design maple lidded bowl

[Ad de Crom]

Now it is freezing cold here on the other side of the channel, anyway too cold for working in my workshop, it is nice to sit nicely warm in my own room upstairs with a cup of coffee, and prepairing plans for the future.
Have in my woodstore a nice trunk of maple, and want to use that stuff for making a lidded bowl and with an ebony knob.
I'm used to design first on the computer, before I'm going to make it.
Used autodesk inventor for this design, and wanted to show you this design. Comments or critique are very welcome.
The DxH dimensions, 210mmx125mm, including the knob
Cheers, Ad

 

[oddsocks]

Ad, I see there are no responses yet which is surprising so hopefully my comments will trigger some.....My instinctive reaction was that I didn't like the shape but have spent the last 5 minutes looking at it to try and understand why. I suspect most of it is because it's a 2D computer model of a round item and in white not maple grained (in which case the silhouette is key).

My thoughts...
- the shape on paper implies it's a long/rectangular serving bowl (quite why I deduce that from a 2d image is beyond me!).
-The handle looks too long and thin for the rest of the bowl
- the curve of the base is too severe
- the foot is too wide
-the middle curve looks wrong (clashes with the lines from the lid) - maybe this is because the drawing shows a line at the top and bottom but in reality when turned the curve would flow into the bead top and bottom with no defined 'breakpoint' .

I know this all looks negative, but I have tried to design turned items in CAD and Sketchup and they never look right to me, so I have to just let the wood do the talking on the lathe. It might be an idea to try the shape on a smaller cheaper /less significant piece of wood but in the same proportions to see what it looks like for real.

Finally - if I tried to turn that I know I'd get something wrong -so hopefully some experienced bowl turners will pass by with comments soon


Dave

 

[Ad de Crom]

Dave, thank you for your comment, the colors are not so important, tried with showing this design to get remarks on the shape of the model. The model is a 3D model. I rotated the model into this position and saved it as a jpeg picture. I'm trying allways to create new shapes and not turning all the time ''classic'' shapes, that's mainly the reason why I came up with this shape, as it could be refreshing, or a different view on how a lidded bowl can look like. Well, turning all the time the same bowl shapes is for me a bit boring.
Thanks again Dave, much appreciated

 

[woodworker123]

Hey guys, I am new here but I think that looks really good, one thing which I would suggest that could be changed is the handle. Make it smaller and more bulky, you could even shape it into the bowl, like a little small semi circle dip at the top where the handle could fit nicely. Just my opinion but over all really cool design.

 

[fingerless]

All these comments are purely in my opinion, and I wish I were sufficiently technically proficient to produce something like this, so please view these as constructive criticism, rather than negative feedback...

For me, it is simply too busy. It looks more like an exercise in beads and coves than an object design.
Working from the bottom up, I would:
1. get rid of the foot. The base is too wide to justify the foot, and I don't think raising it off the surface will make it look less heavy, it will just look strange. If you want the foot, make it smaller in diameter, and extend the curved sides inward.
2. Remove the lower bead where the convex and concave curves join, otherwise it confuses the join.
3. The third bead from the bottom looks too wide and thick for me. Try making it thinner.
4. The flow of the top convex curve into the middle concave curve doesn't work. The eye flows down into space to the side of the concave section. Consider making the top curve steeper so it flows through the bead into the concave section.
5. The top of the handle is too bulky for its height. Either make it shorter or slimmer.
6. Finally, I think the whole thing is too tall for its width. Try making the concave section shallower, or widen the whole thing.

With a turned shape, in my opinion the eye should be able to flow around the curves, through any decorative features such as beads, without getting lost. Obvious changes in direction are fine (the bottom to middle section) but the top to middle section doesn't flow.

Congratulations on trying something different, and keep going. In this instance it doesn't work for me. However, my personal preference is towards minimalist objects, so feel free to reject my suggestions as simply a difference in opinion.

Cheers,
Fingerless

 

[Ad de Crom]

I'm really happy with all these comments, reading the comments make it all clear, a more simplier design shows better. And more quiet for the eyes. As this was only a brainwave and nothing else, I'm already busy with a redesign.
Thanks for your most honest reply guys =D>
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