Tuesday, April 22, 2008
samples from the machine....
Well we have been having a grand time fiddling with the machine. We are trying to put together a portfolio to offer to cabinet shops for specialty cabinets. Some of the doors look a little funny cause we carved the backs too, to maximize our demos! My next goal is to convince my dad to let us do the cabinets in our apartment...wouldn't that be fun.
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15 comments:
Y'all need to put those up on Etsy.com. They would for sure sell, and if you just to custom orders, you could post some that are done, but specify that Kenneth does custom jobs. Good luck! They are gorgeous!
I AM SO IMPRESSED!
THIS IS AMAZING!
YAY!
SO HOW MANY APARTMENTS ARE THERE IN YOUR PARENTS BACK YARD? I CANNOT EVEN PICTURE IT...
Very cool! Congratulations!
Tell us more...where did Kenneth's initial idea for the machine and the software come from?
Could he do silhouettes of my family :)
Too bad you don't live by us...we have several extra cabinet doors...sorry for the many comments...I am posting before I finish thinking.
Well, we get the cabinet doors for free. Used to work for a cabinet maker. When i showed him my first carving off the machine he said "Looks like i need to get you a bunch of wood to practice with." He invited me over to the shop to pickup lumber and doors (they have lots extra from when they measure the cabinet wrong)
As far as Silhouettes, Yup, Totally on the menu. Were still figuring things out with the machine. Finding what works and what doesnt.
The hardest thing, for me, has been deciding what will actually look "right" on a cabinet, or on any woodwork in a house. Figures of floral patterns, or animals are sometimes added to large cabinets, like over the TV or sometimes even on the mantle, but we havn't yet found the limit with our machine.
The Cabinet maker and I are trying to form a business venture together to use the abilities of the machine in his business. Kinda an exclusive rights thing. If all goes well i will only be offereing to do with on HIS cabinets (as opposed to working with another cabinet shop) but i am looking into other avenues for other work, like home builders, carpenters (the guys who do the 'other' wood work in your home) and sign makers. A wonderful widow down the street used to do custom signs, but she hasnt the time (been working 3 jobs since he died year before last) i have been thinking of how i might benefit her with the fruits of my machine, maybe offer to cut the signs for her for free (she used to just paint signs) might be a nice way to buy my ticket to heaven, and help her not have to work so hard.
Actually, i think she would already have a good client base in a market i could never get into (you know, the older, grandmotherly type)
What i woudl really appreciate [Meg says i need to "get your own blog"] is any comment on the stuff we have so far. The negative advice is probably the most valuable. Thanks
As far as cabinets, the first flower one and the 2 wheat ones are my favorites. As far as home decor, the bottom one with the silhouettes is my favorite (I really like that one...I am trying to figure out how to incorporate it into my home :)
Does operation of the machine cost money? Is your main operation cost the wood? I am just curious since I don't know anything about the machine(and you don't have to answer).
Also, how think of a material can you work on? Can you do quotes? (Meg is probably right...I am going to maker her wish you had your own blog!)
Oh & I agree on the Etsy thing.
Ok I'm so impressed. Kenneth you're a genious and Meg is a genious for marrying you =) Y'all are so awesome. My favorites are the wheat ones, particularly just the wheat. I think the solid flower looks better on a the darker colored wood. They all look great to me. I love the border around the last piece. The silohuette is cool, but a little busy for my taste. But, I'm simplistic so don't take that too literally. Some may like it all. I think you have a great venture here. When are you going to apply for a patent? Good luck.
that is amazing!! I love the last one. good job rossy! :)
I am blown away! They look so great! I love simple, so my favorite is the second one. That look is so in right now, too. It's too bad y'all don't live by us in Florida. My husband is in the home building industry (lots of connections) and he says that your line of work would be a BIG hit in the Palm Beach area (lots of WEALTHY retired senior citizens). Good luck! I'm sure this will be a big success.
Kenneth said, "the negative advice is probably the most valuable," so I made myself a cup of herbal tea, pulled out a stack of _New Yorker_ magazines, and tried to think critical, snooty thoughts, which I have appended below for your delectation.
Door 1 (single bloom in oval frame): Good cut depth and cut resolution but the design fights with the grain pattern too much. Also, I think the framing is off--from a distance the effect is two-tone but it's all concentrated in the center; perhaps it needs another routered stripe around the edge.
Door 2 (strand of blossoms on dark paint): Whatever type of wood this is, it doesn't seem to take precision router designs well. The resolution looks sloppy; some of the cuts look like mistakes rather than intentional acts; the beveling of the cuts does not enhance the effect--in fact, it makes it look cheap. The design has a bit too much intricacy--in a binary system, a leaf jammed next to a flower next to a stem is a contorted, unaesthetic hodgepodge. I think this door would have been better with a painted design.
Door 3 (same as 2 in outline rather than fill): I think the outline approach solves many of the problems with Door 2. The cuts are cleaner, the beveling enhances the effect, the outlining (instead of filling) clarifies the image.
(On the other hand, I think 3 is a nicer piece of wood than 2).
(Also: I'm using "fill" as if you were using a computerized painting program; "unfill" would probably be more accurate.)
Door 4 (Wheat bundle in positive relief [I think]): The door has a visible grain (no more so than 1) but it doesn't seem to fight the image--an advantage of positive relief over negative engraving.
The wavy lines on the side don't balance well; the center image has thick, bold lines while the side cuts are thin and light; they seem like a half-hearted after thought rather than an enhancing feature. (My first thought was, "was that a mistake?")
The resolution in the grains appears problematic (though it might be an artifact of the image compression). Perhaps a slightly less intricate design would be appropriate?
Door 5 (Wheat bundle in negative relief [I think]): This wheat bundle solves the balance problem--the central image and the side highlights balance nicely. The grain really seems to chew into the image resolution, however, making it hard to tell what's going on at the end of the ears.
The font for the text is well chosen, though it runs into a few problems with grain coloration in "E'S." The text crossing the butt-joint is catastrophically ugly.
With the picture you posted I can't tell if the text is in negative or positive relief or if it has a flat or bevelled bottom cut. For this font, I think the bevelled cut is superior. (Flat bottomed cuts don't match the detail of the serifs, and thus look cheap, IMHO). In general, I think straight side-walls on fonts are (1) created by satan himself as a way to store dust, 2) difficult to clean, and (3) highly prone to nicking. Of course, bevelled bottoms are also dust-suckers, but are not so difficult to clean, IMO.
Also, I think the text + image + side ornaments does not balance well conceptually or graphically. Graphically, the text needs "white space" around it; it looks all scrunched at the top and bottom and the overall combination appears over-crowded.
Conceptually, there is an elegant, traditional image, with a classical roman font, and side ornamentations harkening to classic copperplate script. And then it says "Connie's Kitchen." Classical + cutesy = jangling to my sensibilities. (Of course, I don't know who Connie is, and maybe a colloquial/classical mishmash really, you know, fills up her pantry, and since she's paying for it...).
Door 6 (Peid-Piper montage): Ick. This image was not made for binary representation. What is the fifth "character" from the left? Presumably it's a human carrying something, but there are no anatomical details discernable to confirm that judgment.
Besides the binary problem, the resolution is inadequate. The filligree on the framing and beneath the marchers' feet looks like random scratches rather than purposeful art.
I'm not liking the routered-through-paint approach. In general, I think it all needs to be all painted or all not. (An exception might be if you routered negative relief text, painted the text, and then planed the whole thing [and then lacquered it]).
Is this door made of particle board? The interior of the cut looks scratchy and unclearly defined. The router paths are clearly visible, which is already a no-no, and doubly so for being surrounded by the smooth painted surface.
A few final thoughts: Congratulations on a working device!
I think there might be some useful images in Asian art--Hawaiian waves and florals, Japanese butterflies and florals, etc. The clean, flowing lines I think lend themselves to routering.
Also, what about inlay? That is, is the router precise enough to gouge out a shape in one board and then cut out a matching piece from another board such that you could glue the second piece into the first piece and create a multi-tone image (instead of a binary-tone one)?
Edward
Thanks Ed,
Yea, i can do (and have done) wood inlays. The first door is an inlay using Joint Compound (for fixing Sheet Rock) It sads really well, and i was more going for a "look" than a "This is how it will be done"
I'll see if i can get Meg to post sme pictures of an Inlay i did of the Harley - Davidson Logo on Birch with a Red Oak Inlay of the lettering and Border.
They are much more difficult, but i think i have improved my method so i am hoping to find a way to "Mass Produce" these Wood inlays, seeing as the only people whould could afford to pay me to do them (remember they are hard) would be those who would be having very fine cabinets made, and may very well want VERY Extensive Inlays, so i need to practice more with those.
The one i did was particularly difficult for two main reasons
1) Size, The letters are about the height of a dime, and are about 1.5 millimeters thick. My machine has allot of power, and soemtimes, especially with these small inlays, its like trying to get the hulk to play a harp.....
2) Sharp Corners, I can do Sharp Cornered Inlays by machine (something i am proud to say none of my other maching buddies have been able to do) well, i figured out a way to do it, its not allo of work, actually just a way of thinking of things a little backwards.
All that being said i have allot of changing i am going to do the next time around. Hopeflly i will get it dont much much faster.
Ok, some day when we have money and a house...we are definitely hiring you to do our cabinets and silhouettes! THIS IS SOOOO AWEWOMS. uh AWESOM E our backspace inst working :)
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