How do you start........

[Dean]

How do you start to design/plan your turnings as in bowls, vases etc. If you do take the time to draw up working plans does the finished item look as you had planned ?

When I start a new item I don't have a plan or measurements on paper but I have a good idea of what I'm trying to achieve which often changes in some way as the work progresses

 

[chippypah]

That for me is the only way, as some paper designs don't look just right. The texture and any faults in the wood, don't understand the drawing and sometimes fight against you. So for me the way I do it is mount the wood with a mental view of roughly how you want it, then just go for it and weight and see.
Cheers
Pete

 

[Paul.J]

I tried to copy a design i made once but the piece ended up nothing like the drawing :roll: as has been said the wood i use does tend to design itself as i go along,which i enjoy really
So i don't bother with a design to start with just do what turns out at the end :?

 

[PowerTool]

I do just the same as you,Dean - start off with an idea in my head of what I intend making (normally,a shape that I think will suit the piece of timber),and sometimes it gets altered slightly as the timber see fit :wink:

Andrew

 

[TEP]

Any real design sketches I do are for items for other people. Generally they say roughly what they like then say 'You decide!'. I always give them a look at a drawing first, not to scale, but they can certainly see what it will look like.

That way they have most of the input, and you don't get the disappointed look when you deliver the 'commissioned piece'.

Although with most of my own turning my blanks for drying are already cut to size for different items. Only occasionally do I have a 'big lump', then I will play around on the lathe with it.

 

[pete honeyman]

I find that the wood tends to suggest what it is going to end up as. As I rough it down, I'll start to see the features that I want to keep, and usually the shape will start to suggest itself. I guess we all have a range of shapes in our heads that we know will work, and will use one of these.

What I'm interested in is showing and enhancing the beauty of the wood. Personally, I don't like it when the wood becomes a medium for displaying technique, such as in very thin-walled vessels. I think it's really disappointing when you see a beautiful spalted beech vessel, then pick it up and it's so light it could be paper or plastic - the weight and feel is part of the experience.

Of course this might be sour grapes because I can't make them that thin.

 

[davegw]

Frankly, whenever I have tried to follow a design, I get my self all tensed up, have a huge dig in and have to work around it anyway.

In my experience the plan lasts right up until the gouge touches the wood.

 

[Bodrighy]

Like most sofar I start with a basic idea that will then probably change as I work. Often I have found that roughing out will give me an idea of shape and form because it allows you see what's hidden in the wood.

There have even been occasions where I start to make say a vase and....through 'design' opportunities' end up with a small bowl

Pete

 

[duncanh]

Looks like I'm the odd one out. Most of what I make I plan before hand. The plan isn't particularly detailed though and just involves drawing the outline of the blank and then the outline of the curve that I aim to achieve. This isn't measured accurately and applied to the wood other than to sometimes put in the positions of certain lines which match the golden ratio.

Of course, sometimes the wood has a flaw or feature that I want to hide or highlight so I might adapt the plan.

When turning from a burr, natural edge piece or a rough cut from a log I don't plan because sketching is near impossible.

This designing process started early on when I decided that I didn't want to waste any piece of wood to produce a final turning that was just 'average'. I want to take every piece of wood and produce the best from it that I can, whether this be creating a complex shape from a less figured wood or a simple shape in a beautifully figured wood.

Occasionally I'll put some wood on the lathe without any idea of what I'm going to do with it, and this has produced a nice series of shapes and given me ideas for more projects. Sometimes though it's produced boring turnings, which of course I try to avoid.


Duncan

 

[Dean]

I'll often sit and sketch drawings to see how form/shape look, not drawings to work from, if it looks wrong I just rub it out and try again until it looks right, or if I have "bright idea" :roll: I'll see if it works on paper which often shows the pitfalls before I've wasted good wood on a daft idea.
I suppose planning your design would be easier if every piece of wood was exactly the same.............. :wink:, MDF goblet or bowl anyone?

 

[Bodrighy]

Whilst I don't draw or plan in the wy that Duncan or Dean seem to, I suppose thinking about it I do plan. I have a scrap book of all sorts of turnings and pottery, things like that that I use for ideas. Not blatantly copying but just for insiration. The ideas however tend to grow as I turn often changing completely when somethinggoes wrong. I would imagine it is different for those who are asked to make things or are making them for a purpose.

Pete

 

[Hans]

When I plan to turn something I have not done before, more often than not will I make a sketch. I use a simple CAD program, which for me is more efficient than pen and paper.

For very special projects, before sketching, I take the time to work out the design more formally, loosely following the steps of Brian Lawson's design process, as described by Mike Darlow on page 89 of his "Woodturning Design".

Hans

 

[cornucopia]

for me, i can see it in my minds eye and I try to get that image into reality. it rarely works :lol: but i'm normally happy with the results anyway.