Sacked by the "downturn", an unemployed architect touring the country in a bus...




I used to live in New York City. I designed homes for the tycoons of Wall Street; Park Avenue, Scarsdale, Greenwich. It was great fun. And, after years of saving up for a down payment, I was just about to buy my own little place in Fleetwood, half an hour north of the city, when the economy fell apart. Architects are like canaries in a coal mine when the economy slows, and true to form, there were massive layoffs in firms all over the country. Devastation of the profession. So, I decided to try to find something else to do for a while. I bought a 23' school bus and I'm on the road to see if I can figure out what that might be.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

A re-do due to doo-doo

The foot rest was a ring of wood held between the four legs' ankles, wider at the front for your feet to rest upon.  The whole time I was working on it, mitering four pieces of wood together into a frame from which the foot rest would be cut, building a beautiful jig to precisely guide a router as it made the eccentric circular cutouts, and then making the cuts themselves, the whole time, I kept wondering if it would look like a toilet seat, if that would come to anyone's mind beside mine.

It occurred to Jeff Tiedeken in about 3 seconds, he managing only to slightly soften the blow by saying "I hate to say this, but it looks a little like a toilet."  I do love honest friends.  He scores consistently high on this measure.

I have moved on.  Back, actually, to a previous design, in which the brass cross bars of the original chair are present, and an additional 5/8" brass rod encircles the front half of the chair, held aloft from the front three legs by nicely made brass stanchions.  This alteration will be easy to accomplish as I have already received all of the necessary components from internet sources, having ordered them and other components for even other alternatives, all while I was sketching variations on the foot rest and trying to finalize my choice.  I tried the toilet.  Looked ridiculous.  Now I'm making the cantilevered foot rail.  I've modified the wood as required.  Monday, I will get some 5/8" solid brass rod, having slightly crushed the 5/8" brass tube I had as it went through the tubing bender, enough so that it no longer passes through the stanchions.  3 days lost.  Oh well.

Today I saw two rooms available for rent in two share houses.  Not happy with either.

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