Self Portrait Project - Space, Forms, and Materials power and hand tool self portrait project. More detailed project description coming soon.
Definition of the "Self Portrait" - The inner sphere represents my soul and the rings around it represent experiences that I have gone through in my life (growing larger each time- basically representing learning and growing as a person from my experiences). The sphere is connected to the outer most ring and together they spin freely from the rest of the rings (represents me going through an experience in the present that is affecting my "soul/life" while the rest of the experiences are in the past and already "set in time").
Hand Tool - The sphere is made from re-sawed bass wood (by hand) which was then cut down into 7x7 inch squares and glued together to form the layered effect. I then roughly formed the shape with chisels and refined it with wood files. Finally, I sanded the sphere down from a 120 grit to a 600 grit
Power Tool - The outer rings are made from re-sawed white ash and 2" strips of bass wood which were glued together into a 2' by 2'6" board (basically made my own plywood). Next, I cut the outside of rings out with band saw and sanded them down with a belt sander then cut out the inside with a jigsaw and sanded them out with a cylinder sander.
Mechanics - I drilled holes through the center of the rings to run a brass slip shaft through them. Then I took a brass rod to connect inner ball and the outside ring together so that they could spin freely from the rest of the rings. Finally, I rigged key chain swivels to each end of the rod so that it could spin without wrapping up the wires its hanging by.
Aesthetics - Notice the two layers of wood in the rings (left side is strips bass wood and right side is the re-sawed white ash). Also notice the layering in the sphere.
Finish - To finish the project off, the whole thing received 4 coats of tongue oil which gave it some awesome highlights when well lit, especially while spinning.
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Spinning Ball