Jun 10

Sunflower, Daniel D. Brown PhD, 2021

A block from our house lives a couple with 2 daughters. We’ve never actually met them, though we’ve said “hi” or exchanged nods many times when we used to walk Bandit by their house (he loved their corner). Every year they plant a long beautiful row of sunflowers directly across from my bus stop, which makes my morning commute significantly brighter. The girls also regularly decorate the sidewalk with chalk drawings. More than once they’ve left a question or greeting on the sidewalk for passers by, and my wife has responded with her own drawings (we may have bought chalk solely for this purpose). Basically, they make our neighborhood a happier place. This was particularly helpful when walks around the neighborhood were all we had during covid and Bandit’s decline at the end.

So I decided to make a simple sunflower and leave it on their porch. I intended for it to be even simpler and quicker than this… but many of you know how that usually goes for me.
I assume they’ll find me here and see this. So I’ll just say: Hi neighbors! We’re Daniel and Tamaryn. Thanks for brightening up the neighborhood!

I made this “intarsia” over 3 days from yellowheart (also called “pau amarello”; from Brazil) and black walnut from our neighborhood. No paint/stain. The simple center patterned was burned via pyrography. It’s finished with oil only. It will probably end up weathering outside, but that’s the nature of wood, and it could end up even prettier with age. Or it could fall apart. lol. It’s a mystery! Slap some more oil on it next year to revitalize it. Or let the girls paint it. Or just let nature slowly reclaim it.

Apr 15

Cad Bane, Daniel D. Brown PhD, 2021

Meet Cad Bane, one of the coolest bounty hunters in the Star Wars universe (voiced by Corey Burton). This piece is roughly based on an artwork by the extraordinarily talented @daztibbles. I’ve taken a lot of liberties with it – his level of detail is impossible to translate to wood with high fidelity. Most of the piece uses only the natural colors of the different wood species, with the exception of the face, eyes, gums, and tongue. I additionally added a bit of my neighbors weathered pine fence in an attempt to give it a slightly “Western” accent.

As with almost all my Star Wars pieces, it will now adorn my tiny, dirty Star Wars-themed “shop bathroom”. 😂 I think we’re gonna need a bigger bathroom…

Species used: regular and curly maple, mahogany, sapele, mesquite, padauk, walnut, Lombardy poplar, wenge, cherry, mulberry, holly, yew.

Jul 03

Blue Jay, Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D. 2020

I finally finished this little blue jay intarsia piece, trying something a little different this time by experimenting with alcohol inks (there are no blue woods as there are no blue pigments in birds – look it up). I have to thank the amazing artist @ingrainedmoments_woodcraft for recommending @chestnutproducts Spirit Stains. Her work is gorgeous!
This piece was inspired by our new bird friend “Hunter”, who has provided practically a David Attenborough-level of wildlife backyard drama during this pandemic. He became relatively habituated to @tamarynart and I, and would “ask” us for nuts multiple times a day. Several times he appeared to “thank” us with a post-nut squawk (clear communication of some sort), and it seems like he may have even tried to barter a few times with cherries he brought us from a nearby tree (taking the nuts, leaving the cherry). Anthropomorphizing aside, he’s an incredibly clever bird. He mated and raised at least 1 chick. Sadly, he also slaughtered and ate Freddie Chirpury the song sparrow’s chicks (hence the name Hunter). This is nature’s way. Very little in nature comes without a mix of beauty, triumph, and tragedy.

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I finally finished this little blue jay intarsia piece, trying something a little different this time by experimenting with alcohol inks (there are no blue woods as there are no blue pigments in birds – look it up). I have to thank the amazing artist @ingrainedmoments_woodcraft for recommending @chestnutproducts Spirit Stains. Her work is gorgeous! This piece was inspired by our new bird friend “Hunter”, who has provided practically a David Attenborough-level of wildlife backyard drama during this pandemic. He became relatively habituated to @tamarynart and I, and would “ask” us for nuts multiple times a day. Several times he appeared to “thank” us with a post-nut squawk (clear communication of some sort), and it seems like he may have even tried to barter a few times with cherries he brought us from a nearby tree (taking the nuts, leaving the cherry). Anthropomorphizing aside, he’s an incredibly clever bird. He mated and raised at least 1 chick. Sadly, he also slaughtered and ate Freddie Chirpury the song sparrow’s chicks (hence the name Hunter). This is nature’s way. Very little in nature comes without a mix of beauty, triumph, and tragedy. *** #scrollsawart #woodintarsia #woodart #pittsburghwoodworking #madeinpittsburgh #bluejay #bluejayart

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I started a new project. Inspired by the neighborhood blue jays we’ve befriended with almonds, and by the work of @ingrainedmoments_woodcraft. I’m doing something a little different this time. I’m gonna at least attempt to color the wood with alcohol inks. I have NO idea how this will look in the end and I won’t be shocked if it doesn’t turn out how I want. But that’s what experiments are for! Note: some of the pieces are so small, I actually had to cut the overall shape in luaun ply just to hold the pieces together while I shape them. They kept falling and going everywhere. So that’s not the actual background I’ll use. I’m making the bird from this sycamore branch I found and milled up last weekend. #intarsia #scrollsawart #birdart #bluejays

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May 28

Darth Maul, Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D., 2020

“Darth Maul”, 2020, wooden intarsia.
All natural wood colors, zero paint or stain. Maul was cut on a scrollsaw, and the frame was mostly handcarved with chisels. Made from 11 species of wood: padauk, wenge, walnut, chakte viga, mahogany, purpleheart, redheart, yellowheart, basswood, holly, and ebony. See below for more information. The process was documented in Instagram stories highlighted on my profile.

Darth Maul was a character I didn’t find particularly interesting until Dave Filoni and his team expanded on his story, character, and motivations in Clone Wars. I thought it was pretty sweet how for the final season they brought in both the original Maul @iamraypark and his voice @switwer1. There was 1 particular scene that when I saw it, I immediately knew I needed to make an artwork based on it. Luke @cyclocrosscutter had the same idea, and actually brought it up to me first. One day I sent him a vid of me working on the design and he replied with an identical vid happening at the same time. From there it snowballed into a competition between me, Luke, and Justin @scrollsawscribbler to see who would make the better Wooden Maul piece. They’re both incredibly talented artists/woodworkers, despite this obviously thorough trouncing (there’s your set up, Luke). As I’m sure you will see, Luke will soon claim victory with some heavy-handed gimmickry. We’ll see if he can actually pull it off. If he does, I will bow down in defeat. Justin’s version is pretty dang sweet, though he had significantly less time to devote given he’s neck deep in actual $ commissions. No one can touch Justin in his unique style.

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“Darth Maul”, 2020, wooden intarsia. All natural wood colors, zero paint or stain. Maul was cut on a scrollsaw, and the frame was mostly handcarved with chisels. Made from 11 species of wood: padauk, wenge, walnut, chakte viga, mahogany, purpleheart, redheart, yellowheart, basswood, holly, and ebony. Darth Maul was a character I didn’t find particularly interesting until Dave Filoni and his team expanded on his story, character, and motivations in Clone Wars. I thought it was pretty sweet how for the final season they brought in both the original Maul @iamraypark and his voice @switwer1. There was 1 particular scene that when I saw it, I immediately knew I needed to make an artwork based on it. Luke @cyclocrosscutter had the same idea, and actually brought it up to me first. One day I sent him a vid of me working on the design and he replied with an identical vid happening at the same time. From there it snowballed into a competition between me, Luke, and Justin @scrollsawscribbler to see who would make the better Wooden Maul piece. They’re both incredibly talented artists/woodworkers, despite this obviously thorough trouncing (there’s your set up, Luke). As I’m sure you will see, Luke will soon claim victory with some heavy-handed gimmickry. We’ll see if he can actually pull it off. If he does, I will bow down in defeat. Justin’s version is pretty dang sweet, though he had significantly less time to devote given he’s neck deep in actual $ commissions. No one can touch Justin in his unique style. There will be a separate post of all 3 pieces once Luke is done with his. … #clonewars #starwars #starwarsfanart #darthmaul #scrollsawart #starwarsfan #pittsburghwoodworking #pittsburghartist #woodintarsia #madeinpittsburgh #makergeeks

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