Meet the Maker: Another Q&A With Scott

This is another in an occasional series about the makers behind Foster's Beauties' artwork. 

Scott pretends to be asleep on the job while volunteering to work the lights for a skating exhibition in March 2013.

The most common question asked of an artist is where do they get their inspiration. It's a tough question to answer, but in this post, Scott does his best to explain how he decides what to do in his segmented woodturning pieces.

Q: Tell us about your design process when you're percolating an idea for a new segmented piece. 

A: Well, that varies a great deal!

Sometimes,  I want to reach out to add a new technique or direction.  Then it is a matter of considering a stepping stone or two, that will be challenging enough.  An old colleague of mine said, "You learn more from a near failure than a complete success," and that fits with how I try to take on a new skill or design element.  I aim for something that is just within what I think I can accomplish that reaches out along a path to what I want to be able to do.  I learn something from that process, and then reach some more.

If I'm trying to create a particular thing, or function, I consider the requirements and create a few sketches or ideas.  Some ideas will seem to do the job better than others.  With the luxury of time, I'll set some ideas aside and come back to them again later, or combine ideas that I didn't use in a prior project to push the next project along.

I usually percolate down to a sketch or two that seems to serve the function, and appeals to the artistic idea.  Sometimes the materials guide the next step too: I only have X board feet of this particular grain pattern so how can I optimize my use of that board?  I do the math, and solve some of the geometry.  A few more sketches usually evolve, and change the lines a little here or there to find a better way of expressing the feeling that starts to build around the piece as the design evolves.  I'll sort through how to build the pieces and the steps that I expect to need to take along the way in my mind.

Usually it comes down to a final scaled drawing with enough details that I can work from, and then finding a way to express that onto a single page that tells me about element sizes that I have to start cutting things into.  Sometimes I have to invent a way to hold the pieces, and end up building a jig.  Sometimes it involves the inventing of new steps when new possibilities show up while I'm part way through a project, or when problems (excuse me, design opportunities!) happen along the path.

That's all for this round. Be sure to check back to hear more from the makers here at Foster's Beauties! And check out examples of Scott's work in our Etsy store -- you might find the piece you just can't live without!

Cute Video

Ever wonder how a segmented bowl is created? This video by woodworker Frank Howarth shows the basic methods as well as entertaining with "magic" tools that appear to do all the work by themselves.

The music, btw, is his wife on cello. Clearly a talented couple!

Well worth the 8 minutes to watch the entire video (despite a slow start with the early cuts and glue-ups that aren't nearly as entertaining as the later ones)!

Stave Project Progress Report

Scott continues to make progress on his stave project. Last night, he got it fully assembled and glued together:

Isn't that grain gorgeous? Can't wait to see it when it has finish on it and the grain really pops!

Keep in mind that what you see on the very bottom and the disk at the top are not actually parts of the vessel.

Some alternate views so you can admire more of that beautiful wood grain on the Oregon black walnut:

This swirl is my favorite, I think ... although there really isn't a  view of this piece that isn't stunning.

Scott wasn't thrilled with my demands that he hold the piece. I guess the  clamp  plus the piece was pretty darn heavy. :)

On the Lathe

Scott called me down to the woodshop (aka garage) to check out his progress on the stave project. Luckily, I grabbed the camera on my way down so you can see what I saw!

I think it's so cool to see a piece while it's still on the lathe!

Here you can see the part above the ring of pear wood.

 

 

 

 

Scott points out where he had narrowed the lip to make it possible for the two pieces to join together.

And here's the other part ...

Scott demonstrates how the pieces fit together.

 Pretty cool, huh?

After Scott finishes shaping the two pieces inside and out, he will glue them together and do some final shaping before putting on finish. 

Stay tuned for more photos as the project progresses!

 

Working Wednesday: Working For The Weekend!

Things are really coming together for our craft show this Sunday!

Scott has finished the batch of Chai Variations that he's been working on for months. Here are the batch:

Yes, there's a black walnut/purpleheart swirl hiding among the Chai Variations!

Each one is unique, either with the combination of woods in the places Scott used them, or by the width of the stripes and/or triangles.

My favorite is one I'm calling Rhythms of the Heart, and Scott calls it a "second generation" Chai Variation:

Isn't it gorgeous?

Of course, it's hard to pick a favorite because I also love the blonde Chai Variations that Scott made:

Check out the original Charismatic Chai listing on Etsy for comparison. They're all pretty amazing, if you ask me!

Meanwhile, if you come to our craft show on Sunday in Lake Oswego, let me know you saw my blog posts and I'll give you a $1 or 10 percent discount, whichever is larger, on any purchase over $5!

Working Wednesday: Figuring Out Product Storage

I've been struggling to figure out how to best store my kanzashi dragonfly magnets.

Because the beaded-wire bodies are perched atop the fabric wings, I'm always a little worried about them. And their antennae and tail wire have a bad habit of getting twisted up together if I leave them in a jumble.

My latest batch of dragonflies, completed last week. See the set of wings without a body? I took a bunch of photos while these guys were in process, and somehow never noticed it, even though it was captured in all the pics. My 7-year-old, however, looked at them with a brief glance and said, "You missed one." :)

Scott's an engineer, and engineers are really good at figuring out design issues. So while I'd been imagining something along the lines of egg cartons (too small of cubbies) or Christmas ornament storage with little square places for each piece (way larger than I need so too much wasted space), Scott approached it from a completely different angle: The dragonflies are magnets, so if I store them in a metal container, they'll pretty much stay separate as long as I'm not juggling the container. Brilliant!

About 40 dragonflies fit into a huge holiday cookie tin that I saved years ago, sure that someday I'd find a use for it. Isn't it awesome?

I'm especially pleased that it will make it way easier to transport them to craft fairs with far less likelihood that I'll waste time having to untangle antennae during setup.

Meanwhile, Scott has been very busy in the woodshop, too. His batch of Chai Variations has officially entered finishing stages, as well as some other pieces. Check it out:

Aren't they gorgeous? And each of the eight Variations is different from the others, either in wood choices or tweaking dimensions of some of the design elements, like wider or narrower stripes.

And last but not least, apologies for last week's post's poor photographs. I was trying to get it posted before I headed out for a busy afternoon, and really should have figured out a better way to shoot my new mini-bolt organization system than shooting through the plastic containers. So here's a view inside the large box of felt:

It's so much easier to see at a glance what colors I have, both in regular felt and glitter felt!

Working Wednesday: Notes From The Woodshop

Scott is still hard at work at his collection of Chai Variations, but he took a few minutes to take some photos and write up what he's been up to lately.

As you may remember, this is Chai:

 And after Chai was in finishing, Scott decided that one was not enough, and launched into a series of variations on Chai, which are still in progress.

All of the rings for all eight segmented bowls in progress have been cut and assembled. Time to flatten the rings and bring those triangles down flush with the top of the ring. First is a trim on the tablesaw because some triangles came from different pieces of stock and have a different thickness. Then a trip through the drum sander to get the top and bottom of the rings really flat and ready for assembly.

After the trip through the drum sander, it's ready for the next stage of glue-up. As seen here, the bottom few rings are already glued together, and attached to a plate so I can hold it on the lathe. From the narrow ring just below the zig-zag feature upwards all of the rings are loose (only glued into a ring, not to each other yet). The top few get assembled by pairs, and sanded again after each step to make sure the top/bottom edges stay parallel. Then the pairs get glued together.

Once it reaches having just a top and bottom assembly, it's the real fun time, putting it on the lathe and making it have a more pleasing shape.

With eight bowls in progress, every horizontal surface gets pressed into use as a stacking and storage space while some others are being worked on. Here are 6 of the 8 sitting on an extenstion table of the bandsaw, with the bottom portion fully assembled and glued while the top rings are being assembled and readied for flattening. I love the colors and shapes.

 

Chai Is Complete Plus New Listings!

Way back in February, I think it was, I posted some photos of one of Scott's creations as a work in progress. Well, Chai is officially done, and has been added to our Etsy shop!

Chai in all its glory!

Chai takes its name from the 18 segments per layer. (For those who don't know, Hebrew letters have a numerical value, and the value for the word Chai, which means life, is 18.) In total, there are 343 pieces in Chai, including its solid Oregon black walnut base.

And this Chai is just the start of a series that Scott is already underway on that will feature the same design but will mix up the wood choices and placements so each one is unique.

Chai did present a bit of a challenge beyond the obvious skill needed to get those points to match up perfectly: The curve just below the neck was difficult to get finished as well as the rest of the piece. So we took Chai on a field trip to a Woodcraft store in search of a brush that would have a handle that allowed Scott to get the brush into that funny area. While a brush with a bendable or curved handle and natural bristles doesn't seem to exist, everyone in the store (both employees and customers!) wanted a closer look at Chai and was full of compliments about Scott's work! Now if only Scott's business cards had arrived in time so we could have passed them out ... Next time!

Meanwhile, Ellie, our 7.5-year-old daughter, has been actively lobbying to include some of her creations in Foster's Beauties. As those of you who know us personally already know, she is quite the artist. So our shop has a new section, Art by Ellianna, featuring some blank note cards with her artwork on the front. There are just two sets so far, but I'm sure there will be additional items added as time goes on, especially if she is successful in selling any of her work.

My fairy obsessed daughter wants to share her pixies!

The one on the left, done in oil pastels, reminds me of Van Gogh's Starry Nights, but I'm especially fond of the one on the right, which involved marbling on silk.

We'll have some big news to share towards the end of the month, so please check back!

The Next Step

If you were wondering what Scott was planning to do with those purpleheart disks we posted about previously, well, here's the first half:

Scott used a hose clamp to hold the ring together until it's glued.

It will be matched with another identical ring to form the feature ring in his latest project.

It's going to be stunning when it's done!

Chai: Work In Progress

Scott does love a challenge!

And he has lots of ideas. So when the Segmented Woodturners chapter of the American Association of Woodturners (man, that's a mouthful!) issued its winter challenge contest, it was just a matter of choosing the best design that he had percolating.

The challenge is all about a feature ring, and just a feature ring. This is what Scott entered:

The feature ring "features" bubinga, black walnut and maple.

 Pretty awesome, isn't it?

Not that Scott would ever stop with just a feature ring.

Here's a glimpse of the full vessel, but keep in mind it's still a work in progress, needing more sanding as well as finish, which will really make the wood grains pop.

For non-woodworkers: the bottom of the vessel still has the wood circle attached that is used to attach it to the chuck on the lathe. I think. Don't hold me to the details. ;-)

Isn't it gorgeous? For the curious, the ring around the top is wenge, the rest of the bowl (other than the feature ring) is black walnut and maple.

This view gives you a peek inside!

There are 343 pieces in 20 segmented layers, including the solid black walnut base and the top ring of wenge, comprising 18 pieces apiece, hence the piece's name, Chai. 

Scott is considering doing some similar pieces with different wood combinations. I'm pushing for purpleheart. What would you like to see?