Traditionals by Roger Ellison

08/05/2026

My project at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship in Rockport, Maine:

Two years ago up here, I built the exemplar for a six table, limited edition series coffee table called Texana. It was built for the Texas Furniture Makers Show where it won an award, some $, and sold for $7000. At home, I am about to start a commission for #4. The first picture is the first in that series, each unique according to the client's choice of Texas woods.

This project is a significant variation in that almost all the lines are curved - the five table tops have curved edges, the understructure has to follow those curves, and the joinery is exceedingly complex. Additionally, almost all the exposed surfaces are covered with commercial and shop made veneers. The two upper surfaces will be a spectacular black and white royal ebony; the two lower surfaces will be fumed eucalyptus, and the small center surface it to be determined in the next few days. All the structural members except the legs (which are solid oak) are clad with oak veneers I made here.

The understructure will be fumed, placed in an airtight container exposed to commercial (very strong) ammonia fumes for about 24-36 hours, making the wood darker than normal. Up until now, the work has been building jigs, making veneers, cutting components, vacuum bag and furniture clamps gluing. Tomorrow the very difficult joinery begins.

This table is destined for the Texas Furniture Makers Show late October through early December in Kerrville, to be entered in the contemporary furniture category. Right now I have no idea how it will be priced. Ha!

08/05/2026

At the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, we are a very busy bunch, with lots of progress being made on very different stages of very different projects. Some are huge; some not so. I'm not sure what some of them are, but the attention to detail, the complexity of construction, and the hard work are impressive.

Notice in one picture a very rough cardboard and blue painter's tape prototype while in the foreground is a plywood model. As I left this evening, the cherry was being glued up into panels for the real chair. Complex projects often require thorough study and this artist is doing so impressively.

Today I saw complex work being done with a very technologically advanced Shaper router and an old fashioned rasp, spokeshave, and card scraper being used to shape a restaurant welcome and pay desk. What a contrast!

Tomorrow, my post will focus on the work I've done thus far on my project, a very complex coffee table. It won't look like a table yet, but it is definitely headed in that direction!

08/02/2026

Saturday was a hit or miss day for much of the class. Instructors are off for the weekend, we have 24/7 access to the Workshop (as our building is known), so a number of us were in and out and back in, then out again, throughout the day. I opened up at 7:30 AM, stayed the entire day, got a lot done, and closed up at a little after 8 PM. Lots of my classmates have turned the corner from design to construction. In some cases the building is primarily focused on prototypes of relatively cheap poplar or manufactured materials. For relatively complex projects with a yet to be proven design concept, this is common and very sensible. A few of us are already building components of the "good" wood.

If all goes well, I'll post pictures Monday showing a lot more of what is being accomplished. These pictures are several days back and so many have moved far beyond where they were back then.

Very soon, I'll also post pictures and details about what I am building. I've got stacks of components, jigs for this and that, vacuum bags full of my glue ups, and today I probably had four dozen clamps at work! Soon things will start to come together and make sense.

07/31/2026

It’s coming up soon! Plan on coming to Fredericksburg the second weekend of October.

Experience the artistry of Gerald Tobola Copper Artist at the Texas Mesquite & Fine Art Spectacular. Discover handcrafted copper creations that blend artistry and craftsmanship.
🗓 Friday, October 9 | 12pm–6pm
🗓 Saturday, October 10 | 10am–6pm
🗓 Sunday, October 11 | 10am–3pm
📍Marktplatz, Fredericksburg, Texas

07/29/2026

We're three days into the Advanced Furniture Studio with 12 very diverse students creating 12 very different projects lead by 2 great instructors and an able assistant; I think we might run his legs off before this three weeks is completed.

There are multiple workshops at the school, with different classes going on, and lots of circulation from class to class visiting, watching, and learning, but right now, many folks are in the design stage where ideas are drawn on paper, transferred to cardboard, subject to constant tweaking, crudely roughed out with inexpensive materials, and more refining. Some, like me, are already at stage where raw materials are being cut, and some assembly begun.

The white board shows an introduction and a thumbnail of each students project. Jess was delayed in arriving so her project is not shown. Several pictures show the bench room, the machine room, and the assembly room. I've included several shots of design at the cardboard or rough lumber stage.

Several pictures show what seemed like a million pieces of wood I milled, a couple of bending forms I made, and several components being glued together in a vacuum bag. My goal is to build a coffee table which will merit entry in the Texas Furniture Makers Show this fall. The table had very few straight lines because almost all lines are curved, making joinery very challenging. Beyond the curvatures, extensive use of veneers, about which I have very limited experience, is a prime learning goal.

Stay tuned; this is so invigorating!

07/29/2026

What a great event! Do come; it will be worth your while - and you might leave with that perfect something.

07/28/2026

This is my work from over 10 years ago, but I love creating furniture and "Beautiful Scraps" (my cutting boards and charcuteries) more than ever. Come see me and a lot of other artists whose joy of creating is clearly evident. Perhaps I could create that special piece of furniture you've been thinking about for such a long time.

See where Texas talent takes shape.
Experience handcrafted artistry, creative expression, and exceptional craftsmanship from talented makers and artists.

📅 Oct 9-11, 2026
📍 Marktplatz, Fredericksburg, Texas
🌐 www.texasspectacular.com

07/26/2026

After spending three delightful nights and parts of four days at my sister’s home and with her family, we drove to Farmington, Connecticut for a night, then the next day spent part of the night in Freeport, Maine. The Saturday traffic throughout that day was TERRIBLE in a circle of about 100 miles around Boston. I don’t ever want to do that again!

I mentioned part of the night, because the alarm went off at 3 AM so we could get ready to drive about 25 minutes to Portland so Linda and her brother Charlie could fly back to Texas. After dropping them off, I drove back to Freeport and tried to sleep until about 9:30. That didn’t work very well, so to make up for it, I embarked on a sentimental journey. I drove from Freeport to Pemaquid Lighthouse (my favorite place in all of Maine), stopped by Shaw’s Lobster Wharf to replace my own out shirt I bought here in 2013, stopped at Moody’s Dinner for lunch, bought some fresh fruit at Beth’s Farm Market, unloaded my tools and wood at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship, went to Rockport Harbor, then moved into my temporary home during the three week course near Union (where I had stayed in 2024). I was greeted with a hug and a “Welcome Home.” Each of those places has a special place in my heart. I hope to return for more studies at the Wood School in future years, but in case I don’t make it, I touched a lot of hot buttons today. I love Maine; in particular, MidCoast Maine.

Enjoy my pictures, but pay particular attention to the dash shot as I arrived.

I'm here; class starts tomorrow morning and I'm ready to roll!

07/23/2026

Linda, her brother Charles, and I are on another of our legendary road trips, this one being a trip to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for a few days then on to Rockport, Maine. The trip to Pittsburgh is to visit my sister and her family and deliver a mantle I made for her home. It is two slabs of sculpted Texas mesquite sandwiched over a piece of black walnut which was dimpled for visual effect. The last picture shows it in place (we had to cut into the wall to get it properly situated) and the trip around the mantle has yet to be finished out.

As is typical of our road trips, whenever possible we picnic for lunch. Truly, that is one of the joys of our travel. The three of us have now been in 43 of the lower 48 states together, the only states we have not done together are Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Arizona, and California. Oh, the stories we would tell; some we tell over and over!

Notice the exceptional miles per gallon we have averaged this deep into our trip. The pickup was fully loaded! 25.0? Amazing!

I'll drop Linda and Charlie off at the Portland Jetport so they can fly back to Texas; I'll then go on to Rockport.

Why the trip to Rockport, Maine? I'm going back to school again at the Center for Furniture Craftsmanship to participate in a three-week Advanced Furniture Studio. In this course, twelve of us will be working on our own advanced project under the tutelage of two excellent instructors. I've studied under Adrian Ferrazzutti numerous times (he's a genius!) and am anxious to learn alongside a new craftsman Owain Harris. I'll post pictures along the way, but my project this time is a coffee table which promises unique challenges and a venture in things I've never done before. I am excited!

07/10/2026

I suppose the pictures tell the story. The old apron was worn out, so I had Jason Thigpen at Texas Heritage Woodworks in Menard, Texas create a new one. It was time, wasn't it? Ha!
Jason has now created three custom aprons for me; the last two are practically identical, improving on my first design, and fit my work style perfectly. This time, however, his tag was a nice and pleasant surprise.
I work them hard, so in a few years, I'll go back to Jason for another one.