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Furniture
and design
The
hallmark of Ian Laval's furniture
is the use of strikingly decorative
sawn burr and crotch veneers, which
he often uses in matched quarters in
tops and on drawer-fronts.
He
is constantly on the look-out for
interesting features revealed
in the timber-sawing process. The
veneers are sawn one-eighth of an
inch thick in the workshop, steam-ironed before use and are generally
laid on a ground of
solid timber of the same species.
Writing
bureaux fall fronts, where they are veneered, will have a counter-veneer
on the underside to balance the stresses often produced by veneering.
Light inlays of holly and dark ones of
bog-oak, or occasionally walnut,
come from the same trees.
All
of the designs are Ian Laval's
own They lean on tradition; not
consciously copying or reproducing
but interpreting old functions and delicate proportions in a more
current setting.
All of them make a frame in which to
display the exciting shapes and
colours of natural wood.
His
pieces are made one at a time,
by hand after accurate preparation
of timber stock has been done by
machine.
Dovetails, for instance, are always hand-cut -- including the secret
dovetails in the carcases of writing desks, one of the most demanding
and time-consuming joints in traditional woodwork.
A great deal of time is spent selecting and matching pieces of wood for
each new project.
Where
oak is darkened, it is achieved solely by fuming with ammonia gas, an
old and largely forgotten process in which the gas reacts chemically
with tannin in the oak, turning the wood a rich nut-brown when a finish
is applied.
Apart from this fuming process,
Ian Laval relies solely on his timber's
natural colours and does not use
artificial stains.
For surface finishes he uses mainly old-fashioned raw linseed oil
mixed with a little natural turpentine as a base polish.
Although it takes time, it hardens and oxidises to the most durable
protective coat on which a surface maintenance finish of beeswax and
turpentine is applied.
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