Arch, I miss the musings...........................

Last night I had a rare opportunity to addend a museum opening for a
solo exhibition by Binh Pho. The exhibit is in Long Beach at the
Museum of Art. There were several notable turners there, a bunch of
collectors and other art patrons.

I drove to the exhibit with Ernest Grabbe and Don Derry. Ernest is a
woodturner and collector. Don is a professional turner who some of you
may know.

One of the very interesting things about Binh's work is that it tells
his personal story of escape from communist Viet Nam, recapture,
imprisonment, difficult ocean crossing and ultimate freedom in the USA.
Every one of his pieces tells a story of something outside of
woodturning -mostly his life's story.

On our drive home, Don made the comment that many artists seek and find
their inspiration in their art. In other words, the culture is
"inbred". Although a little bit of a cliche, he asked why rock and
roll music is about "sex, drugs and rock and roll"? His point is that
musicians are drawing on their life as musicians for their inspiration.

He noted that many woodturners are the same way. They find their
inspiration in other woodturning instead of their life, their
environment, their relationships, their work, or their faith. When we
look to other turners, our work emulates theirs or extrapolates from
theirs. When you look at Binh's work, you would be very hard pressed
to identify his woodturning influences. I would speculate he is
influenced by Frank Sudol, but that is all I can determine. Binh's
work is his own.

So the question becomes, where do I get my ideas, my spark, my
inspiration?

Joe Fleming - San Diego

Joe Fleming wrote:
Arch, I miss the musings...........................

Me too!

SNIP

So the question becomes, where do I get my ideas, my spark, my
inspiration?

Joe Fleming - San Diego

I am hoping that you are inviting comment, and that wasn't a rhetorical
question.

For me, I blow in the wind, and wherever it takes me, that is what I
make. I am not artist; but I have fun at the craft and craftsmanship.
But the other side of woodturning for me is this; I have a full
woodshop (as a general contractor) and I do more flatwork than I do
round. The round work is my release of my inner pottery self.

I have a really organic side and like to cook, bake bread, smoke meats
and all other kinds of food prep. I grow vegetables, many spices, hot
peppers, etc., that I use and do a lot of food prep and storage.

With that in mind, one year I went nuts and started making spoon,
spatulas, turners, and on and on that I could use in the kitchen. A
quick trip to the 'net revealed that there are many different kinds of
spoons and there are good spoons and not so good spoons. I always
thought if I could shovel with it, who cares? I rounded up a lot of my
old flat stock and laid out some spoon patterns and turned away to make
the shapes and handles I wanted, then hollowed them out with a hand
held burr. I enjoyed it so much I made about 25 or so in one season at
Christmas and kept some and gave some away. The best part was that
everyone that got a spoon as a gift thought it reminded them of an old
wooden spoon in "grandma's kitchen". Mission accomplished.

Last year I spent some good museum time while visiting relatives and
was fascinated by the oil lamps in the Egyptian and Viking/Norse
exhibits. I am not sure why - they were short, squatty, and were
designed with utility in mind. I came back to the lathe and sketched
out the patterns and then dug out some really rough crotches and turned
out some forms to hold oil lamps. I had a lot of fun with these as I
found some shapes for inspiration in different places, and I wound up
making a lot of them for me and mine. The ones I didn't like as much
as my favorites, I easily sold. I liked using the crotch wood as it
gave it a really "busy" look in the grain and I used mesquite so I
could leave some natural occlusions showing for accent.

I like ginger jars and Roman inspired vases. I don't know why. I like
the way they look and I like to turn them as well.

I enjoy things that are nice to look at, and feel good to use. I am
really most pleased when someone tells me that have gotten a lot of use
out of something I have made. One of my more artistic curly maple
bowls is nice, but soon forgotten in the display cabinet. But a good
utensil, lamp, bowl or set of drawer pulls is enjoyed every time it is
used.

And I would much rather have one of my large (13"!) bread spoons used
to pieces than sitting in a drawer somewhere or put in a display. I
was disappointed to see that some of the folks that bought my lamps
won't use them as they are afraid "something will happen to them".
They put them out on a table for display at certain occasions, but
won't burn them. The same with the spoons and turners. I want
people to use them - to me it is a connection to the past before we had
metal and plastic spoons and utensils. I personally like the feel of a
good, well made wooden utensil much more than my stainless steel stuff.


One lady I sold a couple of spoons to has a more country type motif in
her home, and she (only) displays the spoons I made her to a pattern
she picked. She never uses them and never will. But they are just
spoons...

As you can see, I am on a practical, useful jag right now, not much for
the artistic aspects. I appreciate it a great deal in others but not
for me at this time. I would be interested to see where others draw
their inspiration(s) and what they are turning.

Robert

The questions I wrestle with in my head revolve around where I get my
inspirations and selling my work.
Inspirations for me come from everyday things, tv, books, magazines.
the kind of extrapolating I think Mr. Flemming was refering to. I worry
about originality, and the concept that others put forward, "the wood
speaks to them" ****es me off. Michaelangelo made that popular, I
believe, and so goes the originality.

My turning is a result of my relaxation time, and I enjoy it when I
can. Pieces others let go for $10-20, full time professional turners
here, I wouldn't let go for anything less than $40. Wine stoppers to be
specific. Then I find myself in that spot, as a demand is created, then
a job/career is too. And the relaxing past time dies.

That is my musing and someday I will be able to come to terms with it
somehow.

Thanks for the comments - more are welcome!!

Joe


wrote:
The questions I wrestle with in my head revolve around where I get my
inspirations and selling my work.
Inspirations for me come from everyday things, tv, books, magazines.
the kind of extrapolating I think Mr. Flemming was refering to. I worry
about originality, and the concept that others put forward, "the wood
speaks to them" ****es me off. Michaelangelo made that popular, I
believe, and so goes the originality.

My turning is a result of my relaxation time, and I enjoy it when I
can. Pieces others let go for $10-20, full time professional turners
here, I wouldn't let go for anything less than $40. Wine stoppers to be
specific. Then I find myself in that spot, as a demand is created, then
a job/career is too. And the relaxing past time dies.

That is my musing and someday I will be able to come to terms with it
somehow.

wrote in news:1165658107.041661.58690@
16g2000cwy.googlegroups.com:


Joe Fleming wrote:
Arch, I miss the musings...........................

Me too!

SNIP

So the question becomes, where do I get my ideas, my spark, my
inspiration?

Joe Fleming - San Diego

I am hoping that you are inviting comment, and that wasn't a rhetorical
question.

For me, I blow in the wind, and wherever it takes me, that is what I
make. I am not artist; but I have fun at the craft and craftsmanship.
But the other side of woodturning for me is this; I have a full
woodshop (as a general contractor) and I do more flatwork than I do
round. The round work is my release of my inner pottery self.

I have a really organic side and like to cook, bake bread, smoke meats
and all other kinds of food prep. I grow vegetables, many spices, hot
peppers, etc., that I use and do a lot of food prep and storage.

With that in mind, one year I went nuts and started making spoon,
spatulas, turners, and on and on that I could use in the kitchen. A
quick trip to the 'net revealed that there are many different kinds of
spoons and there are good spoons and not so good spoons. I always
thought if I could shovel with it, who cares? I rounded up a lot of my
old flat stock and laid out some spoon patterns and turned away to make
the shapes and handles I wanted, then hollowed them out with a hand
held burr. I enjoyed it so much I made about 25 or so in one season at
Christmas and kept some and gave some away. The best part was that
everyone that got a spoon as a gift thought it reminded them of an old
wooden spoon in "grandma's kitchen". Mission accomplished.

Last year I spent some good museum time while visiting relatives and
was fascinated by the oil lamps in the Egyptian and Viking/Norse
exhibits. I am not sure why - they were short, squatty, and were
designed with utility in mind. I came back to the lathe and sketched
out the patterns and then dug out some really rough crotches and turned
out some forms to hold oil lamps. I had a lot of fun with these as I
found some shapes for inspiration in different places, and I wound up
making a lot of them for me and mine. The ones I didn't like as much
as my favorites, I easily sold. I liked using the crotch wood as it
gave it a really "busy" look in the grain and I used mesquite so I
could leave some natural occlusions showing for accent.

I like ginger jars and Roman inspired vases. I don't know why. I like
the way they look and I like to turn them as well.

I enjoy things that are nice to look at, and feel good to use. I am
really most pleased when someone tells me that have gotten a lot of use
out of something I have made. One of my more artistic curly maple
bowls is nice, but soon forgotten in the display cabinet. But a good
utensil, lamp, bowl or set of drawer pulls is enjoyed every time it is
used.

And I would much rather have one of my large (13"!) bread spoons used
to pieces than sitting in a drawer somewhere or put in a display. I
was disappointed to see that some of the folks that bought my lamps
won't use them as they are afraid "something will happen to them".
They put them out on a table for display at certain occasions, but
won't burn them. The same with the spoons and turners. I want
people to use them - to me it is a connection to the past before we had
metal and plastic spoons and utensils. I personally like the feel of a
good, well made wooden utensil much more than my stainless steel stuff.


One lady I sold a couple of spoons to has a more country type motif in
her home, and she (only) displays the spoons I made her to a pattern
she picked. She never uses them and never will. But they are just
spoons...

As you can see, I am on a practical, useful jag right now, not much for
the artistic aspects. I appreciate it a great deal in others but not
for me at this time. I would be interested to see where others draw
their inspiration(s) and what they are turning.

Robert



Robert,
Like you I don't consider myself an artist. I would not ever consider
myself an artist. Maybe someday, others will consider me an artist (other
than bs). I have a feeling that others will consider you an artist long
before me. I share most of your interests; cooking, smoking (what Texan
can't do a brisket) etc. I'm also a brewer of excellent beers and ales. I
brew to my taste so I can be an artist in my own mind. I've been playing
with a home brewed pot 'still'. Maybe I'll be known as the best
'stiller' of apple brandy in the Catkills after the 'revenuerers' shoot
my useless ass.
Regards

On 8 Dec 2006 20:45:15 -0800, "Joe Fleming" wrote:

So the question becomes, where do I get my ideas, my spark, my
inspiration?

Well, if I were to answer this question honestly, I think I'd have to
say most of my inspiration comes from industry. While a lot of folks
would find that dull, there are a lot of very nice designs that
develop almost accidently during the course of creating a product.
The function determines the form, and while the end result may be
something like a simple box, there are often stages of the process
where the materials look like something different altogether,

On the other side, I occasionally take a notebook along when I go out
looking for wood, and sketch interesting shapes I see out in the
forest. But that doesn't happen as often as I might like, with all
the irons I've got in the fire, and it'd be a little disingenous to
say that that's my main inspiration.

Back to the original musing, I actually try to avoid looking at other
turnings much of the time, so that I can make my own things, and am
not intentionally or unintentionally copying another person's work.
That being said, there are only so many basic shapes, so everything is
bound to look a little like something else if you look hard enough.

"Joe Fleming" wrote...

Thanks for the comments - more are welcome!!


Joe:

I found you musing interesting as I was thinking about something similar the
same day, and perhaps you will find this perspective interesting as well.

On the program Radio Times, Marti was interviewing an author/scientist who
had just written a book about the differences between female & male brains,
and who mentioned there is still resistance among those who say all
differences are learned. Also she mentioned that they were speaking in
generalities anyway because there were such wide difference in physical
make-up of the brain between individuals of the same gender.

IMO, and I believe the most widely accepted opinion, is that we are all a
combination of innate abilities and tendencies and learned behavior.

What this all got me to thinking was about how differences in our innate
brain abilities would affect our woodworking skills and directions and
tendencies.

For example, my number skills are very poor, and this clearly affects the
way I approach woodworking. On the other hand, my three-dimensional
reasoning is very good. So working with the metric system is very difficult
for me, and no easier or more intuitive than hex or octal numbering systems.
Fractions OTH are a cinch, since they represent parts of the whole - halves,
quarters, eights, etc.

So when I think of what inherent abilities I bring to woodworking that
enables me to succeed, I look at three-dimensional reasoning, creativity,
and reading comprehension as about it, but I imagine others would have
different strengths and weaknesses.

When I turn, I pick a piece of wood I think will look nice when turned, and
start turning. I'm not trying to express anything, or make a statement, or
explore new ground, or impress anybody, but I can clearly see in my minds
eye a form that I think is pretty, and have no trouble translating that form
to the piece. More experienced and far better turners than myself have seen
my turnings and made generous and favorable comments on the shapes and
wonder where I got the inspiration, but really it's just "extemporaneous, of
my mother wit".

So I would say that being "above-average" in creative ability and in
three-dimensional resoning is what informs my work. (Less this sounds
pompous, let me just add that the areas in which my brain is far below
average outweigh my few talents.)

So I wonder what abilities people bring to their work that helps to shape it
and make it unique?

--
Timothy Juvenal
www.tjwoodworking.com

Thanks Joe and Robert for your kind reassurances that there is a place
here for idly reflecting on things that may or may not directly involve
working at our lathes.
Glad you two and others took up the 'burden'. Your musing is great,
as are the responses. Keep em coming, folks.


I believe there is some merit in the 'analysis--paralysis' theory of
personal turned wood design. Maybe like life "the unexamined design
isn't worth turning", but in my case I hope neither is true. I suppose
that one definition of art might be that it is communication without
language. That may be so, but timber only talks to me when I hurt it
with a wrong cut. The turnings I make out of it rarely do much more than
mumble and grunt. My inspiration, if you can call it that, mostly comes
after the blank starts spinning.

Regardless, I enjoy turning wood and take pleasure in holding and
looking at some of my work, but it is the icing on the cake when for
whatever reason, someone else seems to like something I made. I like to
think that I don't care, but I do.


Turn to Safety, Arch
Fortiter


http://community.webtv.net/almcc/MacsMusings

So the question becomes, where do I get my ideas, my spark, my
inspiration?

Joe, I think one of the misconceptions that I have read on RCW many times is
that art is exclusive of woodturning and vice versa. You can see it in your
subject line, too. As if you can have one of the other, but not both. To me, a
more interesting musing would be Art AND Woodturning.

Dan

On Sun, 10 Dec 2006 14:58:31 GMT, "Juvenal"
wrote:

So I would say that being "above-average" in creative ability and in
three-dimensional resoning is what informs my work. (Less this sounds
pompous, let me just add that the areas in which my brain is far below
average outweigh my few talents.)

So I wonder what abilities people bring to their work that helps to shape it
and make it unique?

Here's the flip side of that coin... I don't know that I am
particularly creative in the way in which it seems to be used in the
context of "art". While I am pretty good at three-dimentional
reasoning, it is more like visualizing coordinates on a grid and
finding points than anything viseral. I prefer parabolic shapes
that could be defined by a clean equation to organic shapes- though
those two are less exclusive than they appear at first, and try to
keep things clean and neat rather than embellish them- the credit for
embellishment goes more to the grain in the wood than to myself in
most cases!

But I'd think I'm actually fairly creative if you just look at the
word, and forget the context that art has put it in. I make a lot of
original objects that are generally attractive, and always functional.
If that isn't creation, I'm not sure what is!

There is certainly room for all approaches in any hobby work like
woodturning or more general woodworking- after all, that's why we have
things like Queen Anne chairs for some folks, and Morris chairs for
others.

Dan,

Great observation. Another way to phrase it is: "I turn to turn", vs
"I turn to create art." One could argue that Binh Pho is simply
creating a three dimensional canvas for his painting and piercing.
Minimally, yes, but the turning form itself contribute to the art piece
as a whole.

I find that I get a lot of satisfaction from turning to turn. I get
constipated trying to force out "art". I will keep trying though,
because I see so much beauty in the woodturned art I get to experience.
Probably some ego in there too. :-)

Joe


Dan Bollinger wrote:
So the question becomes, where do I get my ideas, my spark, my
inspiration?

Joe, I think one of the misconceptions that I have read on RCW many times is
that art is exclusive of woodturning and vice versa. You can see it in your
subject line, too. As if you can have one of the other, but not both. To me, a
more interesting musing would be Art AND Woodturning.

Dan

"Joe Fleming" wrote in message
ps.com...
Dan,

Great observation. Another way to phrase it is: "I turn to turn", vs
"I turn to create art." One could argue that Binh Pho is simply
creating a three dimensional canvas for his painting and piercing.
Minimally, yes, but the turning form itself contribute to the art piece
as a whole.

I find that I get a lot of satisfaction from turning to turn. I get
constipated trying to force out "art". I will keep trying though,
because I see so much beauty in the woodturned art I get to experience.
Probably some ego in there too. :-)

There are the pyrographers, cut and paste, paint and shine and all kinds of
types who create art out of their turnings. Some even draw plans.

I discover what's there while I'm turning.

If it's what I saw, well and good.

One of the things I noticed in our recent trip to Thailand is that the
turning all seemed to be done for the purpose of being a "canvas". It was
lacquered, inlaid, painted and who knows what else, but little if any was
left as "wood." One of the reasons I got a drum to bring home was it was
turned and unfinished except for some staining and the drum fittings.

--
God bless and safe turning
Darrell Feltmate
Truro, NS Canada
www.aroundthewoods.com

There are the pyrographers, cut and paste, paint and shine and all kinds of
types who create art out of their turnings. Some even draw plans.

Here is another example that makes my previous point. George's comment above
implies that art is something you do after turning, that the turning can't be,
or is void of, art. Another way of saying this is, "A turning isn't art, but
might be the canvas for art." I disagree.

I think I am correct in saying that the premise behind The Wood Turning Center
is that turnings CAN be art sometimes, even without the post-processing George
mentions. http://www.woodturningcenter.org/

Dan

"Dan Bollinger" wrote in message
news
There are the pyrographers, cut and paste, paint and shine and all kinds
of types who create art out of their turnings. Some even draw plans.

Here is another example that makes my previous point. George's comment
above implies that art is something you do after turning, that the turning
can't be, or is void of, art. Another way of saying this is, "A turning
isn't art, but might be the canvas for art." I disagree.

I think I am correct in saying that the premise behind The Wood Turning
Center is that turnings CAN be art sometimes, even without the
post-processing George mentions. http://www.woodturningcenter.org/


Nope, not implied or agreed. People can create or discover. I merely
stated that I haven't the desire or ability to create.

Dan Bollinger wrote:

Here is another example that makes my previous point. George's comment
above implies that art is something you do after turning, that the
turning can't be, or is void of, art. Another way of saying this is, "A
turning isn't art, but might be the canvas for art." I disagree.

As do I. But that said, it is a serious error, I think, to try to define
art in the sense of requiring that it meet specification 'x' or 'y'.

Art is an emotional experience and those who wish to confine that are no
better than those who would limit our faith in a supreme being to narrow
corridors of thought or our political conscience to a single perspective.

If I turn a piece of wood and even in its desired shape 'something' is
missing, yer durned tootin' I'm going to give some thought to painting,
burning, sculpting, inlays and so on. I'm still new at the game ... just
now getting to the point where tool choice and presentation doesn't
require much thought so I am quite happy to make a bowl that doesn't
require much sanding and that has had all of its problems answered as
they were encountered.

But I have a 12" od by about 3" deep box elder bowl with only a twinge
of the red and a very small amount of curliness that is just calling for
a dark green leaf just below and to the left of the red knot showing on
the outside. Maybe two leaves. In fact, maybe it would look best with
all of the outside painted except for that little shot of red. Hmmm ...
once the pump gets primed ... ideas just flow.

Here's the point: as it sits, that is a very ordinary sort of bowl. I
can sell it as a bowl for maybe $25-$35 or I can say "I don't have much
to lose ... let's see what I can REALLY do with this thing."

I'll let you guys know how it all turns out. I just took it off the
lathe tonight and hit it with its first coat of tung oil. It won't get
any leaves at all for quite some time. When it does ... who knows what
it'll end up looking like? If push comes to shove, there's always the
backyard fire pit on cool nights in the spring.

When -I- look at something my own hands have created and I am still
moved to say "wow" ... that's art.

Bill

--
We should all be obliged to appear before a board every five years and
justify our existence...on pain of liquidation.

George Bernard Shaw (1856 - 1950)


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Bill in Detroit wrote:

SNIP

Here's the point: as it sits, that is a very ordinary sort of bowl. I
can sell it as a bowl for maybe $25-$35 or I can say "I don't have much
to lose ... let's see what I can REALLY do with this thing."

I'll let you guys know how it all turns out. I just took it off the
lathe tonight and hit it with its first coat of tung oil. It won't get
any leaves at all for quite some time. When it does ... who knows what
it'll end up looking like? If push comes to shove, there's always the
backyard fire pit on cool nights in the spring.

When -I- look at something my own hands have created and I am still
moved to say "wow" ... that's art.

Bill

Bill, all I can say is "why not?" I *NEVER* listen to the group
mentality of what the "art" of woodturning is supposed to be. Like
Joe, I like to get out and just use the lathe. I used to have a
wonderful railroad game that had a mode called "sandbox". All you did
was build trains, stations, and work the locomotives. It was a joy all
in iteself. You competed against no one, not even the computer. You
played just for the fun of it.

I think if you want to burn, pierce, shoot (tip of the hat to Phil
Brennion), paint, stain, dye, texture, cut, stencil, or any other thing
you want to do with your work you should. And I don't think you should
have another thought about it. Even if you are a serious turner, you
should have fun with this and do as you please; and experimentation is
certainly part of having fun and learning this craft.

Some turners are certainly very gifted and imaginative, and they turn
out some really wonderful projects. But I have mentioned this before
here, that seemingly the most talented of those are not hung up with
"what is a proper wall thickness" or "the rule of thirds" or accepted
finishes, etc.
For the most part they are pretty open minded and actually seem enjoy
hearing about alternative methods to an end.

For most of us here, this represents a hobby. (My definition of hobby:
If you don't make enough money doing it to support you and your
household responisbilities day in and day out, then it is a hobby.)
Hobbies should be fun. This is a great hobby to have since you can
share your results with others. And it has been my experience that
with something like you bowl, if you paint your leaves or anything else
in it someone will absolutely love it. Of course that might depend on
your painting skills, but you get the point.

Since this is your hobby, you should do whatever makes your heart
happy. You should paint that rascal and post the pics. I'll be it
would be great. You could even paint some green miseltoe leaves on it
and give it as a Christmas gift!

Follow your ideas...

Robert

I think I am correct in saying that the premise behind The Wood Turning
Center is that turnings CAN be art sometimes, even without the
post-processing George mentions. http://www.woodturningcenter.org/


Nope, not implied or agreed. People can create or discover. I merely
stated that I haven't the desire or ability to create.

George, I didn't mean you implied it. I meant your statement did. Dan

Another way of saying this is, "A
turning isn't art, but might be the canvas for art." I disagree.

As do I. But that said, it is a serious error, I think, to try to define art
in the sense of requiring that it meet specification 'x' or 'y'.

I wasn't defining it as this or that. There is an old saying in the art biz: A
person who makes something is the only one who can call it 'art.' The rest of
us just get to say how well he/she succeeded.

Dan

"Dan Bollinger" wrote in message
...
I think I am correct in saying that the premise behind The Wood Turning
Center is that turnings CAN be art sometimes, even without the
post-processing George mentions. http://www.woodturningcenter.org/


Nope, not implied or agreed. People can create or discover. I merely
stated that I haven't the desire or ability to create.

George, I didn't mean you implied it. I meant your statement did. Dan

Well, now you know that what you read and stated is not what I wrote.

As I said, I approach a piece of wood as a piece of wood, with only a
general idea of what may emerge. I turn and discover, without formal plans,
seldom embellish or modify other than shape. I don't have the capability,
and only envy for those who do.

What someone else sees in a piece I turn, or a sentence I write can
obviously be much different.

Joe Fleming wrote:

Arch, I miss the musings...........................

snip

He noted that many woodturners are the same way. They find their
inspiration in other woodturning instead of their life, their
environment, their relationships, their work, or their faith. When we
look to other turners, our work emulates theirs or extrapolates from
theirs. When you look at Binh's work, you would be very hard pressed
to identify his woodturning influences. I would speculate he is
influenced by Frank Sudol, but that is all I can determine. Binh's
work is his own.

So the question becomes, where do I get my ideas, my spark, my
inspiration?

Joe Fleming - San Diego

We surrounded by ideas, sparks, inspirations. They're
EVERYWHERE! Sometimes they're like pale, distant
stars that you can't see if you look right at them. That's
because our eyes are set up with different specialized
areas - one area for details and color but not as sensitive
to light as our "off center" field of vision. Our brains are
like that - only with more specialized areas. The trick
is getting the "idea, spark, inspiration" to the right area
of the brain that can use them.

Though some call it The Creative Process, I believe it's more
like selective synthesis - combining things that already exist
in ways that they've not been combined before and sometimes
exploiting some unusual feature or characteristic of one or
more of those elements/bits and pieces. "Seeing" the new
combination may be why we call people who are really good
at it "visonaries". Everyone has the ability, to a greater or
lesser degree. Listen to a kid describe something and it's
clear that we all have the mental capability. Schools, jobs,
responsibilities often cause us to forget just how amazing
the human brain is amongst all the noise of daily life.

There are some "tricks" to this process, some obvious once
you're made aware of them, some discovered randomly, but
consciously noted when that occurs.

One of these "tricks" is to see what's actually there as opposed
to what your mind wants to impose on what you're seeing. The
classic example of this trick in drawing is to have the subject
being drawn oriented in a different way - a picture of a vase,
face or landscape turned upside down. The "drawer" tends to
make lines representing what they see rather than what they
think a vase, face or landscape is supposed to look like. Even
novice "drawers" who are sure they can't "draw" surprise them-
selves with how well they can, in fact, draw. Remove or reduce
as many preconceived ideas as possible and surprising nice
things happen.

Here's another "trick" I just learned from watching the two
hour vidieo "Bowl Turning with Del Stubbs" (great tape with
lots and lots and lots of good information and great camera
work, along with good running commentary by Mr. Stubbs -
Taunton Books & Videos - ISBN 0-918804-36-1, about $20 US).
Drawing a bowl shape is somewhat difficult - doinng half the
profile is tricky. Doing the whole symetric profile is where
most folks have trouble.

Try this.

Get a big piece of paper and a felt tip.

Without thinking about it too much, if at all, draw a bunch
of sweeping, curving lines and squiggles all over hell.

Get a rectandular mirror about a foot square (stop by a glass
and mirror shop and pick up one of their cut offs)

Hold that mirror about square to the surface of the paper
with all the felt tip penned lines
Look at about 45 degrees to the paper and the mirror,
seeing both the line(s) on the paper and their reflection
in the mirror.

Amazing - you'll see more symetric bolw ideas than you can
shake a stick at.

Want taller, vase ideas? Lean the mirror towards you to
create narrower shapes.

Want shallow bowl or platter ideas? Lean the mirror away
from you.

Move the mirror around the page and more shapes appear!

Being shown this little "trick" made the $20 investment in
Del Stubbs tape worth it - the information in the other
115 minutes was essentially free. If you want the rest
of the valuable information in this tape you're going to
have to make your own investment, either in time at the
library, or out of pocket dollars.

Trick # 4876

Expose yourself to as many shapes and images of shapes
as you have time for - and not just turned wooden shapes.
Doesn't even have to be a shape of the type of thing
you're looking for. You might find a nice set of lines on
a car or motorcycle in the parking lot of the grocery
store/super market, in a picture in a National Geographics
magazine in the doctor's waiting room.

Hell, every time I leave my dontist's office (no, that's not
a spelling error of "dentists". With specialization comes
new titles and "dontists" are very specialized - and expensive.
If you haven't gotten to endo-dontists, prosthyio-dontists and
perio-dontists you've either flossed regularly or haven't
gritted your teeth at work enough) - back to the sentence
- I walk over to a big freakin' eucalyptus tree on the edge
of the parking lot and study where a badly pruned branch
has regenerated into two very large, very heavy, side
by side, almost vertical branches. The weight of the
branches has created a massive upside down shoulder
at the trunk of the tree - the lower part wrinkled all
to hell and bulging out like The Rock - on steroids - trying
and barely succeeding to not be crushed or wripped apart
by all the weight it's supporting (compression wood). And,
as I look at that joint I think about how the wood above it
at the trunk is being stretched trying to hold up the
heavy branches (tension wood). I just know there's
a pony in all that horse**** - or rather some really
interesting grain figure in that part of the tree. If and
when it has to come off or the tree has to come down
I WANT THAT PIECE!

Go to a plant nursery and look at the leaves of things -
irisis and other bulb plants create nice curving lines.

If you rake leaves, or your neighbor does, take a little
time to check out lines in the outline of some leaves,
or the vein patterns in them. Might be a great idea
lurking there, waiting to be discovered - and used - or
not.

Pick up a copy of Playbor - not for the articles and
the interview, but for the pictures! Use that part of
your body ABOVE your waist line - your brain to
look for nice shapes - THAT MIGHT BE AN IDEA FOR
A BOWL OR VASE OR PLATTER. (Supposedly, the shape
of what we all recognize as a champagne glass was
inspired by one of Marie Antoinette's breasts. How
an artist could let that be known without losing his
head is not clear though)

There are shapes and forms all around you. Take some
time to really look and you'll be surprised how many ideas
will come to you - if you make just a little effort.

Another "trick" is to use what initially seems like a negative /
barrier and use it rather than avoid it. Good case in point,
the piece currently on the lathe, a 3 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 7" almost
square
blank - a couple of inches of one corner being triangular
waney/wainy (the outside of the log, below the cambian layer
that's lumpy, bumpy and, in this case, almost black) "imperfection".
I'm on a "turned lidded boxes" jag - Christmas presents for
family and friends.

As I started roughing the "imperfect square" to round, working
from the ends towards the middle, I noticed that the triangular
"imperfection" was interesting so I tried to save some of it.
It soon came to me that my buddy's son, a volley ball junior
olympian, was recovering form a shoulder injury that jeapordized
his college scholarship, to say nothing of his passion for the
sport. Blank with a potentially bad "shoulder" - volley ball
nut . . . hmmm. Didn't take much to start changing the piece
to imply a torso - hips to shoulders to neck - with a shoulder
that wasn't quite "normal" - but worked.

A potential problem worked around to become a feature - a
trick most woodworkers develop over time - That's not a screw
up - it's a FEATURE! or How do a use this screw up by changing
my original design idea? I'm certain the symbolism in this
piece won't be lost on Sam and I know he'll appreciate the piece
more than he would if I'd done a more traditional lidded box for
him.

Here's another "inspiration" trick - take off your glasses
or, if you don't wear glasses, just squint and look at things.
This will reduce the distractions of details, leaving just
the big feature(s) - lighter/darker, general size and shape,
and make the outline of things more apparent with fewer
adjacent distractions. Don't look for anything specificly
- just look. Things will get into your subconscious and
sometimes pop out when triggered by sometgubg else -
like a chunk of wood, or picking up a gouge or chisel.

Get your ego to go on vacation and get out of the way
of the rest of you and your abilities. "I , Me, My/Mine"
have a tendency to be risk aversion specialists. If
I don't try - then I can't FAIL! (oh fate worse than death).
But if you take risks and fail, assuming it's not in fact
a fatal failure, the world doesn't end, you don't die and
most of the time, your learn something more valuable
than if you'd succeeded the first time.

Had enough?

charlie b

On Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:41:58 -0800, charlie b
wrote:

There are some "tricks" to this process, some obvious once
you're made aware of them, some discovered randomly, but
consciously noted when that occurs.

I don't know that it's a "trick", but I try to make sure that every
new thing that I am exposed to goes through the same intentional
five-stage process. First, I observe it as accurately as possible,
using measuring devices where appropriate, senses alone when not.
Second, I identify it- again, as accurately as possible. After
identification, I interpret it's meaning or function as well as I can.
Then I conceptualize it by turning the object or idea into a more
generalized archetype that can describe most of the variations of the
given object or idea that run in the same vein. And finally,
integrate it with my total worldview- aiming for something similar to
a taxonomy, with broad general systems branching into smaller and more
specialized areas of knowledge with mental cross-references.

Sounds complicated, maybe, but it's a good way of making sure that you
don't lose information, and can actually remember it when needed. I
came up with it by thinking about thought for a while, and it seems to
work pretty well- I've got whole lot of stuff in my head, useful or
not, that I can call up pretty quickly. Whether the process is
applied to everything, technical information only, or aestetic
concepts, it works pretty well.

Get your ego to go on vacation and get out of the way
of the rest of you and your abilities. "I , Me, My/Mine"
have a tendency to be risk aversion specialists. If
I don't try - then I can't FAIL! (oh fate worse than death).
But if you take risks and fail, assuming it's not in fact
a fatal failure, the world doesn't end, you don't die and
most of the time, your learn something more valuable
than if you'd succeeded the first time.

Truer words were rarely said. It took me a while to understand that
concept, but now I plan on failing the first few attempts at any new
thing, and it's very liberating when it comes to contemplating any
undertaking. Very few things go according to plan when you're doing
them for the first time- but if you understand that, and are willing
to fail, you can do just about anything. Sometimes you get it right
the first time out, but then that's just an extra bonus.

Joe, this is an extremely interesting thread that you started, albeit
discussed often. I was going to respond but Robert (nailshooter) keeps
expressing my opinion before I can! : )

I'm with you and Robert on every point. Turn for fun. If a piece
begs to be held, fondled and or used, it's the BEST art anyone can ask
for.

I totally agree that inspiration comes to different people in different
ways because of their brain (good with math, good with hand skills),
environment (raised with artwork, farm, mechanical), past memories (old
spoons, old bowls) or training (art school, retired engineer). When I
look at a piece of wood, I see a piece of wood that would be fun to
turn.

From Binh Pho to Richard Raffan, from Ron Flemming to Mike Mahoney, art
abounds and inspiration flows like Niagra Falls.

It's all be done before, we just can't copy that good and thus create
individual style.

Enjoy (key word)

Ruth
http://www.torne-lignum.com


wrote:
Bill in Detroit wrote:

SNIP

Here's the point: as it sits, that is a very ordinary sort of bowl. I
can sell it as a bowl for maybe $25-$35 or I can say "I don't have much
to lose ... let's see what I can REALLY do with this thing."

I'll let you guys know how it all turns out. I just took it off the
lathe tonight and hit it with its first coat of tung oil. It won't get
any leaves at all for quite some time. When it does ... who knows what
it'll end up looking like? If push comes to shove, there's always the
backyard fire pit on cool nights in the spring.

When -I- look at something my own hands have created and I am still
moved to say "wow" ... that's art.

Bill

Bill, all I can say is "why not?" I *NEVER* listen to the group
mentality of what the "art" of woodturning is supposed to be. Like
Joe, I like to get out and just use the lathe. I used to have a
wonderful railroad game that had a mode called "sandbox". All you did
was build trains, stations, and work the locomotives. It was a joy all
in iteself. You competed against no one, not even the computer. You
played just for the fun of it.

I think if you want to burn, pierce, shoot (tip of the hat to Phil
Brennion), paint, stain, dye, texture, cut, stencil, or any other thing
you want to do with your work you should. And I don't think you should
have another thought about it. Even if you are a serious turner, you
should have fun with this and do as you please; and experimentation is
certainly part of having fun and learning this craft.

Some turners are certainly very gifted and imaginative, and they turn
out some really wonderful projects. But I have mentioned this before
here, that seemingly the most talented of those are not hung up with
"what is a proper wall thickness" or "the rule of thirds" or accepted
finishes, etc.
For the most part they are pretty open minded and actually seem enjoy
hearing about alternative methods to an end.

For most of us here, this represents a hobby. (My definition of hobby:
If you don't make enough money doing it to support you and your
household responisbilities day in and day out, then it is a hobby.)
Hobbies should be fun. This is a great hobby to have since you can
share your results with others. And it has been my experience that
with something like you bowl, if you paint your leaves or anything else
in it someone will absolutely love it. Of course that might depend on
your painting skills, but you get the point.

Since this is your hobby, you should do whatever makes your heart
happy. You should paint that rascal and post the pics. I'll be it
would be great. You could even paint some green miseltoe leaves on it
and give it as a Christmas gift!

Follow your ideas...

Robert

Hi Ruth

Ruth are you holding the same piece of wood I do ????

It must be.

Have fun and take care

Leo Van Der Loo

http://homepage.mac.com/l.vanderloo/PhotoAlbum30.html

wrote:
/ SNIP/
When I look at a piece of wood, I see a piece of wood that would be fun
to
turn.

It's all be done before, we just can't copy that good and thus create
individual style.

Enjoy (key word)

Ruth
http://www.torne-lignum.com