Drawing in Steps

As I waited this morning for my student to arrive, I couldn't resist this photo.


















Alan asked if he could do his comb back rocker with a shield seat instead of the oval that I usually use and I thought the redesign required would be a good way to show the drawing process step by step.
I began by designing the seat pattern full scale. I used other chairs and just a basic sense of what I wanted to locate the legs and proportions.


















The first step in the drafting/design process is to block out the seat in the 3 views.






















Then I located the legs by measuring the pattern that I made.























Next the seat shape can be drawn from the pattern. The location of the coves cut into the side are very helpful.






















This is where I leave the pattern and start designing on the page. These are the leg angles. On a rocker, it's important that the locations of the front and rear legs will give a nice looking taper effect to the rockers as they exit the rear legs. Notice that because the seat is drawn parallel to the floor line that the rockers unnaturally pitch up at the back, I'll correct this later by redrawing the floor below the side view.























Below, the armposts and rail set in place. I used the same curve from my normal comb back to get a lot of these measurements but I did lengthen the arm 1 inch to account for the deeper shield seat.





















Next come the spindles and spindle spacing on the seat, arm and crest. Once again, each drawing informs the others.






















Finally, I add some details to help the overall feel and proportion. We'll have a chance to see the finished chair at the end of the week!

Fall Day

Here is a little birds nest that Sue spotted in the sugar maple that we planted near the goat barn.


















It's made out of my shaving pile. I can't tell you how many times folks have commented that I should find a use for my shavings (I do mulch and burn them), and I assure them that my market research has come down heavily on the side of chairs being the more valuable outcome of my labors. But leave it to this little bird to prove me wrong, as far as a housing material, what a jackpot.


Below is an orthographic projection of a chair that I am designing for a class next year. It's a more realistic view of the actual look and process that I follow.























I start with "stick" drawings, like the one that you see in the front view and then use the various views to inform my design. Once I like the basic skeleton, I'll add some thickness to some of the parts to get a better feel for the proportion, like in the side view. I didn't know how to draw orthographic projection until Dave Sawyer showed me how, so don't mind if I back up to explain it a bit, figuring that maybe you didn't arrive with this info either.

Basically, it's a means of taking information from one view and mapping it onto another. The creepy looking floating eyes show how the views relate.

For me, it becomes a game of give and take, playing what looks right in one view against how it affects another. On the given drawing, you'll notice a large square that connects the same point on each drawing. Notice that by "refracting" the side view at the 45 degree line, the information from the side view can flow correctly to the overhead view. This is a vital piece of info for the techniques that I am moving towards showing.

I generally begin with the seat shape, of course I draw it as a large block and then later create the actual seat shape. I really suggest giving the drawing board some time, it may not become your process, but it will definitely help cement the chairs elements in your head.

This is a pretty easy drawing because the only curve (the bow) is parallel to one of the sides. Later I'll go into what happens when a curve follows a sightline off the square axis.

For those of you who have been following the progess of my goats etc... here is the finished goat barn!


















Here is the milking room, which for now is where I am storing the hay for easy access to the built in manger.























The manger is in the wall that separates the milking room from their "loafing" area.
The hay that they love to pull out and then disregard forms a bed that they can enjoy while laying in the sun coming through the front door, we should all have it so good!























It looks like we've found a proper suitor for our Maggie and hope to get her in "the family way" in the next few weeks.

Back to the Drawing Board Part 2

During the class at Highland Woodworking, Curtis and I were chatting about the trig tables that we use and teach for figuring out the sighting lines and resultant angles. He mentioned that someone had shown him a means for arriving at the solutions by mapping them out, as opposed to going to Drew Langsners book "The Chairmakers Workshop" or some other math route for the charts. This really appealed to me, but Curtis couldn't recall how it was done. So, I set out to figure my own way.
The sight line angle wasn't so tough, it's really just the overhead view of the chair and I've been drawing those for years, but the resultant angle for drilling was a bit trickier. After a bit of thought and doodling, I had one of those lovely eureka moments.


Below is the first step, which picks up where we left off with the diagonal of the rectangle which gives us the sight line angle. Simply draw a line at a right angle to the diagonal and the same "common rise" as used on the front and side views.


















Then, complete the triangle to the other side of the diagonal line. And there it is, the resultant angle is opposite the diagonal line.


















Hopefully, the drawing below will help clarify what it is that you are seeing. It is the profile of the plane that the leg is in.

















Sorry for the crappy images, my scanner is down and photos are my only solution. Even more exciting and useful for me (it's still faster to use the trig tables) is that while doing this, I remembered a technique that I came up with years ago (and then forgot how it worked) for viewing a chair that I am designing from any angle. Once again, I know that computers can spin an object in space with no effort, but to see it emerge on the page still gets me going.

I know that I am not the first person to figure any of this out, but I see this kind of problem solving as skill building for working with the complex geometry in chairs. So with a little more primer on orthographic projection, we'll get to the real fun stuff.