Year 2

In this Major we focussed on the Production process. We all made some production process maps to get a better understanding of what it was and needed to pick one to further explore. I picked the Production process of Woodturning. My YouTube feed was full with Woodturning video’s already, so this was the perfect opportunity to finally try it out. By looking at my process map I could pick out places where I could try out interventions in the process to hopefully get some interesting results. I started out by getting to know the machine because I had never used it before. Because it is a craft it was hard to get the basics down, but after some try’s I got the hang of it. I dove into the tools and the materials that are used and came up with some intervention idea’s. When trying them out I zoomed in on my most interesting and surprising results. I found out that when creating a pattern with wood there is a place where the lines bend because of turning the wood into a cylinder. After trying various wood and cutting and glueing them in different ways I got a really nice pattern that I fully controlled. Because of it’s cylindrical shape It looked different from every angle, this is why I came to the idea of using the pattern in the legs of a stool. I decided to wood turn all of the parts of the stool to test my skill progress.

Step 1: Material

First you pick your material, a nice piece of Wood. Preferably dense wood.

Step 2: Tools

The second sep is to pick your tools. Normally you will use a nice set of sharp chisels. You have specific set made for Woodturning.

Step 3: Placement

After picking your tools you will mount the piece of wood on the turning wheel. Before placing you will mark the center on both sides, and then secure the pins in that exact spot.

Step 4: Rounding

Now it's time to turn you square piece of wood in to a cylinder-like shape. You will need the rounding chisel for this action. (step 2, second chiseled the left)

Step 5: Creating Shape

After your wood is nice and round you can start creating shape by using the rest of your tools.

Step 6: Finishing

When finished shaping, leave your wood on the turning wheel for finishing. You can use sanding paper an varnish while it is spinning.

My Woodturning Journey

My first 2 try's on the lathe. Not pretty yet, but I learned a lot about the machine and working with the chisels.

After learning more about the different types of chisels and about the techniques using them I managed to get some pretty nice straight cylinders.

I tried using a pencil to and a ruler to mark out even sections. after I used a chisel to make trenches so it looks like multiple parts are glued together.

Learning how to make curved shapes. trying to show the process within each cylinder.

Trying to put everyting I learned so far together in one piece

Using learned shapes and trying to create symmetric patterns.

For these sample I used a different mounting piece on the lathe. It is called excentric turning. you can turn the mounting bit outside of it's center. this way you are turning the side of the wood, and you will not touch everything of the wood.

This turned out to be very dangerous, totally random, and not useful for this assignment. although the outcomes were really cool!

For the next samples I tried out a technique that involves glue and paper. When you saw a piece of wood in half and you use paper in between and glue the back together with some wood glue you are able to separate them again after turning them.

I got some really nice symmetric results out of this technique. It also impressed the teachers.

Before you turn you can do lot with the wood. For example you can glue different types together to create contrast but also patterns.

When glued together, you can cut them up into smaller pieces and shapes and glue them back together in a different order to create cool patterns.

I found out that with making a pattern there was a where the pattern would always bend when turned. I started to play with it already on cylinders, and the nice part was that I could control where and how much I wanted it because I knew at what okay it occurred.

I tried it out in a very difficult shape created by cutting pieces at an angle and then glueing them together what was a very difficult task.

the result was amazing but totally different then it would be on a cylindrical shape.

I also had the idea of replacing the tools needed to turn wood. I had the idea of creating a cut-out of metal in a certain shape, so that I could always make the same shape. I tried this out on foam with a MDF cut-out and the result was pretty nice.

By doing this I turned a craft into something almost automated, something that could turn into mass production. That is not what I wanted, I wanted to control something while it still being the craft that it is.

I experimented further with the possibilities with patterns in wood. I used the most interesting one from my samples. The material was multiplex. The material already has layers that could make for more complex designs.

I asked myself questions like:

- What manipulations can I do to get an interesting result?
- Will the random result be controllable?
- Can I create a controlled pattern with all of the knowledge I had collected?

I decided to experiment with glueing multiple layer of multiplex and cutting them at different angles.
The glueing them together into a wave pattern. The result was really nice.

From everything that I had created, this was the nicest and most interesting result. I was blown away by the wavey pattern, the amount of layers perfectley connecting and the different colors and shine when walking around it.

the best part was that I used the knowledge that I collected to create this.
I knew that at 2 points the wood would make the lines bend into a half circle, and I had already thought about that when glueing all the pieces together.

I was able to fully control this pattern and I gave it purpose in my final product.

For my final product I wanted to keep the product as close a possible to the craft. I came up with the idea of turning a little stool. The legs would be made out of the controlled pattern that created and the seating would be made out of natural oak to show the contrast between a controlled wood pattern and a natural wood pattern.

After a lot of glueing and waiting I could finally start turning everything. It was really hard to get all three legs exactly the same diameter. I finally managed to get them exactly 3 cm in diameter. For the seating I just freehanded a shape that I was happy with. It was really nice to see a dark natural pattern on top of three light controlled patterns.

The intervention that I created doesn't add a physical function to my final product. It does add a really important visual function. It catches your eye. It makes you look twice, and finally your looking at the product up close to see what is going on. Because it is furniture, I think it is really important that it stands out from the rest. Furniture can be really easy to blend in with the rest, but this piece will not have that problem.
An other thing that the intervention adds is money. Because it is handcrafted it adds value to the product and will earn you more money.

Here is a photoshoot that show my Stool in a studio setting and also in a real life setting. Please enjoy!

I also created a how it's made video! Here is the link to the video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8ouum3o7Fw