Rick Markham
09-01-2012, 4:00 AM
So I've got a confession to make... I've been holding out on you guys, and I have a dirty secret...
This summer, another turner (who wishes to remain nameless) and I embarked on a journey, we decided to do an exercise. To foster creativity we decided that the pieces we generated should be based on something "experimental" that was the only requirement. So off we went (we communicated during the period but neither of us told the other anything about what we were doing.) I had a few ideas (none of which ended up in the finished piece) so I went off happily playing with that idea. In the meantime I had my first dyed piece working, and it was frustrating me, all the frustrations of getting the color just right, all of it running when the finish was applied all the normal first time stuff, so sand sand sand, fix cause myself another problem sand sand sand sand fix the color blah blah blah blah. At some point during all of this frustration my second piece started as a hey I wanna try this thing, the ugly sideways sunburst thing, but in that piece there was a glimmer, and an idea. The idea was to create the appearance of a 3 dimensional surface using color theory and what I had learned from my watercolor professor. "the Green Meanie" was born as a test to see if my process would work... I know I know, "the Green Meanie" went over like a lead zepplin, the off axis finial (also a prototype) wasn't a crowd pleaser :D far from it, and in hind sight it should have been refined. I do have to interject here a point about me, almost all of my prototype work is given to dear friends and family. To me it's a first in someway and deserves a special home, yes they aren't perfect, but they are the most important part of the process the solidifying of an idea. But the important part of "the Green Meanie" was what was going on in the color, and that's what's really special!
I guess at this point I need to tell y'all a bit about myself. I am 36 and earning a degree in Art. I've been an artist my whole life, whether I wanted to admit it or not. I've been a chef, a butcher, a baker, I've actually had the good fortune to be a candlestick maker (for a very short period of time.) I've done woodworking as a child, and as an adult for roughly 12 years. Woodworking was always an creative outlet. 3 years ago and change I stopped drinking. I had a problem, and I lived a fast hard life burning the candle at both ends, and I was a VERY ANGRY guy... something had to give... so I did (With the help of others like me, and something MUCH larger than me ;)) Then something changed... something remarkable... a creative engine started, and it's fuel was knowledge, it's this insatiable hunger that never ceases, I'm not sure I want it to. The best way I can describe how my creative process works is an exponential explosion of ideas, one idea leads to 10 more ideas which each have 10 more ideas etc. You get the point. Generally if I am not researching something that is going through my head I am trying it, building it, or pacing around thinking about it. Yes, I pace, ALOT. The only time my head isn't spinning is when I'm in front of the lathe and the wood is doing the spinning. :o This isn't a hobby to me, this IS my life. Hopefully one day I can truly be an independent artist.
Ok so here's the deal, and hopefully I haven't lost too many of you. I haven't posted my work on here (or ANY other forum) since "the Green Meanie" because my family saw my current work and has sworn me to secrecy. While one of the things I love most about our community is that we share with each other. This begins my torment. I've got something BIG! Did I say big? I meant HUGE and I want to scream it at the top of my lungs but I can't. So I've carried this burden around for quite a few months, and it is consuming me. The sharing (at this point in time) of how I do my current work is out of the question. Blood is thicker than water (besides they've put up with me for 36 years) I've quantified my time spent developing it and it is several thousand hours of thought easily. I've also spent several hundred hours trying to find ANYONE's work who is using color in this way in the woodworking world, and I haven't found anyone. This is my "voice"... it's been chosen for me.
There is an upside to this, the secrecy isn't forever. I've consulted with several professors and there is potentially a master's thesis here :) Which means it will be published. I am also making sure to document every step of everything, that way even if I get run over by a bus this isn't lost. My family agrees that this is too important to keep forever, this is a game changer. Make no mistake! It will work with any color, any dye, any can of stain. I also think I can use this and what I have learned without disclosing my process that can hopefully steer others onto new directions of their own, afterall our real point here is to further this art. Fostering Independent thought is the only way to accomplish that, but that requires work from the individual on their own.
That being said I've developed a method of dyeing to affect the hue of the visible color based solely upon the structure of the wood, the physics of color, and the physics of light. This is independent creative thought, art, and science coalescing. In the process I'm emulating blown glass.
I'll kick this off with my fourth dyed piece. I started this immediately after "the Green Meanie" because I wanted to see the effect on highly figured wood (and I wanted something small I could keep and hide for myself) I also decided to try an off axis finial again, this time much more dainty and intricate. I know no turners like off axis stuff, but this one is mine so I wanted it. Besides this is all just a big experiment right?
"the Green Mini Meanie" 2 3/4" diameter, 6" high. Maple burl, TransTint dyes. French Polished:eek::D... C&C welcome and appreciated.
240316
This summer, another turner (who wishes to remain nameless) and I embarked on a journey, we decided to do an exercise. To foster creativity we decided that the pieces we generated should be based on something "experimental" that was the only requirement. So off we went (we communicated during the period but neither of us told the other anything about what we were doing.) I had a few ideas (none of which ended up in the finished piece) so I went off happily playing with that idea. In the meantime I had my first dyed piece working, and it was frustrating me, all the frustrations of getting the color just right, all of it running when the finish was applied all the normal first time stuff, so sand sand sand, fix cause myself another problem sand sand sand sand fix the color blah blah blah blah. At some point during all of this frustration my second piece started as a hey I wanna try this thing, the ugly sideways sunburst thing, but in that piece there was a glimmer, and an idea. The idea was to create the appearance of a 3 dimensional surface using color theory and what I had learned from my watercolor professor. "the Green Meanie" was born as a test to see if my process would work... I know I know, "the Green Meanie" went over like a lead zepplin, the off axis finial (also a prototype) wasn't a crowd pleaser :D far from it, and in hind sight it should have been refined. I do have to interject here a point about me, almost all of my prototype work is given to dear friends and family. To me it's a first in someway and deserves a special home, yes they aren't perfect, but they are the most important part of the process the solidifying of an idea. But the important part of "the Green Meanie" was what was going on in the color, and that's what's really special!
I guess at this point I need to tell y'all a bit about myself. I am 36 and earning a degree in Art. I've been an artist my whole life, whether I wanted to admit it or not. I've been a chef, a butcher, a baker, I've actually had the good fortune to be a candlestick maker (for a very short period of time.) I've done woodworking as a child, and as an adult for roughly 12 years. Woodworking was always an creative outlet. 3 years ago and change I stopped drinking. I had a problem, and I lived a fast hard life burning the candle at both ends, and I was a VERY ANGRY guy... something had to give... so I did (With the help of others like me, and something MUCH larger than me ;)) Then something changed... something remarkable... a creative engine started, and it's fuel was knowledge, it's this insatiable hunger that never ceases, I'm not sure I want it to. The best way I can describe how my creative process works is an exponential explosion of ideas, one idea leads to 10 more ideas which each have 10 more ideas etc. You get the point. Generally if I am not researching something that is going through my head I am trying it, building it, or pacing around thinking about it. Yes, I pace, ALOT. The only time my head isn't spinning is when I'm in front of the lathe and the wood is doing the spinning. :o This isn't a hobby to me, this IS my life. Hopefully one day I can truly be an independent artist.
Ok so here's the deal, and hopefully I haven't lost too many of you. I haven't posted my work on here (or ANY other forum) since "the Green Meanie" because my family saw my current work and has sworn me to secrecy. While one of the things I love most about our community is that we share with each other. This begins my torment. I've got something BIG! Did I say big? I meant HUGE and I want to scream it at the top of my lungs but I can't. So I've carried this burden around for quite a few months, and it is consuming me. The sharing (at this point in time) of how I do my current work is out of the question. Blood is thicker than water (besides they've put up with me for 36 years) I've quantified my time spent developing it and it is several thousand hours of thought easily. I've also spent several hundred hours trying to find ANYONE's work who is using color in this way in the woodworking world, and I haven't found anyone. This is my "voice"... it's been chosen for me.
There is an upside to this, the secrecy isn't forever. I've consulted with several professors and there is potentially a master's thesis here :) Which means it will be published. I am also making sure to document every step of everything, that way even if I get run over by a bus this isn't lost. My family agrees that this is too important to keep forever, this is a game changer. Make no mistake! It will work with any color, any dye, any can of stain. I also think I can use this and what I have learned without disclosing my process that can hopefully steer others onto new directions of their own, afterall our real point here is to further this art. Fostering Independent thought is the only way to accomplish that, but that requires work from the individual on their own.
That being said I've developed a method of dyeing to affect the hue of the visible color based solely upon the structure of the wood, the physics of color, and the physics of light. This is independent creative thought, art, and science coalescing. In the process I'm emulating blown glass.
I'll kick this off with my fourth dyed piece. I started this immediately after "the Green Meanie" because I wanted to see the effect on highly figured wood (and I wanted something small I could keep and hide for myself) I also decided to try an off axis finial again, this time much more dainty and intricate. I know no turners like off axis stuff, but this one is mine so I wanted it. Besides this is all just a big experiment right?
"the Green Mini Meanie" 2 3/4" diameter, 6" high. Maple burl, TransTint dyes. French Polished:eek::D... C&C welcome and appreciated.
240316