For a long time now I have been promising Sara and Silas that I would bring home a new dining table.  Well, I finally finished it and as soon as it was done it ended up in a store.  Yes, the family is a little disappointed but happy to see it out in the world.  Silas even helped Sara choose the backdrops for the photos.

The Macassar Ebony Dining Table is available through Michael Daniel Metal Design and at Voos Furniture in Williamsburg.

More metal sculpting classes in 2010!

I just posted the schedule for the next round of classes on my site.  I’m offering a 5-week session starting Wednesday, January 27, and another 5-week session starting Wednesday, April 7.

Click here for the Spring 2010 schedule.

Just a quick note that I’m teaching two sessions of Beginning Welding and Metal Sculpting this fall.  Spaces are still available.  The course description is available on my site here.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions about the class.

And Happy Back to School Day everyone!

Another big thanks to Matt Ianni and Leslie Fram from 101.9 RXP for having me on their show a few weeks ago.  I just received the mp3 of my appearance and I’m posting it here.

Michael Daniel Metal Design on 101.9 RXP

My neighbor, Laszlo Sallay, exhibited at ICFF this year and asked me to design a base for one of the table tops that he wanted to display in the show.

Shagreen Art Booth at ICFF 2009

Laszlo is an amazingly talented woodworker who does a lot of great veneer finishes, restoration work and came up with this new design on wood called Shagreen.  Shagreen is basically a faux sharkskin-type look and texture but is 100% wood.

Here’s a photo of … Continue Reading

I started teaching welding and metal sculpting again last week.  I’ve got a great group of beginning students, who are all eager to learn.  It’s been a while since I’ve taught, but it’s nice to see students get excited about learning skills that I now do without even thinking about it.  It reminds me of how excited I was when I took my first welding class so many years ago at SVA.  I knew after the first session that I wanted to do this the rest of my life.

Finally, after months and months and months, I was able to get around to making a removeble, decorative fireplace screen for the wonderful Chee-Zefi family.  I needed to make a screen that was also childproof, so I designed this screen to lift up and out — easy for an adult but too heavy for a child.  This fireplace was constructed out of various sizes of recycled plumber’s pipe, which I wire brushed.  I then welded the pieces of pipe into a tubing frame that has a blackened finish.

I’ve been meaning to post pictures of the completed window guard and sign for Il Bambino, but have been caught up with finishing last minute orders for Christmas.  I’m documenting the rusting of the steel, so I’ll have more photos as the months go by.

Also, I’m working on votive candle holders for Il Bambino’s tables so I’ll be sure to post the work in progress after the holidays.

I was doing a bit of research the other day and found myself on the Apartment Therapy Re-Nest blog. There’s a great post there about a group of Thai monks that built a beautiful temple out of a million or so recycled glass bottles. This reminded me to let everyone know about a great organization in my neighborhood called Build it Green! NYC. They have really good recycled wood, and when my friend Denny and I went there this summer, they had old … Continue Reading

I’ve been working with my friend Igor on a large-scale project over the past several weeks, which have required a lot of extra hours and weekend work in order to meet the deadline. Unfortunately, I missed the Halloween Harvest Festival at Socrates Sculpture Park this past Saturday. Sara and Silas went on without me and had a great time.

In addition to the make-your-own costume table and the dog halloween costume contest, there was also live music. Sara and Silas weren’t expecting the musical stylings of Peelander-Z. Silas was … Continue Reading