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Free Design Tutorial

P

Philip Streeting

Joined
Sep 22, 2004
Messages
39
Likes
19
Location
UK
Website
www.woodturningdesign.info
Many visitors to my site have downloaded this new free tutorial. I hope they have found it useful. It is an easy introduction to design using basic, cheap and easily obtained materials. It is a physical method of investigating curves and curve design. As usual it is in .pdf format and printable.

Here is the link
http://www.woodturningdesign.info/Design and Flexicurve.html

My blog has examples of 3D design that incorporate ideas that could be adapted for turning and surface decoration. Free to download and use. More available if this stimulates interest.

http://philip-streeting.blogspot.com
 
Thanks for the post of the .pdf files. Every bit of information proves useful at one time or another and if you don't have it in your library its usefulness is lost.
 
Additional info

Thanks for your feedback Nuturner. Turners have downloaded several hundred of the various .pdf's from my site over the past couple of years - you are the first to express thanks.

I have stopped preparing tutorials now because of lack of feedback. I have no idea whether turners have found the information useful or whether the format and content is helpful or whether more are wanted.

An additional use for the Flexicurve system it's use in the workshop near the lathe. An anticipated profile to be turned from a blank is a helpful guide for shape/form and proportion for those who cannot draw too well or don't want to sketch out pieces before turning. The profile on the board serves as a reminder and comparison point for what is on the lathe and what you are trying to achieve. A bit more flexible and intuitive in approach than using a cut out template.

One of the tutorials I was going to prepare was the use of a grid system in design for woodturning. This would have aided the understanding and use of a proportion in design when preparing sketches. The grid is flexible enough to be resized to a specific turning blank. I posted the idea and the grid here some time back but as there were no responses I assumed there was no interest. All the tutorials on my site are free to download and take many hours of work to prepare, it is a waste of my time if the ideas are not helpful to others. If users don't feed back then I'll never know.
 
What I should have included in the above was that the board in the workshop idea was fedback to me from an elderly turner at a talk I gave at a woodturning club last year. Unable to draw he could see that this was an aid to improving his turning.
 
Hey Phillip,

I am a new turner for the most part (on and off for a year), but any info to help with designs and meaning is always needed. Thanks for providing some great info. I'll be sure to keep it with my other papers close to the lathe in the shop.

Thanks Again,

Gothyc Designs
 
blogspot

Thanks for posting the blogspot. This would be a great reference for any turner interested the artistic/inspiration aspects of woodturning. I have bookmarked it for future reference. Also, I would recommend that everyone check out the comment on your first piece: It could be a good discussion thread.
 
Thanks for posting, Philip.

Another reference you might consider for Ideas and Inspiration is "The Styles of Ornament" by Alexander Speltz. It contains several thousand copyright-free illustrations from antiquity to somewhat shy of 1904 (the date of the original German edition). A great source for classical forms. The Dover paperback edition was first published in 1959, and it's still in print as far as I can tell.

A convenient physical tool for conforming your work to the "Golden Ratio" is a proportional divider with variable outside points, and an inside point that moves at 0.618 times the outside dimension. Google [fibonacci gauge] for some construction examples.

Joe
 
Thanks

Thanks Gil and John for the feedback. Glad the articles etc are helpful.

There will be further Blog entries showing forms taken from life models, found objects and museum pieces soon. These examples are to encourage using personal reference instead of duplicating or referencing other turners work. Both sites are broadly aimed at the UK where less creative approaches to turning are embraced.

On the Blog I am concentrating on basic shape/form. I am suggesting that foot, rim and other detail can be added to these basic shapes. Generally speaking it is well proportioned curves and shapes that are the most difficult to achieve on the lathe if working without prior planning.

If we all used our eyes more to see rather than look, there are references for beautiful forms everywhere. Try holding a hand up with fingers spread - there are five unique vase/bowl forms waiting to be used in the spaces between the fingers. Moving the fingers closer together or further apart reveals further shapes.

Maybe hands can be used for inspiration as well as holding tools!
 
Philip, I've used your ideas for getting a flowing line using curtain wire and a corkboard. Works well - thanks (and IIRC when you posted on the Oz turning forum I thanked you then too!).
 
Philip: I just learned of your excellent tutorials and took the time to scan through them all. The ideas using a chain are so simple even I can understand them. I'll be taking the time to read through all your work soon. Thanks for putting them up. I need a lot of help in my design efforts.
 
Philip, I'm a pen turner/designer and I hope to be able to use your tutorials to help me design my custom pieces. I just found and downloaded them last night, so I'll go through them in detail and let you know how they work out. Thank you for posting them though, and keep up the great work:cool:
 
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