About

Learn how to apply elegant Craftsman-era details as you make a replica of the entry mirror in one of the great Greene and Greene masterpieces, the Blacker House in Pasadena, California.

If you've ever visited the house, you were probably immediately struck by the outstanding cabinet with carved panels to the right in the entry and the wonderful mirror just above it. It’s a subtle piece with perfect proportions. Tim Celeski, the Indianola furniture maker who will guide you in making your own replica, has made this piece numerous times; it's his go-to solution  when he needs a wedding gift.

Making the 38-by-16-inch frame offers a few woodworking challenges, especially getting the angled, haunched joints at the top to fit perfectly. You'll use precise jigs and a Festool Domino XL in the class, but you will also learn alternate ways of making the joint in case you want to build additional mirrors in a shop that isn't so well equipped.

What you’ll learn

• How to select the right woods for strength and to emphasize the lines of a piece.
• How to do pattern shaping using a router table.
• How to use the Festool Domino for quick, precise joinery.
• How to use the mortising machine.
• How make perfect pillowed ebony plugs.

Prerequisites: Open to woodworkers who have completed Woodshop Tool Safety Checkout 1 and 2 and have some experience with chisels and hand planes.

In addition to the class fee, a materials fee of $105 will be collected when you register. This covers frame materials, jigs, patterns and shop supplies. You will need to purchase the mirror glass on your own.

The class will start on Friday evening and continue on Saturday and Sunday. Please be prepared to stay past 2 p.m. on Saturday, if necessary, to get your frame glued up that day.

Please feel free to bring a bag lunch. BARN has a kitchenette and refrigerator to store your lunch in.

Instructor:

Tim Celeski studied architecture and design before spending more than 30 years in business as a designer. Once he discovered woodworking and built a workbench as his first project, he fell in love with the craft, dropped his design career, and became a full-time furniture maker. He has never looked back. Celeski Studios focuses is on original-design, high-end custom outdoor furniture with many design choices, from Arts and Crafts to contemporary. His work has been featured in more than four dozen magazines. More than 100 of his pieces are in Greene and Greene masterpiece homes in Pasadena. Celeski wrote about building the Blacker House entry mirror in the June 2018 issue of Popular Woodworking.