Oil burnish finish brings out the rich lustre & tonal range of the walnut seats.
Here the latest pair of desk chairs are undergoing oil burnishing. About to have the 3rd coat applied.
High contrast with use of ash frame work.
Latest pair of desk chairs near completion.
Images show the pins & pegs in postion that lock back rests & arm posts into the seat.
So, assemblies of a pair of desk chairs featuring walnut seats. Nimm Kei & Loi patterns.
On the deck you can see ‘prep shaped’ steam bent arm bows, a pair of vaned legs and un shaped rear legs.
In the far background are 3 of the base setting blocks for the underhill project.
It’s all about the contour cut, or more accurately the layering of sculpting cuts like the contour lines of a map.
Here you can see see blanks firstly marked from a fine board of walnut, then stages of ‘layer cuts’ in order to arrive at the desired seat blank shape. It is 1 thing to draw a line, another to begin cutting away to reveal or ‘release’ the form within. In order to do this each layer cut is visualised then removed before being layered on to the next set of cuts until eventually – it looks really good. (Subjective, yes), however one instintively knows when something just, looks correct.
In the beginning it’s all about trees…
Here is a fine board of walnut at the workshop, which will become seat bases for the next pair of chairs in the creation schedule. The following images shows the start of all the components. In this instance, cleaving fine stems of good straight ash.
In order to bake the best cake, one must of course have the best ingredients!
Components of the 1st section of Underhill project begin to take shape.
These are 2 of the shuttered box cast concrete setting blocks and the gate post, swing unit & latch.
See earlier postings for the design drawings of Underhill. This projects shares visual comparisons & structure ideas with the Dragon’s Tale project & also an earlier seating installation – Sky Poles for the Royal Horticultural Society at Hyde Hall, Essex.
And here are a couple of images of completed Harlequin Nimms & Nimm Kei SJ.
BBC SE Today interview – Wood Awards Winner.
Interview with BBC SE today presenter/reporter Ian Palmer. Scheduled for broadcast on Friday 24th Ocober 08 – lunch time & evening programs.
‘revision Monday 27th – feature broadcast on Monday 27th not Friday’ – watch on BBC
Thanks to Shaun Vollenhoven for the images – Workplacement student from ‘University of the Arts London – Camberwell’
Shanun has been busy this week helping with the final oil burnishing & polishing of latest chair peices.
Here are the design drawings based upon the spatial arrangement of elements envisaged by Landscape Architects – Breeze. see earlier post. This forms part of the project for Underhill Childrens Centre – Barnet.
Work commencing on this project soon.
Notice that nice pink cushion! That’s not to sit on. These chairs need no cushion for comfort, that’s for kneeling on the floor during trim checking.
Harlequin Nimms and a Nimm Kei assembled.
Fine finishing on Harlequins & 1st coat oil during next week.
