Crutches

Relating back to shelter, Wendy and I were talking about crutches, specifically how using my woodworking skills to make something finely crafted is a crutch of sorts.  This is no secret really.  If the concept behind an object I am making is not as strong as it could be, I will still rest easy because I will make it well.  This is all well and good as a furniture maker, but not as an artist, the real goal after all.  So, in a way, my woodworking is a literally a crutch for me, a shelter of sorts.  Here are some images of antique crutches for inspiration: 

like the shape of this one

sweet handles

The antique crutches besides being made of wood, have great character and  a lot of history.  I read on one website that there are indications that crutches were used in Egyptian times and have changed very little in their design since then.  It was in the early 20th century that they were patented and then designed to be adjustable for different heights of people.  I like the possibilities of using what I know about woodworking to make crutches.  Perhaps at first glance it may seem like a bit of a one-liner, but there is also the a religious context to crutches.

 Some people claim to be miraculously healed by accepting the Lord, Jesus, into their hearts and going to church.  It wouldn't work for me, but if it helps some people, then what's the harm in that.  So what about the religious connotation...  I am not a religious person at all (I would call myself agnostic), but my devotion to woodworking might almost be characterized as religious.   Besides spending time with loved ones, there is very little that I do or think about.  I have strong feelings about the way I go about my practice of making, and a wooden crutch seems like an oddly appropriate object for me to make with all of this in mind.  Here are two I have made so far, but I would like to make one more like the ones pictured above.

More pictures...

Aw, Voltron, you lost a the yellow cat!

the shakers didn't even take the rockers off, just added some cart wheels to Granny's rocker!

Nicely shaped handle

A Day By the Cliffs

Today I am catching up.  It has been four weeks since I have done laundry and not indulged my habit of going to the shop.  Going to the shop to make something, anything at all, scratches an itch that can’t otherwise be scratched.  Who am I kidding; I’ll probably go in later to apply another coat of finish on the crutches I have been making, but only after the laundry, the taxes, and financial aide application are done.  The early deadline for FAFSA is coming up fast everyone, like the beginning of March.  FYI, you can be eligible for state grants if you make this early deadline.  

Today is beautiful!  The thermometer says 62 degrees and I don’t see a cloud in the sky.  It is so clear, as a matter-of-fact, the Coronado Islands to the south off the coast of Mexico are clearly visible.

Spring is here too, lots of flowers and it smells delightful.  Here are some pictures in the back yard.

Weird how clothes lines look like power lines.

It has also been a long time since I have made a blog post.  At this point I have had so many conversations with people about the objects I have made and my ongoing issues with them that it would do little justice to cram them all in here.  At any rate, I appreciate everyone’s input and thank you for your patience with me.  I’ll try harder to post things as they come up.

With regard to my shelter piece, as you all know, I made an acrylic case with one wooden drawer front.  The drawer front had a lock installed in it and to further push the difference between the materials, I shaped the wooden drawer front to have a lump in it.  The original idea was that the one key that opened the locked drawer would be locked inside.  What safer place is there to be than locked inside with the only key?  Seems like a good shelter, right?  This is a long, long way from my beginnings with the idea of making a tree fort.

 A couple of things stick out in my mind from the critique we had last week.  One was when Wendy said something to the effect of, “when you were making that wooden drawer front, you had a bounce in your step.  You looked so happy to be working in wood, as opposed to being huddled over your computer with a grimace on your face doing the work for the acrylic part.”  Yup, this is true.  I don’t know what it is about working with wood, but I love it.  In a way, making this acrylic work has been me denying myself a love of mine.  I thought at one point that by denying myself my medium of choice I would better understand what I love about furniture making.  This increased understanding has yet to happen.  Instead the works lend themselves better to being about the showing of what is inside.  I think this idea is interesting, but I have not gone far enough.  Part of my issue with the acrylic is that it does not lend itself to being shaped like wood can be.  So getting out of making squares and rectangles is a challenge.  Another issue is that, as a furniture maker at heart, I do not want to be responsible for what goes inside the case.  This is the end user’s job.

Okay, so if I were to man up and put something in an acrylic case what would it be?  Why not wood?  What I liked about my shelter project was combining the two materials and showing the properties of the wood.  I am hoping to make one more, and perhaps the last, acrylic piece.  The acrylic case will exist only to integrate and show off the one material I love the most.  Here are some quick renderings of an idea:

The other thing that stood out from critique was when Chele said something to the effect of, “Who is giving you permission to make the objects you make?”  Should be an easy answer, but it rattled my cage because I had to think about it.  I’ll be keeping this in mind for the future.

Acrylic Tip

Hey, thanks Christy Oates!  I am going to keep some of these tips in mind for the future.  I think I might be making one more acrylic piece...
http://blog.ponoko.com/2010/06/17/how-to-make-snug-joints-in-acrylic/#more-10050

Roy McMakin

Okay, so I like his work a lot.  Thanks for pointing him out to me. 

Check out more of his furniture work:
http://www.dezeen.com/2009/02/14/another-kountry-by-roy-mcmakin/ 
and
www.domesticfurniture.com

But with regard to shelter, his architectural work website is bomb-dot-com, seriously: 
domesticarchitecture.com

Look at everything!  What he does with space blows my mind.

Over the wall

For the past couple weeks or so, it may have appeared that I have been off my rocker.  Well, to be honest, I kind of have been.  My looming advancement show has been causing a lot of anxiety for me, and, in my panic, I started questioning the direction of my work.  I pretty much jumped ship altogether.  This shelter project was not the cause of my desire to move in a different direction, but it was most certainly a shove to the edge.  Thinking about making a shelter, I hooked onto the feelings I had as a kid making my first shelter object.  The nostalgic feelings towards play and simplicity of life were what I identified with the most, probably because of the pressure I feel.  In an effort to work through my struggle, I started making, sketch-objects if you will, all the while thinking about play and letting go. 

After talking with Richard Keely about my issues and showing him my sketches, he said, “I see why you made these things, now do something to them.  Then maybe take pictures of them, do something else to them, and take pictures again.”  Here’s some of what happened:

thinking about tree fort possibilities

The lashed-together bamboo chair

The chair does not function, but I love its shadows.

I have no idea what following pictures are about, but they were fun to make.

Cameo by Erin's tiger toy.

Why is this rubber duck kind of scary?

Then there is the catapult.  This is play too.

Here are some videos of it in action:

 

In a way, I feel like I was on that chair going over the wall.  I needed to escape and to have some distance from what I was previously making.  The chair hit concrete and broke into pieces, a perfect ending to my little foray into mania.  All of this allowed me to step away from my other work and gain some perspective.  Now, though I still have the anxiety, I feel like I have attained some clarity and have an idea of which way I want to go.  More on that soon…

Helter Shelter

Our first project is "shelter."  In my world, the next piece has everything to do with the last one.  Here's the last one:

There was a lot of them to make...

Don't get me wrong, I am not whining.  The Diversity Award Trophy was a fun project, but I would be lying if I didn't say I'm glad it's done.  This is, however, one reason why I want to build a tree fort for my shelter project.

I have made several pieces of late that are, in my opinion, "technically dazzling, but otherwise, dead." Technique, process, and material have become a ball and chain of sorts, and I am looking for a way to transcend this.  Thus my idea with this shelter project is to invoke my inner child—specifically a time in my life when making was fun, uninhibited, and full of imagination. 

I had a sweet tree fort when I was a kid, and it looked a little like this:

My first idea is to build a model of this, but my model is going to include some of the upgrades I always wanted it to have (i.e. retractable stairs—drawbridge style, lookout tower, escape route out the back, and a fireman’s pole.)  I like the idea of the model/ miniature tree fort.  If people have to imagine being in it rather than actually being it, to want it to be full size, but having to settle for their imagination, it might bring viewers back to their carefree time too.

And shoot, then I go out to our back porch and look at our trees, and wonder, could I put a tree fort out there in the trees? 

Hmmm, I am kind of feeling like going big.  What do you guys think?  In the mean time, I am working on my model.