Project 18 of 52

" An Owl named Murphy"

This week saw the very first mobile wood shop project. Typically I work on projects in the afternoons after normal days of work, except this week. At my shop they have been having problems with some underground electrical wires throughout the whole building, which if I haven't said yet is an old navy shipyard that happens to be nowhere near water. Needless to say they have been shutting off the power for the last few nights hence the reason this week I went mobile. Luckily enough for me some good friends let me work on this project in their artist studio.

I originally started this project in my shop but the real inspiration and creativity came from the artist studio I was in. As a woodworker the most common thing I get asked to refinish are tables. The main culprit is water rings and stains. As a solution to the problem I wanted to make some coasters that would not only do it's job but also act as a conversation piece.

I started with a very figured piece of Yacushapana wood from Peru and cut them in 5 inch squares. I trimmed the corners to make octagons and then made the base that would hold them awaiting use. The holder is made from Yacushapana and Bolivian Rosewood dowels. I wanted to also have my first carving piece for this project and originally drew out a Celtic design on one side of the coaster. The inspiration for the object I actually chose came from the artists inside the studio I was working in.

The Celtic design was a little too boring for me and I was stuck without ideas of something else. So I picked up an old magazine from the 80's they had lying around and told them first object I see It would go on the pieces. First figure was an owl. I said an owl it is. I looked up owls and came up with this representation of a Peruvian screech owl. The reason why it was perfect is two of the artists had owl paintings they did and considering I was in their studio I figured I will give it a go as well.

One object that saved so much time in these pieces that I did not have at the shop was graphite transfer paper. Using this I transferred the design to all four coasters. I used a combination of small carving knives and a Dremel to carve out the owl in each piece. I finished all the pieces with boiled linseed oil and then some clear lacquer to protect itself from water rings and stains.

A cool side part about the holder is when the coasters are inside the owl's eyes just peer around the edges. Thanks to Tyler, Tristan, and Trent for letting me use their space, and the great ideas for this project.

This project will be in the gallery showing at the end of the 52 weeks

Project 17 of 52

" The Canary"

This week I decided to use a piece of lumber I bought a while back and waited for the right project to use it. In one of my first projects I made "The Peacock" and have been considering making another version of a wine caddie. I thought this piece of wood was fitting because it is Canarywood from Panama.

I used the Canarywood throughout this piece including the bottom of the box and the wings that are the top enclosure. I did not draw out the design before starting mainly because it was easier to envision it in 3D and in movement rather than a two dimensional sketch, that when I tried looked to plain. Sometimes your mind is a more powerful sketch for projects anyways as long as it can physically be made.

The components of the piece are a 9 inch long by 5 inch wide by 5 inch tall box with metal feet and two holes on each side for the wine bottle. The lid is two separate pieces of wood shaped on the band saw to resemble wings.

The winged tops are drilled and supported with metal rods to provide full movement for accessing the box itself. Even though I made this as a wine caddie it could also be used as a box to hold pretty much anything.

I finished the wine holder with boiled linseed oil and then put a clear lacquer on top for added protection against possible spills. The wings of the top act as perfect tables for your wine glasses while you pour the wine. I called this "The Canary" because of the wood but when you see it in person it almost resembles a June bug that is so prevalent around Los Angeles this time of year.

This project will be in the gallery showing at the end of the 52 weeks.

Project 16 of 52

" Free"

In honor of the Fourth of July I decided to do a little bit of a patriotic piece for this week's project. I again left this one for late, but was inspired by these three different pieces of lumber. I chose to work with Bubinga, Alder, and Purple Heart. Although the Bubinga and Purple Heart did not come from the United States I was more looking at the color with the Bubinga a reddish brown, the Alder white, and the Purple Heart purple, but the closest wood I had for blue.

I decided to make a very traditional piece in a very different way. I made each wood into separate boxes. I do love boxes as most of you have probably seen so far. The bigger box has a bottom of american cherry just to bring it all full circle.

The piece became a free floating vase. I glued each box to each other in an ascending pattern. The Purple Heart box acts as the whole base for the piece and also the part to put water in for the flowers. The other three boxes have no bottom and act as a separation to put different sized flowers inside the whole piece.

As you can see in the picture from the top, every square box filters inside the base which is six inches squared. The height of the overall piece is 13 inches. The part that is great about this vase is you can utilize long stemmed flowers as well as short stemmed together and have all of them next to each other and in water at the same time.

I used these woods for their color but while I was working on it I was thinking that this was the idea of America in every aspect. The three woods came from three different parts of the world but work together as one. That is my interpretation of Unity.

This project will be in the Gallery showing at the end of the 52 weeks.