Thinking outside the box

How often have you been told to think outside the box when trying to solve a problem?  It's good advice when you get stuck and there doesn't seem to be an answer to some pesky problem.  I've also been told that 99% of the time there is an answer if you just back off and view the situation with new perspective.  An illustration of this "thinking outside the box" process is shown below.

Try to think of a way to solve this nine dots puzzle without peeking at the answer on the page below.  The answer that is given is referred to as one possible answer.  You may arrive at a different solution that meets the goal of the puzzle.

An interesting cartoon that delves into the history behind the nine dots puzzle is shown below.  It comes from the Sam Loyd's Cyclopedia of Puzzles.  If you get 
hooked on solving puzzles this might be a good source.

Samuel Loyd (1841-1911), born in Philadelphia and raised in New York, was an
American chess player, chess composer, puzzle author, and recreational mathematician.  Following his death, his book"Cyclopedia of 5000 Puzzles was published (1914) by his son.  His son, named after his father, dropped the "Jr" from his name and started publishing reprints of his father's puzzles.  Loyd was inducted into the U.S. Chess Hall of Fame.  Amazon handles these publications.

Twisted Sister

Back in the day, as old timers often phrase it, I listened to a good deal of live rock music.  I still enjoy the classic rock but it is difficult to find. My wife, JoAnn, and I were regular groupies at clubs around the Spokane, Washington area, partly because we had a son playing with a band called "Warning," that would perform in the Spokane area occasionally.  The band was excellent and played gigs all over Western U.S. with one expedition into far north Alaska.  They would play songs made famous by notable bands of the day such as Deep Purple, Aerosmith, Buchman-Turner Overdrive, Keith Emerson, The Grateful Dead and Heart, to name a few.

I was fascinated with the creativity that went into naming bands and how they used the name in their promotion.  One of Warning's promotional pieces looked like a road sign with the words, "WARNING-Rock Ahead".  One of the strange band names that caught my attention was Twisted Sister, an American heavy metal band from Long Island, New York. They used elements of Iron Maiden and Judas Priest along with the driving hard rock style of AC/DC.  This wasn't my type of music, but their name and stage appearance prompted me to create a cast resin art piece.

Twisted Sister's aggressive musical style was coupled with a grotesque use of makeup and women's clothing resulting in a very unique product.  The band began in 1972 and continued through 1987.  They returned to the stage in 2006 and are still performing.

I planned a cast resin piece that would reflect the color and flair of members of this band.  In addition I gave the hint of a nun's habit to the shape of the piece, thus presenting the "sister" question of the title by adding a religious reference.  Lines in the lower portion of the casting give a twisting perception to the sculpture.  I had fun developing this art and hope you enjoy Twisted Sister.

Twisted Sister

Baked Apple

In the community of Summer Haven, nestled high in the Catalina Mountains above Tucson, stood a Gravenstein Apple tree.  Records indicated it had been planted over one hundred years ago.  It flourished and grew into a large tree.  The residents of Summer Haven enjoyed the fine fruit it produced year after year.  The stamina of the tree impressed the town’s people and they cared for it during the dry years, pruned it to give it shape and kept traffic and building away from its roots.  One thing that could not be controlled was the forest fire that swept through the town on a dry, windy day.  It burned the heart wood in the trunk and larger limbs,  but the apple tree did not die.  The outer layer of green wood continued to furnish nutrition to the top branches and eventually grew over and around the fire damaged surfaces.  The people were profoundly impressed at the will to live this tree exhibited after being ravaged by the fire and they soon were enjoying its fruit again.

In recent years a second major forest fire raged across the Catalina Mountains burning for days and destroying all that was in its path.  The little town of Summer Haven lost many of the summer cabins and most of the business district.  After the smoke had cleared and the damage assessed, the majority of the residents started to rebuild.  Funds appropriated by the county were designated to construct a community center with 1% of the total allocated for art work.  A committee was formed to establish goals and regulations for use of these 1% funds.  A call went out nationally for artists to submit their proposals for art they could provide at Summer Haven.  A sub committee was soon established by those who felt strongly that the art should relate to the apple tree that had suffered further damage in this fire.  It was still clinging to life but there was doubt about how long it could sustain this fight.  The owner of the lodge on whose property the tree grew planned to rebuild.  He had given notice he would have to remove the tree when construction started.  The sub committee wanted to incorporate the tree in the community center design.  This concept was of interest to our Apatchablue Studio, so a proposal was drawn up and JoAnn and I started attending meetings of the committees.  JoAnn developed a sketch of a large wall relief of an apple tree constructed with apple wood from the Summer Haven tree.  If accepted we planned to develop it in more detail.  We received word that our proposal was one of three chosen.  One of the other artists was local and the other was from the east.  We were all invited to meet with the committee and give more detail on what we planned to do.  The committee would also give us a timeline for the work and an idea of funding.  We were invited to travel to Summer Haven to view the area of the proposed community center.  While there we got a first hand look at the apple tree.  It was a pathetic sight but still had some green leaves in the top.

The local fire crew was called to cut off some dangerous limbs and low brush.   The sub committee lobbied for major visibility of the tree.  They wanted it brought into the main lobby of the community center and dismissed our plan to build a  wall relief tree from wood gathered from the old tree.  The architect working on the plan for the building was against having the actual tree placed in the lobby and we agreed with him that the it wasn't a beautiful thing and much too large for the space.  He suggested we explore decorating the front of the reception desk with the apple tree design.  He gave us information about the size and composition of the reception desk, so we were back at the drawing board.

The situation was becoming frustrating as time went on and the two committees battled back and forth over the treatment of the tree.  In the meantime we were given a pickup load of the apple wood trimmed from the tree, so that we could develop a mock-up of the decorative treatment of the reception desk.  JoAnn had developed a sketch of this plan and indicated what price we were asking for the work.  I was busy fabricating the mock-up which took several weeks.  When we were ready for our “show and tell” session with the committees we gathered copies of our proposal and the mock-up, and after a rehearsal headed for the meeting.  It went well and the committee asked us to wait outside while it was discussed.  The final outcome was, they liked the idea, but the money was the problem.  They were also searching ways to fund the art of the other artist’s proposals.  An auction night was one fund raising idea scheduled to occur in the next month.  I agreed to make wooden apples from the apple wood we had gathered from the tree, to be auctioned off that night.

 










 Mock-up of counter

It eventually became obvious that Apatchablue Studio would not be offered a contract to develop our ideas.  We kept the Summer Haven apple tree wood and  " Baked Apple" was the first vessel fabricated with it.  Slices from a unique section of a limb, showing the burned surface and the subsequent growth around it are the featured design on both sides of this vessel.  Baked Apple was accepted in the 18^th International Society of Experimental Artists show in Bethlehem, PA., starting on 8/29/09.  Unfortunately I broke my hip and wasn't able to pack and ship the piece to the show.  The only other show this vessel has been viewed in was the Annual Members Juried exhibition at Tubac, Arizona.  The Tubac Center for the Arts selected Baked Apple for their 2009 show starting 11/20/09.  Additional pieces will be developed in the future using this Summer Haven apple wood.  Baked Apple is now a part of my pilot son's collection.  He flies for Western Airlines.

Baked Apple

Plan Ahead or Plan 4 Heads

While discovering the fantastic things that could be created with cast resin, I decided I wanted to do a complicated cast of a life-sized head.  This piece would be entitled "Four Generations".  The tricky part was to include all four heads in one piece.  My plan was to cast a small baby head, a young boys head, a young mans head, and an old mans head.  I was familiar with the wax model, plaster of Paris mold process so started.  After shaping the babies head, it was coated with plaster and set to dry.  Removal of the wax was accomplished by heating the mold and letting the melted wax drain out through a hole in the base.  The babies head was cast in a dark brown resin, poured through the hole in the base of the mold.  To eliminate overheating a conservative amount of catalyst was mixed with the resin and small batches were poured over a considerable amount of time.  I had learned the hard way that large pours create excessive heat and crack the resin casting.

When cool and solid the plaster mold was chipped away from the resin head.  The babies head was cleaned and set aside.  Modeling the boys head had to be scaled large enough to accommodate the baby head in the same mold.  Do you see the pattern evolving; model the head, cast the mold on it, melt out the wax, suspend the previous cast head in the mold, cast the resin of the next head around it, remove the mold, etc.  I thought I had a winner and could hardly waite until that last cast of the old man came out of the mold and was polished up.  To my dismay the three heads inside didn't show up clearly even though I had used a different colored resin for each of them.  The main problem was the many wrinkles in the old mans face distorted the inner images.  I tried focusing a light on the head from different angles which helped a small amount.  Below are photos of the head in different poses.  You be the judge.  The baby is in dark brown, the boy is in red and the man is in blue.

I would like to try this project again and use very smooth stylized heads or similar objects.  I have also thought of casting each object so that they protrudes at different amounts below the base.  Light travels through cast resin and highlights the edges.  If light was concentrated on one objects end at the base it would in theory highlight that objects edges.

Well, as they say,"back to the drawing board".  Ideas are welcome on this unsolved project and credit will be noted to those who solve it.

E-mail is: apatchablue3@comcast.net
Website is: apatchablue.com
Facebook:  www.facebook.com/edwin.hill.100
Pinterest:  https://pinterest.com

Full Moon Rising

I have always been impressed with some of the fine wall hangings that used a backing fabric and colored threads to create a picture.  They are called tapestry and I viewed them as painting a picture with fabric.  I wanted to try a similar process but with wood.  I constructed frames with Masonite backing for six pieces of varying dimensions.  The largest was 4' x 3' and 1"deep.  It was an impressionistic desert view using wood from the desert.

The second piece completed was a smaller 2' x 2', more realistic work called "Full Moon Rising".  It is the last one completed to date, however plans are developed for several others in this series which I call wood tapestry.

The photo of the last wood tapestry is shown on the right and I will point out construction details.   At the outset I must give credit to my wife, JoAnn, for the color scheme and painting.  We plan to collaborate on future pieces in this series.  The mountain and cloud shapes are made of elm wood.  The mountains pieces are cut like puzzle pieces and fastened with screws from the back.

The wood used along the bottom edge of the scene is Catclaw mimosa or "wait-a-minute" bush as dubbed locally.  The re-curved spines resemble a cats claw, hence the common name.  The rational for the nick name is obvious when you try walking through a thicket of this brush. The bush doesn't get large, but the wood has an interesting shape.  The sapwood is a light yellowish white and heart wood a deep reddish brown as shown unpainted in the wood tapestry above.

The curved yellow stick outlining the moon contains the many short pieces of saguaro ribs.  This gives the moon a myriad of craters.  The moon's light rays are simulated by the painted sections of saguaro rib.

I have enjoyed the simplicity and bright color scheme of this piece and it has drawn numerous positive comments.

Ed & JoAnn's website  <apatchablue.com>

Birdseye Maple and Vinigar #16

That is an ambiguous title so what does it mean?  I am going to tell you about one of my e/p vessels that I have just completed.  The main construction materials are Birdseye maple and resin.  This vessel is built around an empty, slender, glass vinegar bottle.  It was salvaged from my wife's kitchen and the wood was scrap from a cabinet shop.  As I use resin the excess from a job is always poured into a plastic pill bottle.  When the resin has hardened it can be removed from the bottle and shaped to fit the particular need.  In the photo below you can see the materials for Vessel e/p IV.

The bottle slips through the hole in the triangular box and the thick wood base on the left is fastened in place.  On the right side of the photo is a pile of Birdseye wood pieces cut to form bricks.  The rough shaped resin pieces for the sides and top of the vessel can also be seen close to the right of the box.

.The next photo show the application of the wood bricks on the sides of the vessel, leaving an area open for placement of resin half-spheres.  The top resin piece is fit around the bottle to make a liquid tight seal.  A resin top surface will be poured to hold it in place.

This third photo on the left show the grout has been placed between the bricks and the resin top has been poured.  Wood corner molding is in place and all surfaces have been sand smooth.  At this point, before the resin half-spheres are attached, we analyzed the design of the vessel as it had bothered us.  Who is this "we" you ask?  I am fortunate to have an artist with extensive experience and knowledge of design and color working with me; my wife JoAnn.

The fourth photo shows the finished vessel with a new top,cast over the original top piece.  This new top has more weight to balance the piece and just a slight change in radius to make it interesting.  The final photo, shown below gives a close-up view of the half-spheres which are a major part of the design.  If you have questions about any part of this post you can e-mail me at comcast
.net.  Your comment to this post or previous publications can always be made in this blog at http://apatchablue.blogspot.com.

Antique Wood Lathe #15

A woodworker or an artist usually has a favorite tool.  Over time this love affair may become quite strong.  In my case our ranch home didn't have electricity nor did the country school I attended through the 7th grade.  In the 8th grade wood shop I attended in city school they had a wood lathe.  I didn't get a chance to use it but watched other students turn out round objects that fascinated me.  As a high school freshman AG student I was given an assignment to turn a mallet head and handle out of solid oak.  I had plenty of guidance so it turned out perfect in my eyes.  I have kept that mallet in my tools all these years and it is shown in the photo below.

The lathe you see behind my mallet is an old wood lathe I bought from the Medical  Lake school district when they were building a new shop and high school.  When I started teaching there in 1958 my wood shop was in one of the school bus stalls in the garage.  I took the job because of the promise of a new facility to teach in the next year.  It was a fantastic facility with all new furniture and  tools.  I had a bank of three new wood lathes so the school sold the old equipment and I got a good deal on the lathe.  It was old and had seen a lot of hard use but with a few new parts and a good cleaning I had a lathe that has served me well all of these years.  I have several projects in construction and others planned that involve lathe work of varying degrees.  One of my vessels that was completed recently is e/p IV shown on the right below.

This vessel has a plastic water bottle as an inner lining and alternating rings of maple and walnut were fit around it.  Each ring was buttered with thickened dark resin and placed on top of the previous ring.  No hole was cut in the bottom ring so it made a secure base.  Smaller rings were used at the top and the central hole was cut to fit the neck of the water bottle.  This assembled block of wood was centered in the lathe when all joints were set and dry.  Shaping the vessel and sanding it smooth on the lathe was the pleasant task of seeing an object of beauty emerge from the rough wood block.  The photos below show the various elements of my e/p Vessel.