Winter Blues, What To Do

Winter is here and the snows knee deep, so getting out on my little porch to do any woodworking is out of the question, so what to do, what to do. Well to my wife's displeasure it's that time of the year I drag down my many, many issues, of woodworking magazines to look at, I started collecting them in the 70's if that gives you some idea on how many I have.

This year instead of just daydreaming though each issue, I have been trying pick out similar designed projects, homemade tools, and shop ideas, that I like. I then scan them into my computer into their own files, and print them. I can then organize them into my notebook for a quick reference. I am mainly doing this as a design tool, while I have never really build any project out of a magazine, I do admit that I have borrowed some ideas to use on project I have built. One of these day I hope to just pull out the element like legs, aprons, doors, and turnings, that appeal to me and group them together on pages for a reference.

Why do this you ask, well for me when I am designing I get this sort of tunnel vision going and I block everything out except my original idea. This might be good or it might be stopping me from coming up with a better designed project. If I have a reference of ideas that I like, that fall into my skill set and tools, I think I can improve on the my design, experiment with some other ideas and open up my creativity a little, and these days my creativity needs a little kick in the pants.

Joey

I'm Learning to be a Better Furniture Designer (Intro)

This year I plan to learn more about the designers of the antique furniture that is so coveted by everyone, and try to figure what it is about their pieces beside there fine workmanship that draws people to them, and if they can help me learn to design better myself, I know this has been done by many people before me, but it has to be a personal journey for me to learn and not something that I read on a website. I hope that by studying the history of furniture designers it will give me a more refined eye for details, proportions, and balance. I also want to learn how to use material better as a feature in my designs, like more exposed joinery, veneers, and making it all flow together better. By taking this little trip through time I hope to get to a better understanding of their designs and a better appreciation for them.

Designing for me has never been the easiest or most enjoyable part of woodworking. That’s why I became a tradesman instead of a designer. I get ideas all the time for furniture, but I struggle to get them from the brain bucket to the bench. Honestly ideas always seem to come easier to me when the wood is in my hand and I am in the thick of the project, rather than when I am sitting at my desk trying to rack out the detail of the piece. A friend of mine who is an interior designer says I’m putting the cart in front of the horse, and if I take the time to improve my own designing abilities, and knowledge I will notice a huge improvement in my work. I really can’t argue with him, but I think for many of the craftsmen I know it is the natural process to design on the fly. The problem I think comes from the fact that design was not something that I was taught during my woodworking education.

To improve, I think I need to understand how I design. First I’ll need to pick the process apart into its elements, then pick each element apart to see what I can improve on, seek out the knowledge that will help me improve, implement what I am learning, test the new skills to see if they produce results, and then do the whole thing all over again until I am satisfied with my designing skills.

Right now this is how I would design a normal small piece of furniture

1, Get an idea
2, Draw many sketches until I have something I like (brainstorming)
3, Make a shop drawing (without details) 3 view, and prospective
4, Make a cut list
5, Make a story stick and full size patterns if it is a piece that I plan on reproducing.

I always fine that I will start getting ideas about the details as the piece starts going together, but this sometimes make me wish that I would have done one or more things different at the start like used a different style of leg or wood type, an by doing so would of taken a nice piece to great piece.

So let the journey begin, first stop England, to get to know Thomas Chippendale, which I will talk about in my next design blog

Joey

Information Overload

The other day I pick up some wood working magazines at a yard sale for $ 10.00, there was 167 magazines to be exacted. There were about 4 years of Wood, a few Popular Woodworking, American Woodworking, Workbench, Woodworking Journal, and 47 Woodsmith. All of these magazines I read and a few I even subscribe to, so this was a real find for me even though I already own a lot of the issues in my own collection.

Now I don’t know about you but having all that information setting there in a box was just to much temptation for me to resist, so I ended up setting up until 4 am last night pursing all them back issues till I head was bobbing and I was red I eyed, like was back in college cramping for an exam in micro economics. Needless to say I was on information overload, but I did see a few think that really caught my interest and I set them aside for later.

With ever new issue I picked up I couldn’t help but wonder how could he sell such a collection of information, I know I could never part with mine no more that I could give up my favorite block plane or some my other tools that I have had for 20 years now. I am always going back though my magazine looking for ideas or a better way to do something and most times they don’t fail me.

Out of the 167 magazines I bought there were about 80 I didn’t own the other I will pass on to another wood worker who I hope will get good use from them. Over the years I have seen many changes in the magazines and I have to admit that Popular Woodworking is still one of my favorites along with Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding. They appeal more to the work I do but I believe the other all still have much to offer.

Design Journal Exercises

Every since I started my woodworking career I have been interested in design. I have taken a few classes in college in design and drafting. Although the classes touch on all the classic points of design the classes wasn’t gear to the furniture maker, but I did learn a few things.

Classes are a good way to get some basics but the way I really started to explore my design ideas came when I started keeping design journals. I once read from a architect that he keeps a journals of ideals that he didn’t like, yes don’t like, according to him it was easier to narrow down the details that you don’t like than keep track of all the things that you like. So I started a couple of journals. In one I put pictures or photos of stuff I don’t like even if just a small details in the piece, and then I would write notes on the page of why I don’t like it and why I don’t think it works and what I think I would do as an alterative to that detail. This journal over the years has come to be a big help for me to understand my own taste in design, and I suggest if you really want to get in touch with what you like start with a journal about what you don’t like.

The second journal I keep is one where I keep quick sketches and rough ideas that come to me at any time. It’s a place where if I get one them great little ideas for a table I can jolt it down for a later reference. I don’t worry about making it a finished drawing I just want to preserve the idea at this point. I also keep this one by my bed side, because believe it or not some of my best ideas come to me in my sleep, so I keep it close at hand that way when I wake up and record my idea. This is where I go when I start a design job after I have heard what the customer wants just to see if I already have something in my book that will meet their need, and if I do I develop it from there. Most of these drawings are crude little isometric drawings that don’t show a lot of detail I add that after I have a feel for the finished piece

My third journal is one that I keep pictures of other peoples work, and other thing that catch my eye from magazines. If I’m out and have my camera I might take picture of architecture elements I find appealing, sometimes I like to use them in my designs. I really like trim work in old houses and since I spent most my life as a trim carpenter I am always on the look out for great trim work. This journal can grow very large if you’re not careful so I divided mine up in to different pieces I keep tables in one and beds in another volume and so on it makes it easier to find what I’m looking for that way.

After I have designed a piece I usually keep it in a file on the computer along with any other finished drawings I have. That way I have my customer drawings or sales drawings, then my working drawings, and cut list, time sheets, material list, and my building notes all in one file.

Over the years these are some of the tools that have helped me to become a better designer. I still read every thing I can and have started studying a lot of the older pieces of antique furniture and taking a harder look at the things that I said I didn’t like, because I am finding that some of the things that I didn’t like 15 years ago I find very pleasing now and I guess age really doe’s change one’s out look and I wouldn’t even remember that I didn’t like most of this stuff if it wasn’t or my journals.

Bookcase Design

This was a bookcase I designed a while ago. I pulled it out of my design book and dusted it off and I entered it in the recent Lumberjock - Popular Woodworking bookcase design contest. Although it was not a winner I still feel it was a good design. I may of done better in the contest if I would of remembered the words of one my English professors from my college days, she always said “you have to write for your audiences” well I guess when you are designing for a contest that is going to published your design in a magazine, it is a lot like writing a paper for an English class. I didn't design it with that audience in mind, which in this case would have been the magazine. I rushed in and submitted what I thought was a good design, one that was original, but it wasn't one that really fit the format of the magazine. It was just not the kind of project that they published on a regular basis. More over I kind of knew that going into it, because I have been loyal reader of their magazine for many years, and I still went with the design, because; I just knew there was going to be a lot of arts and craft, and green and green style entries, and did not want to enter another one. So, I thought, a federal style bookcase that set low might make an impression, and it did make on the Popular Woodworking's Blog.

One other thing that I think might of hurt me in the contest is I hand drew my entry, and I notice all the winners was summited in Sketchup. Maybe it would have helped to get my vision of my bookcase across better. This is certainly a skill that I need to work on.

So I didn't win, I really didn't expect to. Fact is as the contest grew closer to a close my biggest worry was that I might win, then I would had to make the choice of building the project and writing the article or letting Popular Woodworking do it for me, and I think I would had to go for it, and that was scary. I did learn a little, and I put myself out there, and in the end I know that the editors picked the right bookcase, it sure is the one I would of picked if I had their job.

I might one day get to build this bookcase, I think it would look really nice in a living room, maybe a dining room, or even behind a sofa. The design I think it would certainly challenge one skill to build.

Right now, if I was to build a bookcase for my home. it would probably have an arts and crafts style to it because my wife leans more to the arts and crafts furniture and the table shes wants me to build is an arts and crafts style table and a bookcase would look good setting in our dining room full of woodworking books.

Joey