Craig Thibodeau Creates a Freestanding Headboard (Part One)
4 November 2011
“Sometimes a Great Notion”
It was just a thought in the beginning. “I wonder if it would be possible to use a bed’s headboard as a room divider.” The bedroom in question lent itself to such an application, but it was clear that if such a thing were to be done, the headboard itself would have to be commissioned. You don’t go to a furniture store and purchase such things. And there were other considerations, all of them revolving around somehow making a purely functional piece into something artistic, something with a fair amount of Wow Factor.
If you know the right woodworkers, though, much of the battle has been done, and in this case, the client knew Craig Thibodeau, who is located in our own San Diego. I’ve written about Craig before in these blogs; in fact he was one of my first subjects in 2008 when Joe Dusel and I were getting this blog site off the ground. I subsequently met Craig and was able to visit his shop on a couple of occasions, which was a bit intimidating, not only because his woodworking makes me look a boy scout, but because of how clean he keeps his shop! That shop says a lot about Craig, though, all of it good. No one who works in a shop as clean and organized as that can be anything other than a true professional, one who delivers just what he says he will, and who does so exactly on time. Then throw in the fact that he’s so damned good, and you’ve got the picture.
Because Craig is a friend, and because he made so many notes and pictures for this project as it progressed, I was able to get into his head a bit and do something on the artistic process itself. There are a number of difficulties that accrue to a project like this, beginning with one we so often overlook: communication. In order for something as different as this project to truly work, the woodworker and client must spend a certain amount of time together in order to get the idea in the client’s head into the woodworker’s so he can then refine and develop it.
This is an unusual project for a number of reasons, starting with the fact that the headboard itself is freestanding. The bed simply butts up against the headboard, but there is no attachment mechanism between bed and headboard. However, the headboard weighs over 150 pounds (more with the books!), which is more than sufficient to keep it in place. So now the questions became: how will this headboard stand up all by itself, what shape will it have, what will the finished project look like?
Craig describes the subsequent planning like this: “The original design concept for this piece was to create a large, freestanding headboard decorated with floral marquetry of flowers and plants taken from the client’s garden. She also wanted the upper portion of the headboard to have a roughly circular shape and to have the back side of the panel decorated with marquetry medallions of Ginkgo leaves. The bookcase idea came about as a way to utilize the cabinet space that would be required to make the headboard stand on its own. She also wanted to have a counter style area to place a book or lamp. The two Mother of Pearl hummingbirds are also designed and colored to match the Anna’s hummingbirds in the client’s garden.”
Once the basic concept itself had been agreed upon, Craig could then begin drawing. He says, “I began the marquetry drawings after the basic shape for the headboard was somewhat finalized. We went through a number of revisions of the marquetry drawings while refining the placement of individual flowers and leaves. Once the final drawing was approved I retraced it one further time to correct any remaining details and had a number of copies made of this final drawing. One copy of the final drawing was colored with colored pencils to refine the leaf and flower colors and ensure that no similar colors would overlay and create confusion in the marquetry.”
At this point, then, much has happened, but much remains to be done. A vague notion has become a commissioned project with finished, detailed drawings. Now Craig must set to work on the project itself, a process I will describe next week.
Joseph
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3 Responses to “Craig Thibodeau Creates a Freestanding Headboard (Part One)”
November 4th, 2011 at 8:28 AM
Wow! Craig’s work is fabulous! He is truly an artist.
November 4th, 2011 at 3:29 PM
Wait ’til you see the pictures of the finished project!
November 14th, 2011 at 11:46 AM
Everything that Craig does is great. He’s certainly one of the most talented furniture makers around.