Posts from the Past
In early 1982, a young couple came to our studio, then called The Wood Joint before we renamed our business Landers’ Studio, and they asked us to turn four posts out of maple that they would provide. They wanted these posts to first serve as the chuppah for their wedding and then they planned to have us make them a 4-poster bed afterwards. Mark turned two posts as headboard posts and two posts as the footboard posts, but added length to the square ends to make them equal in height for the chuppah. We all laughed when I looked up the original receipt from 1982. We turned the four posts for $210 plus tax! Mark admits he would not even turn one post today for that price!
We would continue to see this couple periodically in our circle of friends over the years and they would laugh and say “Someday we need to bring those posts back to you and have you make that bed for us!” Well, 37 years later with kids grown, the posts have returned to finally be made into a bed for them. To add to the story, they wanted a carved rail in the headboard that echoed the design of their wedding rings which were based on illustrations by William Blake. The wedding rings were made by Generations of Jewelers, three generations of Mexican American jewelers, once located in the Arboretum. As an unrelated overlap of this story, we had also made all of the display cases for Generations of Jewelers.
After 37 years of storage, the aged and darkened posts had to go back on the lathe and be sanded down to reveal the original lighter color. We have been making slow progress on the bed as we will turn to quicker, more lucrative projects as they arise……but we will not take 37 years to get this bed to them! Stay tuned……..
Posts being sanded down on the lathe to reveal the original lighter color.
Carved rail echoing their wedding bands.