Online

Bloodwood Baby Cradle

The design of this baby cradle was a collaboration between the client, my wife and myself. The primary wood is Red Bloodwood and the accents are Solid Black Ebony.

The basis of design is a bed swinging on a floor-mounted stand. Additionally I imposed the requirements the piece be knock-down for easy storage and shipment and, when assembled, no fasteners be visible. It is approximately 38" tall, 36" wide, and 40" long overall. The size of the bed was driven by the commercially available cradle mattress (a.k.a. pad).

All stand jointery is dry-socket mortise-and-tennon held together with 1/4" machine bolts and captive steel nuts. The stretcher-to-post bolts are concealed by magnetically held covers.

A swing lock is provided under the bed for those times when the client wants the bed to be steady. It is an easy to reach captured Bloodwood pin that engages a stopped hole in the end post.

The stretcher, which provides the stand's rigidity and spacing between the end posts, has gusset blocks that flow into the stretcher. There is an Ebony border around the ends of the stretcher and blocks and Ebony plugs over the bolt holes.

Placed in a private collection. Additional copies available for $3,500.

Discussion on the design issues and fabrication are linked here.