Showing posts with label woodwork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label woodwork. Show all posts

Friday 14 March 2014

Making Wooden Kitchen Spoons and Similar Utensils

Wooden Spoons 'Hidden' in Trees

I Came across this interesting excerpt from:  Garden Farm Skills. Gene Longsdon (1985) 
A foraging skill I have yet to perfect myself but thought it was well worth sharing. If readers would like to add their own opinions  and experiences on this article, it would be much appreciated.




"There are only two little secrets to making spoons, ladles, and forks out of wood. The first is that you don’t carve the spoon from a block of wood; rather, you find a branch with a spoon in it.
Nothing mysterious about that advice. A proper spoon or ladle must have a curve in the handle to be designed for easy use — those straight-handled wooden spoons you can buy cheap are almost unusable except to stir with. You might be able to steam bend a straight piece of wood to the proper curve, but that would be hard work. What you dare not do is cut the curve into a piece of wood across the grain. Such a spoon easily breaks. Therefore, when he is cutting firewood or when he is in the woods, a spoon maker keeps a sharp eye out for branches that have a natural curve in them to make the curved handle. It becomes, in fact, great sport to find the spoons in the wood.
Then there’s the second secret. Having once found a proper branch or crotch, never carve your spoon from the very center of it. Again, that would make a very weak spoon. Instead, cut the branch in two along the centre line and carve a spoon in each half where the grain is thick enough, width-wise, to make a strong handle.
Rough out the spoon with a handsaw or, if available, a band saw or table saw. In fact, I do most of the rougher carving on the band saw, cutting away little by little, with my eye on the grain of the wood, which determines the curve of the handle, until the spoon begins to appear. I even roughly shape the bowl on the band saw.
Carve out the rest with a sharp knife and perhaps hollow out the spoon bowl with a chisel or gouge. Because I have a drill press at my disposal, I do most of the finish carving with a rasp bit, especially nice for hollowing out the bowl and rounding the bottom. I level, balance, and thin the spoon down to proper proportion, trusting my eye rather than measuring. I rasp and look, rasp and look, making sure that the drill press is so set that it cannot rasp down through the spoon bowl and out the bottom. I finish up with pocketknife and sandpaper.
Walnut is the best of the good hardwoods for carving because it carves easily despite its hardness. White oak is harder to carve but I like it — especially if it is a branch that is beginning to deteriorate just a little. Unusual markings, and often unusual colors, will show up in the finished piece. But almost any wood will do. A spoon is an easy evening’s work. The ones pictured here took only an hour each to make — once I found a proper piece of wood.


Source:   http://thecontraryfarmer.wordpress.com/2011/06/20/making-wooden-kitchen-spoons-and-similar-utensils/

Saturday 1 March 2014

Giuseppe Penone: The Hidden Life Within

The image below is one I have skipped past many times while surfing for 'woody wonders' but have only just got round to investigating further.

“My artwork shows, with the language of sculpture, the essence of matter and tries to reveal with the work, the hidden life within.”
–Giuseppe Penone


Giuseppe Penone (born April 3, 1947) is an Italian artist. Penone started working professionally in 1968 in the Garessio forest, near where he was born. He is the younger member of the Italian movement named "Arte Povera", Penone's work is concerned with establishing a contact between man and nature.


Guiseppe Penone carves out a young tree within an older tree to reveal its past, showing us what once grew inside so that it may now "live in the present." Inspired by the quiet slowness of growth in the natural world, the artist asks us to take a moment to stop and think about the concept of time and how there's a common vital force in all living things.



Penone has carved out the wood to reveal its past, showing the tree that grew inside so that it may “live” in the present. Rather than imposing a form, the artist — in contrast to the architect of this space — draws out an existing form.

The next image of  Guiseppe working within the space of this massive tree in my mind captures the enormity of the artists devotion to this piece.





Monday 10 February 2014

River Mirrors by Caryn Moberly

These stunning mirrors by Caryn Moberly can be hung horizontally or vertically and have an amazing fluid feel to them.

Caryn Moberly is a British furniture designer whose designs are recognised for their originality and fun. Many of her designs are inspired by natural shapes.



Pippy Oak River Mirror.    Size 1.3m x 0.70m

Although most of Caryn's designs use burred elm, the example above is of pippy oak. Here is how Caryn describes her mirrors.  “I love my river mirror design because it has all the elements of a real river valley. The shape of the banks is created by the effect of natural elements on the tree, the location of the tree and its history. The knotty burrs represent rock formations. Even the annual rings in the wood represent contour lines on a map.




I like the way they manage to combine a very modern rectangular shape with a wild natural form.




This is a particular favourite of mine from Caryn's collection for the green tinge in the grain.




She has exhibited at a number of prestigious shows and has been selected to exhibit with the British European Design Group. Caryn has an MA in Furniture Design and Technology at Buckinghamshire New University.








Caryn Moberly's web site:
http://www.rivermirrors.co.uk


Wednesday 29 January 2014

Chinese Leaf Carvings

Meticulously Handcrafted Chinese Leaf Carvings


What you see below are custom crafted, hand-cut illustrations on dried and treated Chinar leaves. The process involves removing the thin layers of leaf while keeping the vein structure intact.



As the name suggests, leaf carving consists of literally carving an image on to a tree leaf, specifically the leaf of the Chinar tree, a tree native to India, Pakistan and China that bears a close resemblance to the leaf on the maple tree.
"This is a relatively new art form according to Dean Prator, a man in Los Angeles who sells customized carved leaves online. And that's amazing, considering art has been around since the dawn of humanity and trees have been around even longer. "As far as I can tell, it goes back to 1994, when an artist name Huang Tai Shang created this and got in the Guinness Book of World Records.









Creating leaf art is a long and complex process. Leaves are put through a 60 step process such as, manually cutting and removing the outer surface of the leaf while leaving the leafs veins intact which add detail into the subject matter of the carving. Pressing, curing and dying are also just a few of the steps needed to prepare the leaf. 



After special processing, the leaf blade forms a natural permanent pigment, so the colour is stable, and corrosion resistant. An anti-aging treatment helps the leaves exceed the durability of thick paper. The size of these leaves vary since no two leaves are exactly the same. Each leaf is approximately 8 to 10 inches in size. The finished product is strong, durable, natural and beautiful.











Source:
http://www.leafcarvingart.com

Thursday 23 January 2014

Randall Rosenthal and 'Cold Hard Cash'

When you study the work of Randall Rosenthal you can't help but be in awe of this mans talent, the way he emulates a stack of paper from solid blocks of wood reminds me of Livio De Marchi's carving skills when creating his wooden clothing.  Lets start off by taking a look at:

'Cold Hard Cash'   2012 , acrylic and ink on one block of Vermont White Pine, 14 x 14 x 10" 


It doesn't matter how long you look at this piece you cannot convince yourself it is carved from one solid block of white pine then diligently painted. Here are some great shots of the work in progress.







Randall Rosenthal.

BORN:           1947 New York, New York
EDUCATION:  1965-69 Carnegie Institute of Technology, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania






















A personal favourite of mine is 'Cutting Board'  because of the variety of materials he has so successfully copied.


'Cutting board'  in progress.



And here, a selection of some of Randall's other pieces, it's hard to remember these are all carved from solid blocks of wood !








If you wish to fully explore the weird world of Randall Rosenthal check out his website: www.randallrosenthal.com

Other sources:


Randall's forum posts of  'Old Money' on sawmillcreek.org


Saturday 18 January 2014

The 'Waste Less' Chair by Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop

The ‘Waste Less’ chair by Architecture Uncomfortable Workshop is a totally unique chair built from timber off cuts, this was the scrap wood from whole logs which had been milled to make structural beams.




By re-positioning the four substantial looking clamps each side of the seat you can alter the  layout of the timber sections. Each piece held together by heavy weight recessed hinges, turning it from a conventional chair into a reclining chair


or back into it's 'rolled up' position.

Presumably in it's closed position this innovative piece of furniture could easily be rolled into a corner or lifted away with the side clamps. I think when not in use I would be tempted to stand it on end and use it as a plant stand.