INTO THE WOODS
ARTISTS SAMINA LANGHOLZ AND ANDREA BRUGI SHARE THESE BEAUTIFUL WOODWORK PROJECTS TO MAKE FOR YOUR HOME.
Artists Andrea Brugi and Samina Langholz share projects from their new book Woodworking: Traditional Craft for Modern Living.
“These rustic egg cups were inspired by the salt cellars Andrea created for our wedding.”
EGG CUP
TOOLS & MATERIALS Hand saw White pencil Electric (hand-held) drill with 50mm Forstner drill bit. Ideally, use a pillar drill if you have one in your workshop Coloured tape Sandpaper (#150)
WOOD Cut branches, approximately 6cm wide; these must be completely dry before using. We’ve used olive wood, but you could also use oak, elm, or similar wood.
We keep the bark on these small rustic egg cups to bring a natural and personal touch to our breakfast table. They were inspired by the hand-carved salt cellars that Andrea created for our wedding while he was trimming the olive trees on his family property in preparation for the special day. The dry branches ended up as salt cellars on the 22 wedding tables we set up in the olive grove. If you want your egg cups to live a long life, you should place the cut branches on a grate and let them dry slowly (not in the sun) for a minimum of six months. The wood will set itself and will be much easier to work with. We like to keep the branches kind of round, so we just clean them along their shape, so the line around the edge becomes roughly even and straight.
STEP 1
Choose a straight branch, as this makes it easier to drill a clean hole. Perhaps consider whether you’d like a smaller ‘arm’ sticking out of your egg cup. Using the saw, cut off the nicest part of the branch — approximately 4cm–5cm in length. Each cup doesn’t need to be exactly the same height. Look at the wood and go with your sense.
STEP 2
Use the pencil to mark the centre of one end of the branch. Place the point of the drill bit over the pencil mark and drill about 1.5cm down into your egg cup to create a hole. You can add a 1.5cm piece of coloured tape to your drill bit to indicate how deep you should drill.
STEP 3
Use the sandpaper to ‘clean’ and polish the rough edges, making sure the base is smooth and flat so that the cups sit well on a table. The bark around the egg cups will eventually dry out and start to fall off, but we think they are just as pretty without — or you can always go in search of more branches and make another set if you love the bark.
Our workshop is at Andrea’s parents’ farm. We literally live most of our lives there. My mother-in-law has a beautiful kitchen garden where we do most of our ‘grocery shopping’ — and more importantly a smaller chicken farm that provides us with breakfast every day. I don’t know if it is the quality of the eggs — or perhaps the combination of eggs and egg cups — but breakfast is one of our favourite meals of the day.
CHEESEBOARD
TOOLS & MATERIALS Small band saw Electric (orbital) sander with sandpaper (#80 and #150) Ruler Pencil Small jigsaw Wood glue Brush (for the glue) Strong rope, approximately 2cm thick Sandpaper (#150)
WOOD Use a 5cm–8cm slice of a trunk of a solid oak or olive tree, plus smaller remnants of any kind of wood for a handle. Have a look around your local sawmill — you may be lucky enough to find some end pieces of a large tree stump, or ask them to slice you a nice thick piece. If you have a band saw at home, you might be able to slice the tree trunk yourself.
This project is a perfect example of the simplicity and beauty of nature and what it can bring to your home: a decorative slice of tree trunk creates an ideal display board for your cheeses — or for any other foods you’d like to present at the table with style. For this thickness of trunk, Andrea prefers to use wood that has been stored for a minimum of three years. The board will regularly be exposed to temperature changes when washing it and when it comes into contact with food, and it will expand or crack if it is not dry enough. So in this case, the drier the wood the better.
STEP 1
Using the electric (orbital) sander, sand the top and bottom of the trunk until it is smooth and soft (#80). Then, use a regular sandpaper (#150) to remove any smaller crevices around the edge of the trunk.
STEP 2
If you would like to add a handle to the board, or if your piece of wood has a crack in it, draw a wedge with a ruler and pencil and cut out with the jigsaw.
STEP 3
Cut a piece from your remnants to exactly the same size as the piece you just cut out — about 16cm x 4cm.
STEP 4
Fix the handle in place with glue and tie with rope until the glue is dry. Use the electric (orbital) sander (#150) to create a final smooth and soft surface between the handle and the board on both sides. It is also about contrast and personality — the edges of the display are left in their raw, natural state, but the shape and style of the handle couldn’t be more modern.
In a world in which everyone has their mind on being environmentally friendly, sustainable and getting back-to-basics, making your own rustic cheeseboard is like closing the circle — and it will be so gladly received into your modern home.
FLOOR CONSTRUCTION
TOOLS & MATERIALS Ruler Pencil Utility knife Cardboard (for template) Linear triangle Circular saw Soft wire brush Wood glue
WOOD Recycled floorboards of oak, chestnut, any kind of wood. Visit your local salvage yard and search for the ideal old floorboards.
Everyone knows that it is almost impossible to fix a missing piece of floor; often you just have to choose the closest match and pretend it was designed that way. Once it was all about camouflaging the change from one type of floor to another. Now it’s all about the opposite: we seek out the differences, highlight them rather than hide them and make a virtue of the contrasts. So instead of trying to find the same materials, search for the woods, colours and patinas that inspire you most.
STEP 1
Measure out the piece of floor you need to customise and use the utility knife to cut out a template in cardboard. Place the boards on top of your template: now you can play and make any design you want. Make sure the boards are all the same height. We have made an extended version of the herringbone parquet. Cut out the shapes as per the template, using a circular saw. Herringbone floors are typically installed piece by piece in various constructions, either parallel to the wall or diagonally, as our design. Diagonal installation visually expands the space, but requires more material.
STEP 2
Clean the boards with a soft wire brush. You don’t want to use sandpaper and remove the patina.
STEP 3
Glue the pieces into place.
Living in a medieval village, antique tiles are a big part of our everyday life. So it was kind of exotic when we decided to have a solid oak floor in our bedroom. We like to say that it was the first wooden floor of the village — and we recognise that it has started a kind of new fashion among our neighbours. Really, there are no limits to what you can do if you embrace the flaws in wood and use them in your creation — it’s all about appreciating the difference. Now, a small renovation of your own floor can end up as a piece of art. What a joy!