Apr 12

Apis coronavirus, Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D., 2020

“Apis coronavirus”, Daniel D. Brown, 2020, wood and resin.
Constructed from mulberry (milled from my backyard), chakta viga, walnut, yellowheart, katalox, and epoxy resin. All natural wood colors. No paint, stains, or dyes. The resin is clear and the “honey” color derives exclusively from the underlying wood. See below for more information. The entire process was documented in Instagram stories highlighted on my profile.

This piece will be featured as a step-by-step tutorial, with templates included, in the Summer 2021 issue of Scroll Saw Woodworking & Crafts magazine.

I started this project at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown specifically because I knew it was going to be tedious and require hours of concentration, which I knew I’d need to distract from the stress we’re all feeling to various degrees. It ended up being even more time-consuming than anticipated and I spent almost 3 weeks on it, including at least several full workdays on the weekends. I initially designed it in Adobe Illustrator. The 12 bees were made as fully inlayed intarsia, then shaped (via @kutzall burrs), followed by scrolling and shaping of all 72 legs – shaped twice because I wasn’t happy with them after the first round. The wings ended up even more challenging than expected, requiring a couple trials to get them acceptable enough. Thin resin (slightly tinged with pigment) was poured over a crumpled acetate sheet, the wing veins hand drawn, and each wing cut out by dremel to avoid shattering. They were then sanded and shellacked.
Each leg and wing was individually attached with @starbondadhesives CA glue – also a more difficult task than expected due to the fact that I couldn’t just spray accelerator everywhere as it ruins both the epoxy and shellac finishes. The honeycomb and bee bodies were finished with @odiesoil, appendages with shellac, and frame with @generalfinishes polyurethane.

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Now a video… “Apis coronavirus”, Daniel D. Brown, 2020, wood and resin. Constructed from mulberry (milled from my backyard), chakta viga, walnut, yellowheart, katalox, and epoxy resin. All natural wood colors. No paint, stains, or dyes. The resin is clear and the “honey” color derives exclusively from the underlying wood. I started this project at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic shutdown specifically because I knew it was going to be tedious and require hours of concentration, which I knew I’d need to distract from the stress we’re all feeling to various degrees. It ended up being even more time-consuming than anticipated and I spent almost 3 weeks on it, including at least several full workdays on the weekends. I initially designed it in Adobe Illustrator. The 12 bees were made as fully inlayed intarsia, then shaped (via @kutzall burrs), followed by scrolling and shaping of all 72 legs – shaped twice because I wasn’t happy with them after the first round. The wings ended up even more challenging than expected, requiring a couple trials to get them acceptable enough. Thin resin (slightly tinged with pigment) was poured over a crumpled acetate sheet, the wing veins hand drawn, and each wing cut out by dremel to avoid shattering. They were then sanded and shellacked. Each leg and wing was individually attached with @starbondadhesives CA glue – also a more difficult task than expected due to the fact that I couldn’t just spray accelerator everywhere as it ruins both the epoxy and shellac finishes. The honeycomb and bee bodies were finished with @odiesoil, appendages with shellac, and frame with @generalfinishes polyurethane. … #scrollsaw #scrollsawart #woodworking #woodintarsia #woodart #woodsculpture #madeinpittsburgh #pittsburghwoodworking #honeybee #beeart

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You do NOT want to get stung by one of these.

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Midway point post: honeybees! 🐝 If you haven’t been following my stories, I’ve started this little wooden bee artwork. I still have quite a ways to go – I’m still working on getting a wing prototype I like. And have barely considered how I’ll make the legs. The bees are going to be pseudo-3D, but obviously not realistic. I’m walking a line between both stylistic and realistic and 2D/3D, and honestly not sure how it will actually look in the end. The main reason I started this piece was because it was obvious it was going to be an incredibly tedious one. It’s turned out to be even more so 😂. But in times like these, it’s nice to be able to zone out in intense concentration on my hands while escaping into a good audiobook. #woodintarsia #scrollsawart #woodart #beeart #honeybee #pittsburghwoodworking

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Apr 08

Wooden Plaque for PhD student

Wooden Plaque for graduating PhD student Dr. Zheqi (Vaciry) Lee

Several years ago, I started making little plaques with names and degree for students in the @leeoesterreichlab after they receive their PhD. Today I can finally say congratulations to Zheqi “Vaciry” Li (@vaciryli), who had to defend his dissertation via Zoom this week. But he nailed it! This plaque is made from walnut, ambrosia maple, and cherry, and the design is roughly inspired by architecture from Huishan Ancient Town near Vaciry’s hometown of Wuxi, China. I have to give special thanks to @chelseachen655 and @kaiding568 for providing and proofing the characters.

Vaciry defending his dissertation (via video thanks to covid-19).
Mar 06

Carved walnut seahorse

Walnut seahorse carved from an antique chair arm

Last summer I started this little carving from an antique walnut chair arm (2nd pic), given to me by my step-father-in-law @freetimemike. I had no plans when I started – it was just an excuse to whittle outside. Eventually I saw this shape inside it. Once it got cold, I threw it in a corner and got distracted. This past week I decided to finish it up. Most of it was carved by hand with @flexcut_tools knives, then finished with some @saburrtooth dremel burrs.

Feb 28

Apprentice & Master, Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D., 2020

“Apprentice & Master”
(Ahsoka Tano & Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader)
Did you know that Anakin Skywalker had a young Padawan learner before his tragic fall to the Dark Side? If not, you probably haven’t watched “Clone Wars” or “Rebels” (spoiler warning). Thanks to a couple follower’s suggestions, I thought I’d give a little explanation of this piece below and why I chose it for the folks who haven’t watched those shows.

First off, my favorite character in the Star Wars Universe MAY just be Ahsoka Tano. Definitely top 5. She starts off as a plucky, slightly annoying, and initially unwanted 14 yr old apprentice to Anakin and ends up over the course of both TV series as a wise, badass, saber-wielding champion and rebel. Thanks to the stellar voice acting of @ashleyeckstein and the creative mastermind @dave.filoni , her story arc is incredibly well-developed (and hopefully not quite over). Her complex relationship with Anakin makes his eventual downfall all the more tragic. Anakin’s slow decent from true hero to corrupted villain and its emotional impact is made believable by the outstanding work of @mattlanter in a way that I don’t think the prequel movies ever really pulled off. I, like many, initially resisted watching because I thought it was a “cartoon for kids”. But once I got into it, I found some of the storytelling to be among the best in Star Wars. So, this artwork is based on a few stills from my second favorite scene from Rebels (guess my first?): the battle in which Ahsoka realizes that Darth Vader is none other than her beloved former Master. Noooooooooo!
Cut by hand on the scrollsaw, it was constructed from 16 species of wood (no paint or stain) in “intarsia” style over ~3 weeks. Their names in Aurebesh were burned into the frame, along with the Fulcrum, Rebel, Jedi, and Empire insignia.
Species: wenge, katalox, ebony, walnut, maple, chakte viga, crab apple, purpleheart, redheart, yellowheart, padauk, aspen, holly, yew, & basswood.

Feb 02

TV Console Table

Hand-built TV Console Table


I finally finished our new TV console table! The purpose of this was to replace a beat up old beast of a particle board stand (last pic). Our house and living room is pretty tiny, so a while back @tamarynart requested a much smaller piece to open up the space. She also helped and instructed with the design – she uses this TV more so pleasing her was my only goal.
Constructed from scrap African mahogany from a furniture maker, walnut, and an inlayed bloodwood/Caribbean rosewood/brass flower from @copper_pig_fine_woodworking. Pyrography on the drawer fronts was designed and burned by @tamarynart.