By Hand and Eye

[Mike Davis]

I preordered By Hand and Eye from Lost Art Press. It lays out an old style of designing by proportion rather than strict measurements. It wasn't until the industrial revolution that machine production and division of labor forced workmen to use a standard rule for measuring parts of furniture. Befor then one man or small group built the piece of furniture and used dividers and story sticks to layout parts. This method is more intuitive and adaptable than rigid plans and is very similar to the way I have always worked on my wood projects.

i enjoyed the book and it refreshed some principles I learned in high school drafting. Geometric constructions by straight edge and compass are very handy in the shop and more accurate than most framing squares.

in the second half of the book is a copy of a painting from 1220 Paris, France. It shows an early use of compasses or dividers for designing. I asked Chris Schwarz if he would like a woven tapestry of the painting, he thought it was a great idea so I designed, wove and shipped it to him this week. It will go into our line and I plan to add more images from Chris' archives.

 

[Gotcha6]

Given my propensity to forgo plans and miscalculate measurements in the shop, most of my projects end up being of this nature..... :gar-La;
Guess I'm just getting back to old old old school WWing....
We'd like to see a pic of the tapestry when you can post it.

 

[b4man]

Given my propensity to forgo plans and miscalculate measurements in the shop, most of my projects end up being of this nature..... :gar-La;
Guess I'm just getting back to old old old school WWing....
We'd like to see a pic of the tapestry when you can post it.

I hope it will be reposted. Mike did share the pic and took it down because of a remark made referencing religion and the rules here prohibiting religious topic and conversation. However, I saw no such reference as it applies to that post.

It's a beautiful tapestry!

 

[kooshball]

I hope it will be reposted. Mike did share the pic and took it down because of a remark made referencing religion and the rules here prohibiting religious topic and conversation. However, I saw no such reference as it applies to that post.

It's a beautiful tapestry!

I would love to see a photo as well!

 

[smallboat]

I'm guessing Mike could have the photo in his gallery for folks to take a look. I know there have been some picks that showed up recently in the random selection that surprised me with their content. Not making a fuss, and not offended, just surprised.

 

[Gotcha6]

We had an entry in the Calendar Contest once of a bible box with a passage of scripture engraved on the inside of the lid. It was very inspirational and I used it as my wallpaper for some months. Don't see why Mike can't post it to his Gallery.......

 

[Mike Davis]

When I get back to work I'll make a photo of the actual weaving and maybe a couple close up.

then if anyone wants to see it I'll PM the photo or a link to it.

I didn't think it was a religious post, but I can see how an atheist may be offended so I will not post it.

 

[KenOfCary]

Thanks for your consideration and empathy for others. I would definitely like a link or PM of the pics though.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

When I get back to work I'll make a photo of the actual weaving and maybe a couple close up.

then if anyone wants to see it I'll PM the photo or a link to it.

I didn't think it was a religious post, but I can see how an atheist may be offended so I will not post it.

I don't see why an atheist (or anyone for that matter) would be offended. I am not religious, I saw the original picture, and it can be appreciated from non-religious points of view. I would personally tell them to not look at it if they don't like it, and if that wasn't good enough I would have some very specific suggestions of what they could do, but I respect your decision to post it how you see fit. Please excuse my rant.

 

[Jeff]

Mike,

I'd like to have a link to the tapestry and your reproduction of it.

Religion and sensitivity aside, some of this stuff is just too literal in interpretation and over the top imo.

 

[tryingtokeepmyfingers]

I didn't think it was a religious post, but I can see how an atheist may be offended so I will not post it.

I'm offended that atheist do not believe in a god..... is my belief not just as valid as theirs... we need to make this thing majority rule because someone is going to always be offended.... if we do not want to offend anyone then we should just shut down ncwoodworkers.net so no one is offended but I would and I am sure lots of others would be offended if that happened.... at some point we try to keep things politically correct so we can reach out to others and grow the membership but if the current membership suffers trying to not offend people that have not even joined yet then it just is not a just trade off.... so post your photo right here in this thread cause when I first read you post the other day I wanted to see the tapestry cause it goes along with you post

 

[Mike Davis]

There are plenty of reasons to be offended, this is not one.

Let's keep the site friendly to everyone, even those who don't contribute and have nothing good to say.

 

[nn4jw]

Thanks for the heads up about this book, Mike. I've ordered a copy for myself. I could have used that section on drawing ellipses a few weeks back. The template I spent days searching for cost almost as much as this book.

As an atheist I guess I need to don my peril sensitive sunglasses so the aforementioned picture doesn't burn my eyes out when I read the book. :rotflm:

There are a lot bigger things in this world to worry about or be offended by than a photo of a tapestry of a picture from 1220 Paris. My 2 cents worth.

 

[Jeff]

Mike,

I love geometry and trigonometry so how did they construct proportionally functional and sturdy items with a compass and straightedge? The "Hand and Eye" book reviews reveal part of the secret from furniture, boat design, and cannon trunnions.

It appears to go back to the Greeks and the Golden Ratio of 1.618:1.

Thought you'd enjoy this video too.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nav0kVa66xk

 

[Mike Davis]

I think he likes it...



Mike,


I just returned home from our last visit to the Studley tool chest and your tapestry was waiting for me.


Wow. Just wow. I could not have even imagined that something like this was possible.


I need a little time to think about this. My head is swimming a bit from it all.


I'll be in touch very shortly. Right now I have to get some sleep. Haven't slept much in seven days because of WIA and the last photo shoot.




-----
Christopher Schwarz

 

[nn4jw]

Received the book this afternoon. An awful lot to digest. Definitely a book to spend some long winter evenings with.

How large did you end up making that tapestry, Mike?

- eyeballs still intact.

 

[Mike Davis]

Jim, it is 4x6 feet.

we have four standard sizes 6x8, 4x6, 3x4, and 2x3.

I'm working on one now that will be 6x47 feet, it is a photo panorama.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Sounds like it was a hit. Can you give a simplified explanation of how you get from a picture to a tapestry? Is the process automated by computers or do you have to redraw it somehow?

 

[Mike Davis]

Jeremy,

I use a weave cad system, but most of the resizing, color reduction, redrawing to improve details, color enhancement and so on can be done in Photoshop. The actual weave assignment is just a matter of choosing weaves that produce a color/texture that represent the closest appearance to the original. Then there are technical considerations like yarn selection, order of yarn placement, layers of cloth, back weaves to even out the tension, edge weaves and loom set up. Most of it is predetermined but some things can be very different from one image to the next. We draft out each weave and save it to the drive and reuse them over again, but often add more to get special colors or effects. The computer overlays each weave we choose on to each color area. Then the files become cut/miss or up/down or 1/0 single bit file that controls the hooks in the Jacquard head.

Hopefully that answers your question in not too simplified a manner.

 

[Rick M]

The tapestry sounds amazing.