New York and the Renwick

NEW YORK
On Friday, the class took a field trip to New York City. I was looking forward to the trip; but fate had other ideas. Originally, we were supposed to meet at 10 AM, and the only bus I could find that would get me to the city in time was leaving D.C. Union Station at 3:30 AM.  So I bought a ticket.  Then I asked my husband if he would drive me to the bus station, and he thought that was unreasonable and was willing to pay the difference for me to go later. 

Fortunately, the class meeting time got moved to 11 AM, so I was able to find a bus leaving D.C. at 6:30 AM.  That was perfect, because there is an express metro bus that leaves about 4 houses down the street from my house and it leaves at 5:25 AM.  It should take 35 -45 minutes to get to the Pentagon, where I'd transfer to the metro to Rosslyn and walk half a block to meet my bus.

Well, everything was going as planned, except the bus by my house was 10 minutes late, then instead of 35-45 minutes, it took an hour.  At Rosslyn, I ran up that extremely long escalator; ran the a fourth of the block in time to see my bus pulling away.  Rats! 

Time to regroup and go over my options.  The bus attendant verified that I had in deed missed the 6:30 AM bus, but they had another one leaving at 7:30 AM.  If it wasn't full, I may be able to get a seat on that bus, except it was Friday and Fridays are usually full because people are going for the weekend.  Now what?

Well, the day before, I had a major critique on a big project in my Commerical Design class and had not slept the previous 2 days. I was exhausted. I made the call to go back home and do the alternate assignment instead.  After letting my professor know not to expect me, I took the metro back to the Pentagon, figured out how to take a local bus back to my neighborhood (all the express buses were done for the morning).  The closest stop to my house was a mile and a half, so I got off and walked home (in the rain).

RENWICK GALLERY

The alternate assignment was to visit the Renwick Gallery in D.C. (across the street from the front of the White House). The gallery's current exhibit is Something of Splendor, Decorative Arts from the White House. It was okay, but I prefer the permanent collection. While at the gallery, we were to select 3 pieces, sketch at least 2 drawings of each piece, including a detail. Then write a 2-page paper on one of the pieces. 

The three that I chose were: The Ghost Clock by Wendell Castle. It stands over 7 feet high and is made entirely of laminated and bleached Honduras mahogany. The drapery looks soft like muslin, but is in reality wood carved to fool the eye.

back and detail

The next piece was Larry Fuente's Game Fish. From a distance, it looks like a blue Marlin, but on closer inspection, it is made completely with plastic beads, ping pong balls, dice, dominoes, chess pieces, toys, and other found objects that relate to fun and games.  I had seen this piece in books that I have studied in art history and other art-related classes, but there is something magical about seeing it in person, up close, and to be able to study the details. 

What the Game Fish looks like from a distance.

Detail of the Game Fish

Drift

My final selection was Drift, by Matthias Pliessnig.  It is white oak and bamboo (26 x 96 x 35 in).  It is an amorphously shaped piece of furniture made by soaking strips of wood for several hours before putting them in a steam box. When the wood is pliable, it is removed and clamped into place within thirty seconds, after which it begins to cool and become rigid.

Working in the Woodshop

We all got started on our projects.
 
Step 1:  Use the joiner to make 2 sides flat and perpendicular to each other.
Step 2:  Use the planer to make the third side flat and perpendicular to one of the first 2 sides.
Step 3:  Use the table saw to cut the last side so it will be flat and perpendicular one of the other 3 sides.

Rough board with uneven sides.

This is the intimidating table saw. 

Tools and boards that are ready
to start becoming a table.

The Lumber Yard

On Monday, I stayed home to keep an eye on my dog, Fred, who was having health issues. He's old, but with antibiotics and a new special food, he's fine now.  I worked on my working/technical drawings. 

On Wednesday, I was back in class. I tweaked my drawings and worked on my cut list.  A cut list is a helpful tool. Basically it is a matrix that outlines every piece, with a description, it's dimensions, materials, and quantity.

Today (Saturday), our class met at Exotic Lumber.  Neil Gager, the owner,  gave us a tour and explained how to figure the cost.  That took a bit of effort to wrap my mind around.  lenght x width x thickness = X.  Convert X to inches, divide by 144, then multiply that number by the price of a board foot to get the cost.  Neil was great and gave us a 10% student discount.  I selected soft maple and cherry for my project. 

different exotic boards.

this was awesome, and huge.  two branches from one tree that was about 5 feet across.  based on the rings, it had to be really old.  it would make a great table top, or headboard. 

Bridget and Kamisha trying to decide on the kind of wood they might use.

Neil cutting my boards so they will fit in my car.

Research: no images

This week, we went to the woodworking shop at the Foggybottom campus. The director of GWU's Health and Welfare gave us our safety orientation. He is a lifelong wood and metal worker. Next, Professor Takagi gave us a brief overview of the shop and different machines. He did a demo of the band saws and sanders (drum, belt, and circular). He made a push stick. It is a piece of wood with a cut out notch used to push wood through a table saw so that your fingers do not get near the blade. Then to practice, we each made our own push sticks. It was a little intimidating because it was hard to follow my line on the band saw. I was close, but I am sure with practice I will be closer, like I'd like to be for better accuracy and fit. On Wednesday, we were back in the studio working on our technical drawings. I only had Revit on my laptop and it is really designed more for the architecture of complete buildings rather than individual pieces of furniture. I figured that trying to make the component a family work better and it did, but I still have a lot to learn about how Revit works. When I got home, I did more reading about Revit families and will need to start my drawing again for it to display in 3D. I had removed my reference lines after using them, but Revit really needs them all to remain. On Thursday and Friday, I did quite a bit of reading and research about sharpening and honing systems so that I could hone my new Double Cherries (Twei Kirchen) chisels. My dad had always used oil stones but Professor Takagi uses waterstones. My dad was not a woodworker, but he still ties to keep my mom's kitchen knives sharp. Then there are diamond stones and now ceramic stones. What is the difference and what will work better for me? I bought a cheap duel oils stone from Home Depot (course on one side and fine on the other) and some oil to go with it. The oil keeps the particles suspended so that they do not clog the stone with particles. On Saturday, I went to Woodcraft, and Mike, helped me to decide. We looked at the oil stones and the waterstones. He said that it was six of one and half dozen of the other. I told him that my dad used oil stones, but my professor used water stones, and based on my experience (none), and the availability of my dad (living in Texas) and my professor, (here), I decided to go with the waterstones. I bought two combination stones; one with grits of 250 and 1,000, and the other of 1,000 and 6,000. I also purchased a nagura stone and a veritas honing guide. Some pricey purchases, but I am planning to be working with wood for the rest of my life. I can't believe I have put it off this long. When I took shop in the 8th grade, I knew I loved it and wanted to do a lot more of it. But I always thought I had to do other things or take more classes before I could do what my heart desired. I think I am still caught in that cycle, but am trying to follow my dreams more closely and not get distracted. Like the hero in Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, I need to stay true to my personal legend. When I got home from Woodcraft, I practiced sharpening and honing on my husband's set of Craftman's chisels. Next, I carefully added micro-bevels to my Double Cherries chisels. I was hoping to practice a loose-wedged mortise and tenon joint, but by then it was getting late and I needed to get ready to go to the Rhodeside Grille to watch UT beat Iowa State with the other DC Texas Exes. Texas won 37 to 14.

top 5 sketch ideas

We had to make drawings of our top five ideas and then choose the design that we want to complete.

From those, we selected the one for our final project.  The next step was to draw it full size to get a feel for the scale. 

This is the one that I adapted from the maple tree seed.  The legs are spirled to reflect the movement of the seed as it spins while floated to the ground--like a helicopter. The green sections would be inlay ribbons of stained glass.

This is the one I chose to pursue for my final project/  It has a hole cut in the top and a bowl or dish will fit into the hole.

Next we built chipboard scaled models.  I made my model at half scale (1/2" = 1'-0"). The actual table will be 36" high and 18" wide.

Today, we go to the woodworking shop for the first time. I can't wait. I've started buying my hand tools.

Furniture Design

It's been a long time.  So this post is going to bring you up to date with my Furniture Design class (Fall 2011).  It's a small class--only 8 of us.  Even before I applied to GWU, I knew I wanted to take this class.  It hasn't been offered in the past few years, so I did everything I could to be sure that I would get in.  Through some administrative glitches, the class was full and I didn't have a slot.  I was furious and heartbroken. So I registered for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Leadership).  Well, a few people dropped Furniture Design, and my name was at the top of the waiting list, so I got in!  Yea!

Our professor is the internationally award-winning product designer, Jonah Takagi.

We started by studying a random object and brainstorming words about our object.  Then again with a different object.  This was to loosen up our creativity and get us to generate so many ideas that we'd get stuck and then have to work past that to generate even more ideas. 

Next, we were assigned a current famous designer and give a presentation to the class.
My designer was Inga Sempe.

Then we created an inspiration board.
Mine was very tactile with lots of objects actually incorporated.

We sketched lots of ideas for a table, which will be our final project.

Then we selected our top 5 choices and are refining them to narrow it down to one. Below is one of my top 5. It was origninally an oval with a swooch and circle that I would inlay with mosaics. Professor Takagi suggested that I have a purpose or some connection to the shapes and that they shouldn't be random. This was good advice.  I had been thinking if I do make this table, I'd like it to be in maple.

That made me think about maple and it's leaves, bark, colors, and seeds. The seeds are the ones that fly like helicopters. So I took one seed and worked with it to create a shape for the table top and the mosaic inlay.

That's enough for now.  Check back in a few days or next week for more about my life as a GWU Interior Design grad student.

Finally, something to post

This semester has been very challenging for me. I just couldn't seem to get it together after the Christmas break. Anyway, spring break was wonderful. All mid-term projects were turned in before the break, so I could enjoy the time off without worries, knowing that I had done my best and what will be will be.

We went skiing at Alyeska, Alaska. It was awesome. Beautiful, sunny, super slopes and so relaxing. One of the best vacations ever.

This second half is going so much better. Here is the concept board for Residental Project 2.

The image of the shallow bowl and the key are my illustrations. I did them with prismacolor markers. The key also has some prismacolor pencils. Both were done on vellum.