strip is starting to peel and things are getting a little rough around the edges. The room has oak floors (What? In a bathroom?) and an oak cabinet under the sink, so going with oak elements will work OK.
I've accumulated a dozen or more vintage wooden bodied planes that I never use (including a few family heirlooms). I decided that displaying them would be better than having them sit in a box in the basement. But now I needed shelves, and something that would go with the woodworking bathroom theme. I decided on--misericords.
Misericords, for those who haven't run across them before, were little supports for seats used by monks during church services. Sometimes they were supposed to be standing rather than sitting, so the seats in their stalls folded up out of the way. But a lot of monks got old, and it was hard to stand up for a long time during Vespers (or even worse, Nocturns) so under the seat was a little shelf where they could park their posteriors and take the weight off of their old feet. Under these shelves, the woodworkers had often carved scenes, figures, or other decoration. There are _lots_ of these still in existence. I've seen scores of pictures and even a few in person in my visits across the pond.
So my misericords vary in side and shape, but all give me some excuse to practice some carving. Most have a woodworking subject. They're not all done yet, but I think once I attach the shelves to the carving I'll have enough. Anyway, here we go:
I've made 11 altogether. I'm pretty happy with them, but I need to practice with bigger carvings and go more three dimensional. And I think they'll make great gifts.
Kirk
it's great for video conferences, the folks I talk with are often asking what the thingy in the background is. 
