Well, summer is here and we’re finally making good progress in the new shop.   Sorry it’s been so long since our last update!  This is just a quick post to share one of our current in-progress projects… it’s a mobile bar for Sam Hughes’ Place Restaurant in Tucson.  SHP’s management plans to use this in the rooms where they have larger parties – to avoid trips across the restaurant to the main bar.  We were sort of thinking it would be a great thing to have in the backyard by the pool!  In any case, you can see the mobile bar in progress here.  Stay cool! 

We recently squeezed a quick project into our schedule to donate to a charity event for the Boys & Girls Club of the East Valley – Gilbert Chapter.  We decided a wine rack would be a good auction item…so we embarked on creating one.  It was a different kind of project for us – a much smaller piece than we usually build, but it was a lot of fun.  You can check it out by clicking here.By the way, the charity event is a golf tournament coming up on Friday, May 9, 2008 and we hear there are still spots remaining for golfers.  If you are interested, please call the Boys & Girls Club at 480.813.2020 for more details!

Yesterday Kate asked me: “What is anodizing?” Well, the Wikipedia definition is the following: “Anodizing, or anodising, is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts.” My response was a little less technical — it is a method for coloring aluminum. It is not a coating that sits on the surface but is more like stain that penetrates the pores of the aluminum and remains semi-transparent. It’s a very popular process with automotive parts where the aesthetic appearance is important. You may ask, “why is he telling me this?” This is the process we are using on our current semi-conductor project. As a component of the product demonstration display, we have 5/16″ aluminum plates anodized red, and it looks great.  Click here to check out the finished product. 

The news of our grand opening has led to a rush of interest, which we are very excited about. So what are we working on now?

1. A local semi-conductor company is keeping us busy with more project demonstration displays (http://ckvalentidesigns.com/gallery/demo_mchp/index.html)

2. A mobile bar for Sam Hughes’ Place Restaurant in Tucson, AZ. SHP is a returning customer (see http://ckvalentidesigns.com/gallery/copper_shp/index.html, http://ckvalentidesigns.com/gallery/led_shp/index.html) – and did we mention the food is excellent? Stop by the next time you’re in Tucson.

3. Next in line is a built-in bench/table for a residential billiard room – drawings to be started soon!

We appreciate all the comments and emails and promise to get to this journal more often!