Does anyone know of books or other resources on making Art Nouveau furniture? The books I can find include nice examples of Art Nouveau furniture and other Art Nouveau stuff, but not much hands-on. The furniture-making information I can find is mostly about Art Nouveau in an Arts and Crafts context, typically as marquetry.
It seems like many of those sinuous forms were mass-produced – there wasn’t much “working for yourself” content in the Arts Noveau world – but it’s stuff that I’d like to make, though I expect it will be difficult. A roadmap would be great to find.
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I doubt you'll find complete do-it-yourself plans. You'll have to make the leap from the step-by-step method to working from photos that hopefully have at least overall dimensions of the piece you want to reproduce.
Thanks! That's pretty much my guess, but I'll hold out hope for a little while, then start tracking down pictures and examples.
Also, if anyone here's made art nouveau furniture, I'd be interested to hear about it.
I've not made any, but I have talked to Roger Heitzman (http://www.heitzmanstudios.com/), who makes Art Nouveau-style furniture. When I asked him how the original craftsmen built Art Nouveau furniture, he shuddered and said "Chisels and lots of time!" To make some of his designs, he invented a machine that is a giant three-dimensional pantagraph. It has router and a tracing tip, linked together so that while the tracing tip is moved over a prototype done in soft materials, the router tip hogs mahogany like crazy. Afterwards, he cleans up with hand work. On his resume page, look for an interview. In it there are a couple of photos of a small early one of these machines. I've seen a later one carving a mantel that must have been twelve feet long.
The Heitzman work is amazing. Thanks for the inspiration, and the article makes clear how far I have to go!
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