Japanese Plane

I thought that I would stick to the tools that I remember as a child, so the plane is next. I remember seeing it used when I was very young and watching the thin veneers of wood coming out of the plane, I was sort of captivated by it.
The plane is very simple in its design, but still effective.
The planes comes in many sizes but still retain the same shape. The body is always a wooden rectangle similar to a cut 2 by 4, but it is the blade that is the heart of the plane. These blades vary in size and are set at certain angles in the woodblock. The hardness of the metal and the angle determines the hardness of the wood that the plane can be used on.
It is said that a good tool becomes an extension of the person using it, and it the case of both the plane and the saw I feel that this is true. There are two schools of thinking when it comes to tools: a few believe in buying cheap tools and replacing them when they become useless or broken; then there are those like me who believe in acquiring good tools that will last a lifetime if not more and still retain its usefulness. I like to think that this philosophy in tool use is in the majority.

In Her Own Voice

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 Most well known for designing the Vietnam Memorial, Maya Lin has an astounding body of work. She has created large environmental landscapes that are site specific. In the work I am showing here, she has made the decision to bring those landscapes inside. Her goal is for the viewer to experience the natural forms of the world in an architectural space. 

She uses systems of reading landscapes, ways that scientists and computers would read the landscape, as topographical drawings to be translated into sculptural forms. Her desire is to bring the familiar outside landscape indoors without changing the her voice as an artist. 

 In the photo above, she uses cut particle board to create three forms of geological phenomena.

                      

                                                                                                                                                                    In 2x4 Landscape, Maya Lin has used over 50,000 cut 2x4s to create this gently rolling hill or to some, a wave, that rises to ten feet tall and covers 2400 square feet. 

Below is the Caspian Sea (carved of Baltic birch plywood) one of the most endangered bodies of water in the world. 

Her systematic landscapes articulate the depth of her interests, her research, her understanding of culture and context and allow for a visual language that is unique and amazing.

These are just a few of the vast body of works of Maya Lin. You can find more about her on Art 21, Henry Art Gallery, Youtube and many more. 

Creative design

This is a chair designed by a young artist,  Joris Laarman. I wanted to put this chair design up even though it isn't out of wood. Laarman transferred the design by using bones for his "Bone Chair." He used a three dimensional optimization software that mimics biological growth. It was cast in aluminum. A polyurethane version was shown last year in a fascinating show at MOMA called,  "Design And The Elastic Mind." You can google the exhibition and find some really amazing work. Charlie Rose interviewed the curator, Paola Antonelli. She also gave a presentation on Ted Talks on treating design as art. (there are some great lectures there in case you haven't yet checked  out that site). 

I related this work to Adon's wonderful large scale sculptures, though he uses wood and metal.

 

Blog Posts (GRADING!!!)

Okay Folks
I've been going through and recording everyone's blog entries, and guess what? Some people have kept up, and have done five entries. A few people have done... none! And then there's Squerl, who has done seven, not including the really short ones. So, just a reminder to make sure to do one for this week.
See you tomorrow.
-Shannon

Wooden Gear Clocks

One of my experiences as a child was watching my Father repair almost anything he found or was given.  One thing that he inherited from my Grandfather was an old wooden gear clock made in Germany.  My Father spent a lot of time corresponding with companies in Germany to find replacement parts.  One of the hardest things to find was the "paper" bellows that was used for the cuckoo (the little bird that popped out of a little door on the clock to announce the time).  But in the end we had a working wooden gear clock that was really unique.

Having this memory I decided to surf the internet to see if wooden gear clocks still existed.

I found someone who was making some gears.

Much to my surprise I found a site that sells plans to make such clocks.  I could not find one that looked like the clock we had but I found some very very interesting designs.

The creator also has a short YouTube video sowing the clocks in action.

The best video of all is this one about using shop tools to make a clock.

J. L. Moller: Amazingly beautiful tables and chairs in rosewood and leather.

Black Cherry

BLACK CHERRY WOOD

The next wood I decided to research was black cherry. It's also known as american cherry. I picked this one because it seems to be very popular among furniture makers. Black cherry is the largest of all the cherry trees in north america and can take up to 100 years to be fully grown. The tree is very popular for its beautiful blossoms. After it is cut and milled the heartwood can range from a light yellowish color to a reddish brown. I tend like the red color. This wood is used for cabinets, musical instruments, flooring, furniture and many other things. It has a tight fine grain. Thw ood ahs many beatiful natural imperfections which are sometimes preffered. It can also have different textures such as bird's eye, waves, or cat paws. It is considered a hard wood but has a soft to medium density and can be found in just about every place you can buy wood. It has a tendency to burn and http://www.thewoodbox.com/data/wood/cherryinfo.htm recommends that you don't do passes under 1/16" when planning. When finishing black cherry it is best to just sand to a hi grit and leave it natural. Over time the wood will darken in the sunlight. It is very durable but will scratch easily. If you would like to see an example of how it darkens over time there is a peice on the wall of the shop. This wood would make a great choice for a bookcase or a table.

catherine