I had a few Eames shells around so I started to wonder if they would work. If you look in the old Herman Miller catalogs, they were often shown outside. And boats and Corvettes are made of fiberglass, so they must survive outside, right? I asked the nice people at Modernica – who make amazing fiberglass shells – about it and they recommended against it. But, I figure that is the party line so they don’t get complaints if their fade or get rusted out from outdoor abuse.

So I didn’t want to take some nice (and expensive) old shells and risk putting them outdoors and ruining them. I also didn’t want to risk it with nice new Modernica shells. So, I figured I needed to find some vintage shells that were already messed up and not too expensive – so if they got ruined it was no big loss.

So I did just that! I found a two pairs of shells, 2 yellow and 2 orange, at a local dealer who gave me a great deal. I also found some good reproduction bases on eBay from JM Modern and ordered them.

Then, I did a bit of research on the internet and found some techniques on restoring old shells. They might as well look great. It didn’t sound too hard, so I undertook the process. I followed the instructions found on the excellent Plastolux blog almost exactly. I didn’t replace the mounts like they did, and used medium sandpaper, but otherwise I followed their instructions. The hardest thing besides the elbow grease was finding Penetrol – which I ended up getting through Amazon. Rather than repeating their instructions, I encourage you to check out their blog – great advice!!

Once the restoration was done I had an additional quandary – the chairs almost looked too good to put outside. Well, I got over that quickly.

A few other things. In the photos you will see those planters. They are vintage Gainey planters that I had around the house and it’s a total coincidence that they match so well. It’s kinda weird – I actually didn’t make the connection at first. But then I noticed the yellow one was the same color. A few days later I realized the orange one matched, too, and was pretty floored. The bamboo was just sitting in my side yard waiting for a good home.

Also, because my patio is rough tile, I didn’t want the powder coated bases getting all scratched up and rusting out. I found some clear plastic tubing at Home Depot that fit over the wire base exactly and cut a slit in it so I could slip it over the wire on the base. It seems to have worked so far – no scratching.

I hope you enjoy the photos and the story. Oh, and I’ve got some plans for a table to match. Come back soon to read about that…

I thought readers of the blog might be interested in the house. It is a 1957 Eichler home. For those unfamiliar with Eichler, he was a prominent mid-century developer in California. His homes featured post and beam construction, walls of glass, minimal design, atriums, and other architectural touches that came to define “California living”. The homes are not particularly fancy, but for those wanting clean lines and a connection to the outdoors, they can’t be beat. My house doesn’t have an atrium, but it does have walls of glass which lead to the backyard. I’ll post a few photos today and add info as time goes on.

You can read more about Eichler and his homes on the web.  There’s a also several books about Eichler and California Modern architecture, which I’ll add to my Amazon Danish Modern store.

The post and beam construction is the highlight of the entry.

Like most Eichler homes, the back is much more inviting than the austere front. Mine has two walls of glass opening to the yard which extends the space to the outside.

Polished concrete floors give the interior a very clean and modern look.

From the excellent photos you can see the details, such as the metal screw and the lip of silver along the bottom. It is a very small mill as you can see from its scale against the others in his collection. Usually when I hold a new mill for the first time I’m surprised at how big it is compared to what I though – but this one seems like it is smaller than usual. I get a lot of questions as to the exact date of the JHQ mills with the silver bands but I have no specific information of exactly when they were released. They were not part of the initial early 60s line of Rare Woods mills, so I assume late 60s or early 70s.

Since he sent so many great photos, I’ve created a gallery for everyone to enjoy.  The last photo shows his collection – as well as his good taste in books. Those mills are all in excellent condition. Note that he doesn’t keep them all out, but rotates them out from time to time. Thanks B.B.!

There are a few for sale now that might hit the $500 mark as well, so keep your eyes peeled.

While I focus on the work of Jens Quistgaard and other Danish Modern mills, he seems to love all pepper mills. He picks them up on his travels and seemingly everywhere else. He does seem to like Dansk mills, though. The end of the article contains a nod to what I think is Sam Kaufman’s amazing collection that was up for sale a while back.

I highly recommend the article – and make sure the check out the slide show that goes with the article. Highlights From a Pepper Mill Collection.

Michael Hoffman of Arizona and a few of his pepper mills

The opening bid was $3000 and there are already a few bidders. There are 25 mills, including two duplicates. Unlike many of these large auctions, this one includes a few very rare mills including a rosewood and silver mill and the square cylinder mill. Several others are quite rare as well.  A great collection.  Too bad there isn’t much of a description or better photos.

Oh, and sorry for not posting in so long.  I’ve been planning on starting again, so hang tight.

The book features a few more Dansk pieces inside and has a ton of information on how to make just about anything on a lathe. There’s a few dozen projects as well – none as cool as a Dansk pepper mill, but good stuff.  There’s a lot of photos of wood and metal turned pieces inside as well, including works by Bojessen, Krenit, JHQ, and several others. The 2nd photo is a diagram I thought was very cool, showing the profile of many bowl and tray design projects.

The original used teak or rosewood and had multiple different leather options.  The modern reissue uses black stained oak and black leather. This is a unique chair design because it easily assembles and disassembles without screws or other fittings – the wood poles just fit into the metal frame along with the seat.

The original is very comfortable and has gone up dramatically in value. I have no idea what the new ones will cost, but this might be a good option for a modern collector. Keep in mind, though, nothing is cheap in Denmark and I don’t know if they are importing them to the states.

You can read more about it on the Gubi website.

Gubi has also released an online magazine that has an article about Jens Quistgaard, including a cool “Eight things you need to know about Jens Quistgaard”.  You can get it here, or on the Danish Pepper Facebook page

Jens Quistgaard Stokke Chair by Gubi

Follow the link to see my auctions. Photos below.  Thanks!