I met with our IP section's writing tutor/thesis adviser on Monday (March 17th), and it was a wonderful meeting. Brian liked my thesis and, even though I came to him saying that my project has changed since I wrote that draft, helped me formulate the next batch of edits I need to make. He pointed out something I hadn't really considered before, and that is the process by which I got to where I am. I started out wanting to make furniture that resisted sitting, and then furniture that satirized sitting. Now I'm working on furniture that essentially says that if you have to sit, then you should still move while sitting. He had plenty of other good feedback which I intend to put into action over the next week.
On Tuesday (the 18th), I routed the tops and bottoms of the two chairs. The set up was a stressful ordeal, mainly because we had no idea how long it would take, other objects I wanted to rout weren't recognized by the router's software (Mastercam), and it seemed that the vacuum table that holds the material was broken. Thankfully, we learned that the vacuum table only works when the entire machine is on. After two and a half hours of set up and calibration, the cutting got underway.
All of the routing took about an hour and a half (which means it only cost me $45). As I had guessed would happen, there are lots of knots and holes in the plywood which need to be filled. Mark, the Woodshop studio coordinator, suggested Famowood filler, which comes in a variety of colors. I might just stick with one color for the whole thing, despite the awesome striation. On the top of the child's seat, a sixth of the very tip of the rim of the seat broke off during routing, which means I need to put a dollop of filler there and then sand it down to its necessary shape.
Today, I got the remaining plywood cut to the appropriate sizes and proceeded to make the supports (or legs, or whatever you wanna call them). I made stencils, cut one of each support, and then used those as references for the rest. After some rough sanding, I taped them all together to sand uniformly. They still need lighter sanding and filler (because again, there are gaps in the plywood).
Today, I got the remaining plywood cut to the appropriate sizes and proceeded to make the supports (or legs, or whatever you wanna call them). I made stencils, cut one of each support, and then used those as references for the rest. After some rough sanding, I taped them all together to sand uniformly. They still need lighter sanding and filler (because again, there are gaps in the plywood).
Note to self on the process for the next couple weeks (literally couple):
1. File and sand the routed pieces to almost perfectly smooth.
2. Fill in any and all gaps with filler.
3. Sand again to a nice surface.
4. File down the inserts of the supports -OR- file down the radii on the routed pieces.
5. Glue the chairs together.
6. SAND. SAND LIKE YOU MEAN IT.
7. Finish the surfaces (still need to work out best method here).
And that's just the chairs. I still want to make cushions filled with goo, which is more of an experimental thing. I'm not sure how well this will go or what materials I will use. We'll see.
1. File and sand the routed pieces to almost perfectly smooth.
2. Fill in any and all gaps with filler.
3. Sand again to a nice surface.
4. File down the inserts of the supports -OR- file down the radii on the routed pieces.
5. Glue the chairs together.
6. SAND. SAND LIKE YOU MEAN IT.
7. Finish the surfaces (still need to work out best method here).
And that's just the chairs. I still want to make cushions filled with goo, which is more of an experimental thing. I'm not sure how well this will go or what materials I will use. We'll see.
Aaron pointed out that Wes made an active seating chair in IP last year. Bummer. All is not lost. I'm coming at this from far afield, my project looks very different, and is meant to be used differently. Aaron continued to show and send me other examples of active seating, including the phenomenal Peter Opsvik's site. When I mentioned to John in the hall how I learned that an active seating chair was done last year, he proffered a bit of insight: "There are seven billion of us and we've been around for like 40,000 years. What makes you think anything you've done is original?" Which I interpreted as "don't fret." |
Checklist
Days remaining until the end: 19
Accomplished:
Routing
Cutting
Working on:
Filing
Sanding
Experimenting with goo containment (which summarizes the entirety of my IP)
Editing / writing the final draft of the thesis
To do:
Get wood filler, fill wood
Put chairs together
Finishing
Make cushions with goo
Get it all done on time.
Accomplished:
Routing
Cutting
Working on:
Filing
Sanding
Experimenting with goo containment (which summarizes the entirety of my IP)
Editing / writing the final draft of the thesis
To do:
Get wood filler, fill wood
Put chairs together
Finishing
Make cushions with goo
Get it all done on time.