“When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the
rest of the world" John Muir
WORKING RUSTIC at Omega July 11-15 2011
Daniel Mack, Jim Caufield, Jeffrey Lind Optional
Extended Hours till 10pm
Watch for Ticks, Poison Ivy,
Medical Attention at Guest Services
Requirements: Read Handouts, Small Chair, Land Art, Gift, Cards, Personal
Work, Wandering, Resting
Monday rustic is just putting some patterns, or forms on some
materials… no big deal
9 Meet, Tour studio area, Discuss materials, tools, safety, sample projects,
Collateral and Accidental Learning
Opening Exercise: 3 found objects
Describe the 3 courses: technical, informational and Other,
10 Tools/Techniques Demo: Make a 12” Trophy Chair to get practice with tools,
sticks, joint-making
2-5 Finish Chair
Tuesday learning more about tools, when to use, for what
9 Talk: who’s visiting? have your Fatal Attractions come back?
9:30 Tools/Techniques Demo: Drill Press, Big Drill, Chop Saw
10-12 Work in pairs to Make a small Table or Bench: 4 holes, four
tenoned legs
2-3 Finish Furniture Projects: Stools and Tables
3-5 Tools/Techniques Demo: Trouble shooting tips and Finishing options:
adding-subtracting
8:50--9:10 Faculty Showcase: What I learned from Al
Wednesday What “else” are you making: windows, mirrors, memorials,
coffins, lures, decoys, altars, walls?
9 Talk:
9:30 Personal Project Work : new project or add to Bench or Table
2-5 Afternoon for Other Activities/ Field Trips Shop is Open for Work
2 Dan doing a 75-minute Sampler for other classes; you are welcome to
join. Card
Exercise
Thursday Drawing Bull’s Eyes and making apple cores! Artist Riva
Weinstein Visits!
9 Talk
9:30 Tools/Techniques Demo: power carvers, power chisels
10-12 Project Work - in pairs
2-4 Tools/Techniques Demo
Continue Projects - in pairs
Friday check list of aptitudes and attitudes: “It’s not your abilities,
but the choices you make”
9:30 Finish up Projects
11-12 Dan Closing Talk/Slides: You are always making and re-making
your s’elves
12-3 Pack Up/Leave
CHECKLIST 7.2011
Goals: Increased facility with tools and techniques, Better understanding
of personal sense of design, motivations for Making, appreciation
for breadth--the “grammar”-- of natural materials
Tools: learning when to use what tool
Shop Set-up Tables, lights, storage, heat, safety, air cleaning, Safety
Glasses
Cutting Tools Loppers, Clippers, Knives, Hand Carving Tools, Saws: Hand
folding, Bow, Circular, Chop Saw, Reciprocating, Jig, Chain Saw:
Gas, electric, Safety and blocking
Tenon Cutter: stationary, changing heads, adjusting blades, Safety and
blocking
Portable (Lee Valley): methods of use; Alternatives: Hand Cutting,
Chisels, hole saws, grinders
Antique Tools: hollow auger, spoke pointer, Rounder
Drills: 1/2”, 3/8” corded, battery, “keyless chuck”
Drill Bits Varieties, uses
Drill Press: floor, table model, Use of V Blocks, shims
Holding Hands in Gloves Vises, Clamp, extensions, bungees, Shaving
Horse
Finishing Rationale(s) Grinders, Dremel, Sanders: Random Orbital, etc
Sandpaper: grits, backings
Specialised Arbortech Carvers, Power Chisels
Techniques: Several Techniques can get similar results; Which to
use??
Acquiring: Gleaning, Buying
Construction: Mortise/Tenon, Wedged Tenons Mechanicals: rationale,
screws,(trims, timberlocs...)
Chemical: Glues: varieties, conditions for use
Alternative Joinery: Gravity, wire string, wax, velcro
Bark Applique handling, adhesion, trimming, finish
Finishing Oils, stains, lye, vinegar, Sealers: oils, water-based,
wipe-ons, Waxing
Woods Identifying, Acquiring, Harvesting, Peeling, Storing
Drying and Kilns and Bugs
“Country” Drawknife/Shaving Horse, axe, froe, spokeshave
Seating Seat Weaving, Uphosltery
Tricks and Tips markers, paints, plugs, dirt, acorns, leveling
legs
Outering/Uttering writing skills, speaking skills
Marketing selling windows or mirrors?
More Info:
www.sofasandsectionals.com/ultimate-woodworking-guide
Materials: Slab Wood and Driftwood to make benches and stools, Dry Sticks
with Bark and Peeled, Fresh Cut: Hickory, Mulberry, Maple, Purchased rustic
materials: “fence posts”, fencing, lumber, Re-Claimed Wood, Planks; Exotics:
White Birch Bark, Found Objects: stones, bones, feathers, soil, water, nests,
Projects Time to allow Projects Time to
allow
Trophy chair, 12” high 4-6 hrs Bench 1 ¼ mortise/tenon
joints 4 hrs
Garden Arbors/Trellises 4 hrs++ Ephemeral Work/Gifts
10min ++
Land Art 1 hr++ Carved Bowls (with power
carver) 30 min++
Found Wood Carving 1 hr++ Birch Bark
appliqué 2 hrs++
Adult arm/side chair 10-12 hours Child’s arm chair, about
22” high 6 hrs
Headboard 4 hrs Table structure
4-6 hrs
Discussion notes, concepts and terms
Elements of Rustic Design
Human nature loves heartily well-balanced irregularity and longs for it in
life, in character, and in almost
everything else . Calvert Vaux Villa and
Cottage Architecture 1864
Rustic = affinity of opposites: geometry/nature, order/chaos, mater/pater,
understructure/over structure,
Rustic = Linear and non-linear Geometry,
Rustic = The Need, the Intention, The Hunt, Making, Moving Along.
Rustic = geometry + craft + natural materials
Rustic = simple understructure + interesting feature
Rustic = mortality, transience, but not permanence
Rustic = a copy, interpretation, homage of something else.
Slide Talks: Dictionary of Rustic, Rustic in Architecture, Spirit of
Rustic
The Four Needs: The Need for Wonder (punctum, “feeling in” surrealism), The
Need for Dexterity (hand-spirit, Infinite Play), The Need for Stories (the
Diamonic), The Need for the Organic/Sensual/The Freal/The Carnal (Green Man./Al
Khdir) Nature-Time-Patience are 3 great healers
The “Other” Courses… Visitors to be alert for:
Your family: who visited you this week?? Who are you Building What
For? Why?
Moods: frustration, slow, fast, Encounters with rude people, kind people,
young people, the same people
Inferiores: the rest of the clan, the gremlins, the preferred, deferred
and denied s’elfs, Dreams Coincidences,
Encounters with The Elements: fire, earth, water, air, moon, rain, cold,
sweat, sun, smell, noise, movement
What Creatures Appear?: snakes (life energy), mosquitoes (persistence),
rabbits, coyotes (trickster), spider(balance), butterfly(change/grace),
salamanders(adaptable), bear(strong/introspective), raccoon(curious, playful
pesky), fox(clever/adapts), ants(patient), heron(solitary), deer(sensitivity),
owl (insight), hawk (vision/aggression),
frog(healing/cleansing/transformation),
Activities/Exercises to honor the Other unconscious workshop
Tree Id/Woods Walks Watching people Looking at slides Looking at
Videos Coincidences
Collecting Materials Design Books Field Trips Visiting
Sawmills Drawing
Haiku/Senru Poetry Mud Painting Dancing with Sticks
Utensils Kinetics
found/arranged Gifts “Smalls”, Toys Land-Based
Arrangement
Objects reflecting various techniques/materials Collaborate, Assist, Be
Assisted
Get up at 5:30 AM to hear some of the 100 possible Songbirds express Joy,
Anxiety, Conspicuity, Alarm, Defense
Points of Rustic Interest for Possible Side Trips
15 Minutes Near-by Sawmills: 889 8252, 868 7566, 889 4193,
473 2325 Larry 914 275 5804
Hudson River Driftwood Scavenging at Rhinecliff Sta Parking Lot
Bard College Avery Center by Frank Gehry
Rhinebeck, NY Warren Tool Co 845 876-7817
30 Minutes Millbrook, NY Innisfree Garden, Wing Castle… Stone
Castle from recycled Materials
Flagler Arboretum and Institute for Ecosystem Studies
Wassaic, NY Stone beehive Kilns, Deep Hollow Rd and Rt 22,
Rhinebeck, NY Poets Walk to Hudson River River Rd near Kingston
Bridge
60 minutes Wingdale, NY Dan’s Other Shop and Gleaning Area
Cornwall, NY Storm King Art Center Andy Goldsworthy’s Wall that
Went for a Walk
Garrison, NY Manitoga/Russell Wright Design Center ($15)
Hudson, NY Olana, Frederick Church’s hilltop home/Museum