Adaptation:

Bought some cool spalted Red Elm at our club meeting. As I started
Production of my idea of Form and Design I kept revealing cracks.

I'm still Adapting to the Opportunity.

TomNie


"Arch" wrote in message
...
This long and strong (strained) post is meant to be a can opener for
your ideas on things that seem to mean different things to different
turners. I don't particularly care if my take is valid or even makes
sense to you. To save rcw from M15, please post your views on invention,
form, design, production and promotion of new and unique tools and
turnings, whether handy or arty.


Engineers are used to dealing with these steps in bringing something new
to the market so they have a clear understanding, but as a woodturner I
confuse design with invention. I can confuse form with either invention
or design, but the difference is more often understood. Production and
promotion are usually distinct, but all of these steps depend on each
other. How do you see them?


Consider my story about a vase that an old time turner imagined. He
thought it up and figured out how to make it while keeping it useful and
attractive. He made it then showed it to his friends. He explained its
usefulness and extolled its beauty. Then he offered to sell some more
like it to everyone he had gotten excited about his unique vase.


The vase had pierced vertical walls that overlapped and partially
wrapped around each other. It had a narrow opening at the top and was
turned inside out. The shape was both eccentric and off axis. It was
true to the golden mean and the rule of thirds. It was sometimes used
to hold flowers and sometimes it held popcorn. At other times it was
proudly displayed as a work of art. Many buyers were persuaded to want
one and for a while those who could afford it bought one.
*****************************************

His imagination in conceiving this new vase was invention.


His thinking about how it could be made and made useful and pleasing to
the senses was design.


He bent some tool tips and bravely hollowed out the vase's insides
helped by a device to contain and control the tools. He did this thru a
small opening. He turned the outside in an eccentic off axis chuck Then
he cut it into quarters, rotated them and turned the object inside out.
He sliced the walls, boiled them and let the plastic edges overlap. He
drilled tiny holes all over the vase. He stuck a contrasting collar
around the opening and threaded it for screwing on a tasteful slender
finial. This was production, but it was enabled by design which was
fathered by invention.


Down thru the years some ambitious turners rediscovered the work of this
old timer and they upgraded and popularized many of his forgotten ideas.
This is promotion, altho some claim it's invention.


His useful and artistic vase almost didn't make it to market. Why?
Groups aren't usually pleased with new ideas, especially from a
newcomer. He had just joined a guild so his invention wasn't encouraged.
However it was received very well by the publlc. Why? He had learned
an important lesson for turners with new ideas. He had the self
confidence and stick-to-it-ness to pursue a fresh idea that others
criticized and disparaged. He knew not to copy and keep on making the
same ole vase that everybody was cranking out. And he knew enough to
tell it on the mountain with a self assured, loud and authoritative
voice.

This is common sense.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


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