The gallery is done.

Here are pictures of the gallery, ready for final prep and finish:

You may notice the handles on the drawers.  I had some round wooden ones that I intended to use but, in the event, they looked wrong.  I decided to make some instead.  To you these may look like handles, but in fact they are my version of Greene and Greene cloud lifts, another of my attempts to sneak in influences from the brothers:

I started out with versions that were far too big, then not shaped right before I finally got the design I like that you see here. The tools I used to create them are these:

In the foreground is the Tools for Working Wood, "Saw Handle Maker's Rasp."  I think the name is a total misnomer and find many uses for it.  This rasp is curved, pointed, rounded and hand cut with safe edges.  It works great on all kinds of curved pieces.

I am in awe of woodworkers who can create a detailed design in Sketchup then go into the shop and execute it. It reminds me of this:

‘In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.’—Michelangelo

I look at a block of marble and see ... a block of marble. This ability to conceptualize a finished piece in your mind before you begin is completely beyond me, so I am left to plod about until I stumble on what looks right. I am quite pleased overall though, because this desk seems to be coming together with a coherent design that is appealing. The gallery was rather plain and rectangular as you saw the pieces in the last post. I cut a curve in the top which is identical to the curve on the sides of the desk base and will keep my son from hurting himself too badly when he beats his head against it during moments of lawyerly frustration. I think the pillowed box joints and the handles of the drawers create focal points that will draw the eye away from the rectilinear outline of the gallery. As the A Team used to say, "I love it when a plan comes together." Now if I can just do a decent job of putting finish on the desk, something else I am not good at.