Experimental Form II — A Study in Fabrication
Craftsmanship names an enduring, basic human impulse, the desire to do a job well for its own sake — Richard Sennett
I began this exploration as a study in “Artifacting” through Form, Craft, and Material. The study explored artifactual craft and how we might create objects that can endure beyond their present to exist across generations.
This undertaking was particularly interesting to my thesis work because it was one of my first explorations into how others might perceive any type of value in my craft. Where previously I had focused more on my own perception of value based on materiality and making process. The premise of the project was to design and fabricate an object to last generations — something that communicates its value, its place, its message in a compelling way that beckons it to be passed along.
Could this be an object that would endure both materially and stylistically, with enough intrinsic value for it to communicate forward?
Methodology — For this iteration of my bookshelf explorations I decided to work with wood as my material again, but this time opting for a nicer cherry wood with a walnut inlay at the joint. I also modified the design a bit to allow for an exploration into a different joinery methodology.
I began by sketching. Something I had done less of in my previous explorations, to work through some different ideas and options in the planning of how I would modify the joinery method of the piece.
Joinery Studies:
After taking some time to learn about the technique required to create each type of joint I decided on a more simple design for my first exploration into this type of woodworking. I decided to focus on learning how to create a spline joint.
I also looked at how I might update the design differently or create another version of an object that worked in sequence with the bookshelf, but I ultimately decided to focus on the new materiality and joinery type in a form that was more similar to the original ones that I began my explorations with.
I then put together a set of working drawings to start building from that would inevitably be modified along the way as necessary.
After Figuring out how much wood and what types that I would need I set off to the store to buy the lumber Where I was able to buy two planks of exactly the right size and species. Though they did have a few more imperfections than I would have liked, Which I later learned could significantly impact how usable all of the plank of wood was for my project.
Next I took some time to work out what the joint might look like with a foam core mock up. I experimented with foam that was at a slightly smaller scale than my actual planks of wood were and with a slightly more intricate design than I ended up creating in the end.
After creating my working drawings and foam mock up, I went on to further explore exactly what my making process for the pieces would be by creating a detailed storyboard of the actual working process.
After cutting down the boards and running them through the jointer and planar to get them level enough to work with I let the wood sit and breathe for a day as I had done in previous processes so that it would form to it’s natural tendencies.
After cutting the wood to size I measured it all out and began to cut the boards to size for the three different pieces of my bookshelf design on the table saw. After this step I aligned the boards for all three bookshelves and glued and clamped them.
This however was unfortunately the incorrect way to implement this step and I was not able to get a nice tight corner joint with the clamp on my pieces. I went too fast in the process and it cost me. To remedy the situation I had to slice all of the boards apart at the glue joint and then re-cut the edges on the table saw, which cut down on my intended dimensions and caused me to have to alter my overall design since my cut pieces were less accurate. Thankfully the design was simple enough that it worked out in the end, but was definitely a more stressful part of the process than intended.
To correctly put the joints together I needed to use a looser more accurate tape brace to secure the pieces.
Once the glue joints had dried I measured out where I wanted my spline joints to be and put the piece into a jig on the table saw to cut the openings. The process of cutting them only took 5 minutes, but actually setting up the table saw, changing it out to a dado blade and making sure the cuts would be in an accurate position took several hours. This was described to me as the craft of certainty vs. the craft of risk. My intention was to stay as closely aligned to the former as possible. When working with the table saw it’s always better to be measured and precise, rather than cutting free-hand, especially given that I hadn’t bought enough wood to allow myself to mess up at all.
I then repeated the glue joint and cutting on the table saw for the second half of my bookshelves in the same way that I had for the first half. After this it was time for me to cut the inlay pieces that would secure the spline joint. This was a slightly less measured process since I would be cutting and sanding them down to match anyway.
After cutting the triangular inserts, I glued them into place, which was more difficult than I had forseen. Even after measuring it still took a bit of sanding as well as some force fitting with a hammer to get all of the pieces to fit. I then sliced off the excess wood on each joint with a hand saw.
After several rounds of sanding and finishing with master gel my three identical bookshelves were finished.
Overall there were several issues that I had along the way with fit in the additive design process that I chose to use as well as because I was still learning the joinery technique, which simple as it was still required a methodical and slow process to execute accurately. The materials didn’t necessarily behave the way that I had originally intended or expected them too and cutting on the table saw caused damage to the softer wood that I chose to work with, which I wasn’t necessarily anticipating enough either and later had to figure out how to patch, which I was able to do with moderate, but not complete success.
If I were to experiment with this process again, I might consider changing my process to work with different materiality or to complete each bookshelf in full before starting the next one, so that I would have more opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the previous one going forward.
My complete set of three identical shelves:
Going forward I will plan to keep one of these shelves for myself, gift one to someone else, and sell one. The purpose of this exercise will be to identify the value that someone else not involved in the making process puts on the piece. Both as someone who knows me and who doesn’t. How do they treat the piece? How much money would a stranger pay for it? Material for each piece only cost about $9 plus there was a week’s worth of labor on my part in the crafting process, but It would be interesting to see what someone else might see that as for value.
