MacBeath in San Jose

Can I still post to this blog since I'm not teaching woodworking this semester?
I just found out that MacBeath Hardwood, my favourite hardwood store in Berkeley, has opened a San Jose store! This is really good. Check it out. I'll probably take next semester's woodworking class there.

Tables

Hi Folks.
So, I've posted some of the table pictures Ryan took here, will get to some more soon. Plus, one pic of Chris Gruenholz with his frame.

Chris Gruenholz. White oak frame with biscuited corners.

Chris Gruenholz. Honduran Mahogany table.

Chris Gruenholz. Honduran Mahogany table, detail.

Lex Santos. Cherry table.

Ginney Uhl. Walnut table.

Phillip Quiros. Ash "Octopus" table. Top is poplar pretending to be ash.

Phillip Quiros. Octopus table legs.

Rod Santos. Poplar table, with mystery shellac finish.

Rudy Faulkner. Maple coffee table, too big for the photo stand.

Adam Bannister. Cherry, if I recall, with black rubbed-out antiqued finish.


Timo McIntosh. Cherry table with sapwood flame pattern on top.
Photo by Timo McIntosh.


Nancy Sevier. Walnut table.


Andrew Hedges. Alder table with ebonized finish (vinegar and steel wool.)

Adon Valenziano. Purpleheart table. Very heavy.

Thanks, Kathryn! And Thanks, Ryan!

Everyone please check out Kathryn's blog contributions below. Next time I teach the class I hope to get more in-progress photos to use as reminders after each demo.
Great work, everyone! I'll get Ryan's pictures of the tables posted as soon as I can.
Have a great summer.
-Shannon

Table Glue-Up

Nancy and Andrew lay out the table legs and aprons for the glue-up.




Nancy and Andrew glue-up the legs while Tracy and Adam wipe off any glue that might have spilled out from the mortises.





It takes a lot of folks for the job so, be sure to have classmates and/or friends near by!



Andrew and Adam assemble the legs and tenons so, a drawer will fit between the top two braces.



Tracy and Adam clamp the width first. They work fast before the glue sets up!












Tracy continues to wipe any excess glue off the wood. You go girl!





Adam and Andrew clamp and measure the diagonal of the table to make sure it is square.




It is also important to measure the diagonal from the bottom of the legs.



Phillip sands the last leg for his "Octopus" table. Shannon and Ginny discuss various options for Ginny's oval table top.

Bent Lamination - Take 2

Shannon demonstrates the various steps in creating a mold to form the shape of the bent lamination. Then the strips of plywood are cut, glued and then clamped into place.

Field Trip Saturday

So, we'll meet at the Museum of Art and History first, at 1.00. Here's the link to it:
http://www.santacruzmah.org/index.php?page=visit-us

Bring your student ID-- it will be $3 instead of $5 to get in. I wasn't expecting to have to pay at all!
After we visit the museum we'll go to Shen's Gallery, 2404 Mission St.

http://yhst-85205485710675.stores.yahoo.net/index.html

Questions about the field trip or your table project, email me: sw@shannonwright.org.

Final exams schedule

Bent Lamination, continued

So, here are a couple of pictures of work by students in my Woodworking For Sculpture class from ten years ago. The first piece is a life-sized wooden "corset" made of laminated plywood. We had to make a different form for each different contour you see here-- the shoulders, chest, waist, and hips. The other piece is an example of just thin strips of wood stapled together to form an organic abstract sculpture-- no glue, no real "lamination". This piece was also inspired by the Martin Puryear woven cedar piece I showed in class.




Elizabeth Bowles, 1998


Rhonda Lewis, circa 1998



A trick to do bent laminations with just drywall screws instead of clamps. Looks a bit time-consuming compared to clamping. Please open and print out the PDFs I emailed to the class about bent lamination.

Things to remember

1) Dana hates redwood, it dents too easily. She recommends you don't use it.

2) Purple heart doesn't absorb glue quickly. I think the reason Adon's joint opened back up was that there was too much pressure on the other clamp below when he took the top clamp off. Looks like it worked out with a few more hours of clamping pressure.

3) Remember we have a new trick for sharpening cabinet scrapers. After you file, burnish the burr vertically, Then horizontally, for a better result.

4) The jointer knives have a lot of nicks in them. You may want to move the fence around to find a spot with no nicks.

5) My random orbit sander is in the tool room for you all to check out.

Gay Outlaw lecture April 22

Pencil Balls, 1996


Three-Legged Intersection, 2006

Sculpture students and enthusiasts, please plan on attending the Gay Outlaw lecture on Tuesday, April 22 at 5 PM in the auditorium, 133. She is the artist I had Jo Farb Hernandez invite for my classes this semester. She currently has work up at the SJ ICA.

Bent Lamination: Richard Deacon

Here are a few images of Richard Deacon's bent-lamination sculptures, and a link to an interview with Deacon.
Notice how a single molded unit is repeated many times to create the whole (particularly obvious on the last image, "After".



After, 1998


What could make me feel this way, 1993


Table (E), 1999

Drawings by Marion Mahony

Australian Flora and Fauna

For all of you who wrote your papers on Frank Lloyd Wright, here's an interesting article about Marion Mahony, Wright's chief draftsperson, whose drawings captured the world's imagination for Wright.

Link to NY Times article

Excerpt below:

Mahony’s drawings, retraced in ink, formed much of what came to be known as the Wasmuth Portfolio, a compendium of Wright’s designs published in Germany in 1910. The portfolio not only established him as America’s reigning architectural genius but also influenced European Modernists like Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier.

“She did the drawings people think of when they think of Frank Lloyd Wright,” said Debora Wood, who organized a show of Mahony’s work at Northwestern University in 2005.

Marion Mahony was also the wife of Walter Burley Griffin, a name I used to hear a lot while growing up in Australia. He was the architect who designed Australia's capital city, Canberra. More info on this is included in the NY Times article.





Eucalyptus trees, ink on silk

Field Trip Saturday May 10

Hi Folks
Our field trip to Santa Cruz is now scheduled for Saturday May 10. We will go to Shen's Gallery, which specializes in Chinese furniture from about 1850-1900. Once we're done with the gallery, perhaps we can go to Marianne's for top-notch ice cream, and then people can disperse or hang out in Santa Cruz in whatever fashion they choose.



Stool from Shen's Gallery, Santa Cruz



Stool from Shen's Gallery, Santa Cruz

Bread table from Shen's Gallery, Santa Cruz