Working Through the Problem

When we're not teaching woodworking we are working on commission pieces. Presently, we have a number of projects underway that gives me an opportunity to experiment and learn from my own mistakes. I'm a firm believer that if you are not making an occasional mistake from time to time, you're not learning.

One such piece is a customized bed frame. Because the room itself is small the frame has been designed with two pull out center drawers and a third draw that pulls out at the foot of the bed. The drawers are made of poplar and the fronts will be face framed in the finish. In planning out the drawers I decided to do half blind dove tails at the front and finger joints at the back. I cut the finger joints on a jig we have that can produce a number of different size joints. As I began to cut the joints I was unaware that the position of the fence had moved. Lesson number one, don't be in a rush. Do a test cut first to make sure your measurements and machine settings are just so.

Once I got the piece back to the bench I had something less than satisfactory. What to do? For a commission piece where time is money I thought I had something suitable for the wood stove. On the teaching side, I had an opportunity. What if this was a student's project? What if the material was an expensive species of wood? Sometimes it is worth the extra time to figure out how to make it work and learn something in the process. For a student with limited time this is an important consideration. If they can fix it, they will become more confident in problem solving once they get home.

The fix was actually simple all though the glue up process took longer. I glued each corner individually inserting small splines into the spaces. Once sanded it was hardly noticeable and probably only to me. And since it is at the back of the drawer, it will hardly ever be seen.

What do you think? What kind of problem solving have you experienced? How useful do you find it learning from your own mishaps? Let us know. We'd like to hear!

Kip Christie

Fine Painting And The Seven Elements Of Design

Design exists in everything around us, from the simplest flower to the complex human structure. One might say, to design is to have purpose.
So when we design in art, we are deliberately planning and arranging elements in a way that creates a united effect. When used together, all design elements help create unity in painting. When we speak of design elements in art we are actually speaking of the basic components critical to creating a work of art.
These elements are:
Shape which is a two-dimensional area having identifiable boundaries, created by lines, color, or value changes, or some combination of these.
Size which is very simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that area occupied by another shape.
Line, which there are two ways to describe: a mark made by an instrument as it is drawn across a surface or the edge created when two lines meet.
Texture which is the surface or tactile quality of an object - its smoothness, roughness, softness, etc.- and trying to recreate this appearance in paint.
Value, the relative lightness or darkness of a hue, or of a neutral varying from white to black.
Color which is pigment (with the determining properties of tint, intensity, and value), and....
Form, the physical appearance of a work of art, its materials, style, and composition.
Learn more about the seven elements of design - shape, size, line, texture, value, color, and form- the building blocks of creating your own work of art in our Beginning Watercolor Painting Intensive course with Beatrice Cohen, June 19th-23rd at Banner Hill School.
Also in the Fine Arts series:
Canvas Stretching - July 8th - with instructor Candace Christiansen
Portrait Painting Workshop - July 9th-10th or Aug. 2nd-3rd - with instructor Roy Mendl
Please visit us at: BannerHillLLC.com for course descriptions and registration.

The Aspiring Woodworker

We have recently received several inquiries about the Aspiring Woodworker. This is our most popular woodworking course at Banner Hill and is being offered three time this summer and fall. Course dates are June 13 - 17, August 15 - 19 and September 12 -16.

This is a great course not only for those venturing into woodworking but those with advanced skill looking for some concentrated time that is difficult to get during the daily routine of life. For those interested in learning simple easy to use furniture design concepts, milling and laying out of joinery work, crafting from raw lumber into a distinctive piece of furniture, this class is for you. For the more experience woodworker, you can push your limits bound only by your imagination.

In this one week course we emphasize hand techniques. No sense in learning on machines you may not have at home. More importantly, a solid base in hand skills will help you work around problems you always will encounter or in areas where machines are not available or not appropriate for the task.

During this course you will design your own project. Complete a side by side and perspective drawing. Illustrate detailed joinery work. Mill your own wood to specification and layout for joinery work. At the end of this five day course you will have designed and built your own piece of furniture.

So make your summer plans now. Sign up for the Aspiring Woodworker or other classes we offer in ceramics, paper making, painting and textiles. Visit www.BannerHillLLC.com for more details.

Kip Christie

The Art of Beautiful Writing

Calligraphy is the stylized and elegant art form of handwriting. The word calligraphy itself comes from the Greek words kallos meaning "beauty" and graphe meaning "writing". This art form which uses pen or brush and ink in a creative balance of correct formation of characters, the ordering of various parts, and the harmony of proportions has been revered highly by Asian, Arabic, and European cultures for many centuries. Learn the art of beautiful writing in our Beginning Calligraphy 1 day classes May 11th, June 8th, July 13th, Aug. 10th, Sept. 14th or Oct. 2nd, 2011 at Banner Hill School. To learn more about Beginning Calligraphy please visit BannerHillLLC.com