Four Options To Enhance Woodturning Design
This video is best viewed here on this page. However, in case of gremlin attack, it is also posted on YouTube and FaceBook.
I greatly appreciated a club presentation recently by Kip Christiansen. Kip has been teaching furniture design at Brigham Young University until retiring recently. His topic was design for woodturning. One main point is that form trumps all else: grain, color, decoration, construction. He went through a lot of design tips.
One thing stood out above everything else. He was prepared to turn a selection from three different blocks of wood. He passed out pieces of paper whose size matched his blocks of wood. Then he had us fold them in half and cut a design with scissors. We could trim it until we liked it. He also recommended we cut several alternatives and ask our friends which they like best. Form was paramount.
He then turned a couple of the pieces to match.
I have taken his presentation to heart and looked at options to apply it to my projects. This post is some of my ideas leveraging this excellent presentation.
Enjoy.
Fascinating and yet so simple.
Yes I agree, form is everything. The wood, the grain, the colour, the finish can never compensate for a form that is not quite “right”. Sadly many novice turners at our Club get so wrapped up in tools and techniques and wood that the visual effect of end result sometimes gets lost.
Peter in the UK
Very true, Thanks Peter
Alan
Hello Allan charley bell here from the sarasota woodturners. another great helpful hint thanks. I hope you got to see my name in the october issue of american woodturners page 49 .Alot of my ideas and talents come from your knowledge and mentoring thanks so much. Have a great thanksgiving and merry christmas
Charley, A beautiful piece. It inspires me to do one like it. two questions:
1) The article cites size as “Stacked: 26″ × 61”. They look like they could be different heights but averaging about 6 inches tall with 6.5″ diameter. Is this accurate?
2) How are things selected for the Members Gallery.
Thank you for your kind words.
Alan