Pipe Art Revealed!

Alongside the construction of Opus IV was "pipe art" project with ten (10)  of the other pipes. I originally intended to VLOG (Video- Blog) this project. However, due to time constraints, I will blog about it and use a few GIF along with JPEG files for your viewing pleasure.

Since these ten pipes are to be gifts to family, I could not document the process as I went along in real time. So, now that they are all done and given to family, I can now reveal this side project. First, what exactly is this project?

If you recall, these projects started with 25 old fake organ pipes. I restored and used 10 of them within Opus IV. For this project, I will use 10 additional pipes from this set. Each pipe will be painted and decorated according to the person I will be designing the pipe for. They can be hung on the wall and displayed. In order to do this, I needed to plan one side of the pipe (opposite the mouth).

I used a ban saw to do this. However, it was very tricky and most of the pipes needed to be patched up and leveled so they can rest flat on the wall. Wood epoxy came in handy and some shims to repair the cuts that were way off.

After all the pipes were repaired, sanded, sealed and primed, it was time to design each pipe. Instead of going right at it, I decided to print out a scaled blank pipe and use coloured pencils to figure out what design I will paint on each pipe.

Each pipe had a general layout. Two horizontal bars divide the pipe into sections for various designs. These are common for all ten pipes. In order to be somewhat efficient, I decided to paint each pipe their base colours. From there comes the more labour intensive "stenciling."

7 original pipe, three more were added later. Mine is in the center.

The stenciling involved lots of tape, a template, sharp Xacto blade and lots of patience. I ran into some bumps along the way. Most of it was touch ups. Since I'm using spray paint, that became a real pain the further down the road for each pipe. The final touch was gold leaf on the mouth (like Opus IV) as well as horizontal bars capping the horizontal strips. Here are the progression of all 10 pipes.

We shall start with mine. Actually, three in total. For the first one, the base color was an off-white with a light blue (or periwinkle as the spray can named it) accent. The design at the top is Gregorian neumes depicting the word "Gloria" from the setting in the Miss de angelis. The Maltese Cross represents my family's heritage.

** ACCIDENT **

After leaning this pipe up against the wall, it slid down and hit Opus III!! Thankfully, Opus III was not damaged. Surprised really as this pipe as some weight to it. HOWEVER, The sharp point of the molding put a nice, dime sized gash into this pipe! It should be obvious...I was furious. After calming down, I was able to patch it to the best of my ability. Suffice to say, this pipe just has a little more character.

The two colours of my second pipe consist of a deep red and green with lots of gold leaf spread throughout, including the Maltese cross.

The colors of my third pipe are that same deep red with a dark blue and a touch of that same deep green as my second pipe. I was a little creative with the fleur-de-lis on this pipe. Like the second pipe, I wanted to use the remaining gold leaf I had...so I went for it!

Second is my dads. Primary color is this purple-ish colour. Spray can didn't list a name, but it's almost a dead match for a Fender guitar colour I found online. Secondary colour is an off-white. Appropriately, A Fender guitar and logo appear at the top with the Maltese cross toward the bottom.

Third would be for my close friend, Chris. Opus C, if you recall, was designed for him as well. His design resembles mine. However, Secondary colour is purple and instead of a Maltese Cross, you have the Fleur-de-lis.

Final residing place

Fourth and fifth are for my grandparents along with my grandfathers uncle and his wife (My great-great uncle), respectively. Both have a similar design, just different colours.

Sixth and seventh are for my dad's siblings. Both follow a similar design but different colour scheme.

Last but certainly not least, is my sister's pipe. It is her creativity that inspired this pipe art project to begin with. Her's, however, was the most difficult to finish. Primary due to CONSTANT touch ups. Sort of like a, "one step forward, two steps back." However, I'm very happy with the result. As you can see from the progression, some colour's changed mid way.

These ten pipes have been a labour of love. For an amateur, like all that I have done, I continue to impress myself with the creative work that I have completed.

Until next time...

Opus IV...COMPLETE!!!

That's right. You read the headline correct, this beast of a project is now 100% COMPLETE! Both cabinets look great together.

Opus IV will reside with my dad. Once delivered, I'll be sure to take a picture. The only thing I haven't done is rig the lighting inside. However, that can be done at another time.

Stay tuned for my next post finally revealing my "pipe art" project.

Until next time...

So...Just Where Are We At?

So much for weekly summaries...It's been a month since my last post. However, that finish line is getting closer and closer. So, just where are we at...? Oh, yes...grills and molding.

As seen above, I glued in place each grill. After the glue dried and turned the cabinet right side up, the grills don't completely meet at that 45º angle. This was expected and already have a solution to put a small piece of molding on the front to cover that gap. Next step is the molding which will be located in three places: The top will have crown molding, the bottom will have a decorative trim and then the sides will have a decorative strip to hide the screws and connect the top molding with the bottom.

As for the bottom molding, a notch needed to be cut out so as to but up flush with the side.  After cutting each piece, including the mating 45º angle, I slowly removed material to allow the proper fit.

That was simple enough. Then came the crown molding which is always the pain. I quickly learned that I did not have the proper tools to even cut the correct 45º angle. I had a table saw...I needed a chop saw. So, I utilized my resources and found one and made the appropriate cuts. Thankfully, I had just the correct amount of molding left to get the four pieces I needed.

I left each piece about 1.5 to 2.0 inches longer than necessary. This allowed me to make the correct length cut when fit against the cabinet.

Next step was to dry fit the crown molding against the cabinet on top of a "skin." Yes, that word I used a lot back during Opus I. Just a cap used to hide the screws and inside gap created by the crown molding. Think of it as the ceiling. After getting and cutting those skins to the correct size, I glued the molding in place, this creating a hat, of sorts. This will make it easier to stain as one piece.

Next, all pieces of molding need to be stained the walnut colour of the cabinet. This is where I am currently at. However, I've still made some great headway...

Another necessary task was to finish the back door. Only piece missing was a handle created from a 3/8in dowel. It became apparent when taking these cabinets back and forth from my parents house a few times that these doors tend to fly open when gravity gives it the opportunity, So, after thinking a bit, I came up with a crude, yet effective, solution.

At the end of the dowel, drill a whole and stick a smaller dowel through to create a lock. Genius, right! All I need to do now is paint the inside black and stain the outside.

Well...worth the month wait, right? Very happy and impressed on how it's looking. Yes, it's got its imperfection...but nothings perfect. If you put your mind and heart to something, throw some encouragement and wisdom of others, and there's nothing stopping you from accomplish your goal!

Until next time...

The End is Near

Construction on Opus IV might have started a month ago (see last post), but the project is nearing completion! Where to begin...

After bringing all the parts back to my apartment, the next step was to dis-assemble each cabinet as I needed to finish staining a few pieces. Once finished and re-assembled, I needed to cut the correct lengths for the pipe support dowels. I first painted them black before cutting to length. As I soon realized, I shouldn't have done that...

Having that coat of paint adds thickness to the dowel (duh). So, once all the support dowels were cut to size, they were very tight going into their pipe. This required me to sand some of the paint off. Once I got through that, I glued them in place and painted the tops of the pipes black as well as touched up any missing black from the support dowel.

Installing the pipes was a little tricky, but straight forward. There were nails piercing through the bottom of the cabinet where each pipe would go. At the top, a screw would secure the support dowel from the top. Once I found the right spot for each pipe, I tightened the screw and called it good. The results...

Front

Back Door

The next exciting part is what I finished today. After staining the grills, I was ready to prep them for installation. I took a 1/2" square stock and attached them to the top and some of the side of the grill. Once dry, these will be what secures the grill to the cabinet.

Yes, you see the above picture right, I'm able to turn the cabinet upside down and those pipes aren't going anywhere!

At this very moment (Sunday night), all four grills are glued in place and they are drying. I look forward to turning them right-side up tomorrow morning and seeing the results. However, even upside down, it looks good.

Amidst all of this, I have been taking a lot of videos on top of the photos I post here. My plan is to create a vlog (video-blog) documenting the journey of Opus IV as well as the pipe art project which follows. These will be uploaded to my YouTube channel but I will also include them here on this blog.

Until next time...

Construction Begins!

Well the time has come to build the cabinets! I have been staining all the pieces, though a few need another coat or two. It is amazing when everything starts to come together. I think I'm going to let the following pictures do the talking...

The cabinet was constructed with screws and not glue. This will make it easy to take apart for transport...for the time being. The grills and molding will all be glued on. So, after than, there's no plan on taking the cabinet apart.

As much as you can really see the finish line at this point, what will really bring this entire project together is the molding. As stated in the past, crown molding will be at the top, thus covering that 2-plus inches at the top of the grill. I will have molding around the bottom as well. I can't really describe it, bit it has a lip on the molding, which will make it really easy to install. While buying all this molding, I started thinking about two more visible parts of the cabinet that might need a special touch - the left and right sides.

I'll admit...I forgot to tape those edges when staining the wood black. So, naturally, there is some black stain throughout the side. Not much, but enough where the mahogany stain will not cover it up. Plus, which I didn't really think of this at first, the wood screws can be clearly seen! We can't have that now, can we!

SO, while picking up the top and bottom molding, I found a small strip of molding - the same width as the pine boards - that can run down the length of the side, thus hiding my mistakes and the screws. To modify an old saying..."[Molding] can hide a multitude of sins!

Just with this post, the next should be another big step to the completion of Opus IV. I'm in the process of starting the individual pipe design projects. More on that in a later post.

Now that I have the cabinets back at my place, I can't help but think I found a spot for both of them. Still not opposed to setting it in the corner of my apartment. However, this arrangement might grow on me.

Until next time...