SHRIPHANI PALAKODETY: Posts tagged 'carpentry'

Mahogany Earrings

2018-06-28T01:39:12Z

This project is a pair of wooden earrings. Carved from a single block of mahogany and dealt with from start to finish with hand-tools.

The brass was a stray piece of artist wire combined with some off-the-shelf clip-ons.

An unorthodox set of materials to craft a one-of-a-kind object.

Model: Ivy Zheng

A post shared by Shriphani “Ess” Palakodety (@life_of_ess) on May 1, 2018 at 9:58am PDT

Here is a small clip illustrating the whole build process.

A post shared by Shriphani “Ess” Palakodety (@life_of_ess) on May 3, 2018 at 9:02am PDT

Cherry - Purpleheart Spoon

2018-03-28T19:43:54Z

For my little cousin I put together this nifty little present - a spoon hand carved from cherry and a small purpleheart stand. I had a lot of fun making this and I could knock this out in a couple of hours - a new milestone for my skills. The improved confidence lets you make aggressive quick strokes and remove large chunks of material - where previously one would be as conservative as possible.

Acanthus Leaf - Black Walnut

2018-03-01T07:37:41Z

This is a project very close to my heart. I first saw the acanthus leaf perched at the top of columns in old buildings in London. There’s something about the acanthus leaf that makes it stand out - the incredible fractality throughout.

I had a lot of fun carving this. And carving such an old ornament (found in sculpture as early as 1000 BC), you can’t help but feel humbled – 3000 odd years ago, someone like me was making the same thing. What were their dreams like? What drove them and their creative pursuits?

Here’s the leaf in her full glory - the chosen ornament of Western civilization, the muse of the great architect Callimachus, the artistic vision for over a hundred generations of mankind - acanthus.

Music is my main source of inspiration. Music guide the curves and shapes in what I carve. Arvo Pärt’s Spiegel im Spiegel seemed like the most natural fit. The curve of the leaf isn’t too severe or too mild, the shape not too exxagerated, the grain not too overwhelming to show the cuts.

A post shared by Shriphani Palakodety (@life_of_ess) on Feb 27, 2018 at 10:17am PST

Basswood Carving

2018-01-02T02:08:07Z

A basswood carving. Finished first with polyurethane, which was a disaster. Rescued (sort-of) with a gel stain.

Very proud to show you guys the finished piece. Acanthus hand carved on basswood and finished with a gel stain and lacquer. She looks like a chocolate bar - and the glossy nature makes her look menacing - a little like a panther. This piece was a little ruined by my lack of experience but someone I respect a lot forced me to stick with it and see it through - these folks are God’s gift to men - they help us see and think straight when we need it the most. #wood #woodworking #art #artistsoninstagram #artprocess #artist #carving #handmade #woodcarving #crafts #chocolate #fractal #artoftheday #glossy #shine #plant #trees #craftsmanship #sculpture #sculpting #woodsculpture

A post shared by Shriphani Palakodety (@life_of_ess) on Nov 4, 2017 at 4:30pm PDT

New woodworking project WIP. Hand carved acanthus plant on basswood. Sped up about 500x - this condenses parts of a 30+ hour project and a new addition to my woodworking skillset. #art #artprocess #artist #artistsoninstagram #artwork #woodworking #wood #carving #woodcarving #handtools #handmade #handcarved #timelapse #hyperlapse #carpenter #carpentry #diy #sculpture #sculpting #basswood #woodcraft #woodworkeroninsta #realwoodworking #carpenters #chisel #artisanal #artisan

A post shared by Shriphani Palakodety (@life_of_ess) on Nov 3, 2017 at 6:38pm PDT

Cedar, Maple, Purpleheart Coasters

2017-10-09T02:06:35Z

After my recent bookstand project, I was looking for a simple project to put left-over lumber to good use. These coasters are what I came up with.

A tree is the epitome of a selfless life - it provides shelter and sustenance for decades and it is sad to see any part of such a worthy being go to waste.

In this post I describe a quick project combining cedar, purpleheart and maple. The combination is aesthetically pleasing and can be put together in a few hours with simple hand tools.

I was building this project on a tight schedule and thus things don’t line up 100% - someone with better skills or more time should produce better output.

Rounded corners are obtained by a simple principle we learn in math. Lots of straight cuts along the tangents of the desired circle, form the cicle.

I marked out the desired corner trajectory using a pair of divider calipers and filed away enough material until I obtained this result:

Then I glued my maple and purpleheart blocks like so:

Using a drill press I put in a few holes for birch dowels. The result was:

Finally I inserted the dowels with glue around them to fix them in place.

Someone mentioned compressed birch dowels to me that expand when glue is added. These I trust are going to produce much stronger structures than what I have.

Finally, I applied wipe-on poly - I have developed a strong affection for this product - incredible ease of use and very good results with minimal effort - a winner.

Here are a couple of additional pictures of the coasters in their new home.

Bookstand

2017-07-23T06:23:42Z

I finally put together my first complex woodworking project with moving parts. The result looks gorgeous to me - I have rarely seen 3 woods with such different textures complement each other so well.

My typical process for most projects is to start out, run through the steps mentally and then fill in the details as needed.

Trays

The core components that don’t depend on each other are obviously the trays where the book sits, the hinge mechanism that allows you to open and close the object.

I had 2 cedar planks – 36"x6"x0.75" each. These had to be reshaped to form the two trays. The easiest way is to cut them up, glue them, sand until you get a smooth seamless join and then trim the edges so they all line up:

The next step is to breadcrumb the whole thing. I used purpleheart - a gorgeous exotic wood that is naturally purple.

Breadcrumbs are built using a similar process as the original boards - glue and then sand down.

I drew an abstract peacock and then laser-etched it onto the boards.

Hinge Stand

I decided to go with a blind hinge - i.e. you don’t see bits of the dowel (rod) sticking out. One half of the hinge-stand looks like this:

The other half looks like this:

The only other bits involved were putting the maple bits in and gluing everything together.

And it all came together for a gorgeous piece of furniture to put a nice book on.