Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Stair making II

First lesson: draw the joints between the straight and curved parts before cutting the curves. You need square references surfaces to make that frikin joint. 

Second lesson: making a mock up was a good idea. 

This is how the mock up looks then:


 My eyes finally can rest looking at this, there is a continuous, first derivative continuous curve as I go down the stairs. There's no structural need for this, but it's a cognitive need, to repeat the shape you see in the bottom at mid height.  The cognitive, or maybe emotional need, of seeing continous things. One handrail and not few pieces stuck together.


I didn't consider the half lap joint in that side, so after gluing it the angle on the lower rail had shifted.


Maybe I also need to make the upper rail with the same smooth change of slope as the stair, where it meets the wall? Add a scroll to the beginning of the rail? I definitely need to increase the top radius of the rail to match better the volute. I'm using the same profile (kind of) the one there is in the second floor, so don't ask for different shapes and mouldings for this stair. 

I'm leaving it like that, finish it when I come back. Read some books, think a bit more about the drawing. I'm late anyways, a year or more already. I wish my mother could have seen it, and used it once at least but I just didn't have the skills back then. The month I was here last time, when she was dying, I was making my roubo bench too. Didn't finish that one that time either. At least it's glued now. She anyway asked to leave the half finished bench here, in a room so she could go and look at it. 

It's not the best way of making lots of projects but I like it. Projects that last years, and you change through them and they grow old with you. Become part of your life and organise your life so you can finish them. It takes time, and nobody will put up with it except yourself. It's all good. 





1 comment:

  1. Very good work!

    I'm sorry about your mother...it reminds me I need to spend more time with my grandparents, especially my Grandpa...

    I was reading a post today about a scrubbed finish. From what I could understand, the finish was just the golden patina from age and hot water. Instead of a finish taking days, it never really ends, it just gets better with age, like wine.

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