Notes from the bench, as they happen.
Notes from the shop.
Part project log, part journal, all first-person. A finish test that did not quite work. A color I have been thinking about. A link to something I read that shaped how I think about surface. The meta column tells you which side of the practice it came from. Hover a row to see it washed.
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A speckle test that did not want to dry.Too much thickness on the base coat, too aggressive a ramp. The surface held up but the texture flattened under heat. Note for next time: thinner first pass, hold at 140 for longer before climbing.
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Three-stage fade on a Ratking. Salmon, slate, midnight.The masking took longer than the cure. Owner asked for a smoother step between slate and midnight. Landed on a wider blend band, about forty millimeters. The top tube reads as one continuous transition now, which was the point.
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Sample round with a Seattle architect, hammered copper over warm grey.Five options on the bench, two of them real contenders. The one we picked was not the fanciest. It was the one that looked the same in morning light as in afternoon light. That mattered more than anyone expected.
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Rereading Josef Albers on the deception of color.Every time I think I know what a color does, Albers reminds me that a color is only ever doing it next to something else. Most of my job, it turns out, is picking the neighbor.
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Cerakote on a titanium Davidson. H-series satin, single color.Owner sent a photo from a ride in the rain the week after pickup. The finish did exactly what we wanted, which is to say almost nothing. That is a success story that does not photograph well.
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Twelve sculpture stands for Dan Friday. Matte black, each one heavier than the last.
We talked about gloss, we talked about texture, we settled on a black that eats the light. The glass reads warmer against it than anyone expected. That is the whole trick.
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A small run of door stops, heading to the shop soon.The Thud Stop is finally catching up with itself. Eighteen in the booth, three colorways, all in house finishes. These have been on the bench for months. They will be in the shop by the end of the month if the packaging cooperates.
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Architectural hardware, eight pieces, one extremely specific grey.Not warm, not cool, not exactly quiet. The client walked around the mockup with a piece in hand for almost an hour before saying yes. That is usually the right sign.
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Elsewhere
The journal is the long version. Shorter updates live on Instagram.
@WatermanMade for quick process shots. hello@watermanmade.com for anything that needs a real reply.