Portland was a wonderful weekend. Tons of people playing tons of tunes, a visit to David Kerr's violin shop in the rain (wonderful people there) and an over-the-top dinner on Saturday night/Sunday morning at the Gilt Club that changed my understanding of cuisine.

Ela (a Strad model) found a new home in Berkeley in the same house that Rosalie (a D'Egville model) lives in.

Heading down to  the Old Time Gathering in Portland this weekend to play some music and visit violin shops. Traveling with at least four and maybe five violins so if you're in Portland and want to play one, look for the fiddler with too many cases. If you go to the gallery of available instruments you can see the one's I'll be carrying: Novinha, Quara, and Ela, as well as the two I usually play.

Here's the scroll I've been working on, a slightly scaled up version of an Andrea Guarneri  violin scroll to go on a viola.

This is the new sticker. Tom designed it based on the original logo. The same image will be on t-shirts, too.

If you play one of the violins I've built, and if you send me a picture of you holding it or playing it, I'll put it in the gallery of fiddles and their owners.Or, if you prefer, stop by the shop and Tom, of Tom Collicott Photography, will take a picture of you with your fiddle suitable for use as a publicity image. Let us know that you're coming by so we can have some lights set up.

Spring has been slow in arriving in spite of several nice days. The second Filius is in the tanning booth, a Sanctus Seraphin model is on the bench and a Testore model  with the lightest back I've ever made is almost ready to close. A second trip to Italy was initiated this week and should happen in mid September. This will give me an opportunity to revisit the filius in Cremona as well as the other violins that live there and, even more important, to do more research on the risottos of Italy! Dan intends to go on this trip as well.

A Sanctus Seraphin came through a friends shop and I had the good fortune to sit and stare at it for a few hours. A wonderful opportunity and very timely with the first of the same model in the carving stages. There's no substitute for holding the instrument in your hand.

When Dan, my youngest son, and I visited Cremona this past summer, we both fell in love with a violin by Giuseppe Guarnarius filius Andreae and decided to make an instrument based on it. Here, at last, is Chiara. The original, made by the father of Guarnarius Del Gesu, shows a strong connection to the style of the Amati family. The fittings are of figured Myrtle.

Starting plates on the second Filius Andreae. The first one is ready to set up.