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Laughing Mantis Studio

Art inspired by biology, created by a biologist

  • Home
  • Art Categories
    • Woodworking
    • Pastel Pencil
    • Graphite Pencil
    • 3D Digital Art
    • 2D Digital Art
    • Paintings
    • Sculptures
    • Pet Portraits
    • Jewelry & Hangers
    • 3D Animation
    • Ocean Invasion Series
    • Science Art
  • Exhibitions
  • About

Pet Portrait Commissions

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  • Pet Portrait Commissions

I am available for pet portrait commissions. Contact me at daniel.brown@yahoo.com for details.

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You can see my frequently-updated works-in-progress by following @laughingmantisstudio

laughingmantisstudio

Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D. | Breast Cancer Research Scientist
Woodworker/Artist
Husband to @tamarynart.
AKA: @danieldbrownphd
Pittsburgh, PA.
Instagram post 2239507978415721950_556906553 Well, I’m now about halfway done with a new geeky wooden artwork! Ahsoka Tano and Anakin/Vader (played by @ashleyeckstein, @mattlanter, and James Earl Jones)! It’s based on a few different still frames from my second favorite scene from Star Wars Rebels. My back was killing me from cutting all those pieces on the scrollsaw so I decided to take a break and throw together this little time lapse. These are just the unshaped pieces and I still have a ton of depth adjustment, shaping, sanding, and finishing to do, which will change its look dramatically. But I think it’s gonna be pretty cool. Unframed it’s 24” x 10” (and not for sale). #starwarsrebels #ahsokalives #darthvader #anakinskywalker #intarsia #scrollsawart #maytheforcebewithyou
Instagram post 2235730207011196156_556906553 The tables! And my little woodshed to fill out the grid. Just thought I’d share the larger furniture I’ve made over the last 2 years or so for @tamarynart and I. Every single one of them was a learning experience, filled with struggles, mistakes and resulting redesigns. But they’re all still holding up! The biggest thing I’ve learned from these is just how much work goes into even simple furniture. Each one took on the order of weeks to months to build. Granted, I don’t have a lot of time-saving equipment pros have (I covet you, jointer), nor years of knowledge and skill. But this is something I never even vaguely appreciated before trying to learn a little woodworking myself. Same goes with the cost (wood, equipment, finishing materials, time). I can’t even begin to imagine trying to make money building furniture, and I have the utmost respect for those that pull it off. So note to friends and family: please don’t ask me to make furniture. Cutting boards are fine. 😂😂😂😂
Instagram post 2235109020572721647_556906553 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 (see previous post for more on that). Pyrography on the drawer fronts was designed and burned by @tamarynart. That huge ikea bookcase will will be the next to go one day. 4 of the 5 pieces of (non-seating) furniture are now hand-built by me, not including three pieces in the bedroom, basement, and dining room, which feels pretty cool. They’re not the most well-designed or best-constructed pieces. But they’re ours and every defect reminds me of the hard work and learning that went into them! And I at least know they’re sturdier than particle board. #diyfurniture #homedecor #imadethis #woodworking #pittsburghwoodworking #madeinpittsburgh
Instagram post 2234548027094363567_556906553 Like 2 summers ago, the amazing artist and woodworker Paul Jasper (@copper_pig_fine_woodworking ) sent me this flower he cut to be inlayed into something special. I finally got around to making something worthy enough to display it. @tamarynart designed and burned the beautiful accent for this drawer front, which is fitting since it’s a table for her. I hammered the brass myself, with my grandfathers tiny ballpeen hammer (the only thing I own of his, which apparently he had “borrowed” from my great uncle). These shots are with the first coat of wet finish on it. It will be satin (not nearly as shiny), so the very slight shaping I gave to the flower will only really be obvious if you feel it - the way I intended :). Paul - I don’t even remember the woods in this. Wanna remind me? I’m gonna guess redheart and cocobolo. Or bloodwood and bocote. Watch me be wrong on both 😂 #woodworking #diyfurniture #pyrography #madeinpittsburgh #pittsburghwoodworking
Instagram post 2229511009331249205_556906553 This post is mainly just for my own documentation. I like to have at least one “making of” post for big projects when I look back at what I’ve made. If you’ve seen my stories, you know I’m on a brief art hiatus to build a TV console table for my wife @tamarynart. I had two old rough-sawn African mahogany boards I got for pennies as firewood scrap from a furniture maker a few years ago (he said he was seriously gonna burn them if I didn’t take them). So I’m trying to get the whole base from that. I had two big pieces of walnut I’m resawing (cutting down the middle parallel to the face grain) to make bookmatched top and shelves. That’s what you see in the first pic. Sadly this will be mostly hidden by TV and books. It’s a simple design, but one I’m comfortable with (and one she requested). All mortise and tenon construction, with lightly tapered legs. I should be to the finishing stage by next weekend. I hope. #pittsburghwoodworking #madeinpittsburgh #diyfurniture #woodworking
Instagram post 2228606785261006284_556906553 Here’s a quick little project I built last weekend. A wooden intarsia piece featuring everyone’s favorite Jango clone and Ahsoka-friend, Captain Rex (@deebradleybaker) from Star Wars: Clone Wars. What can I say? I’m excited as hell for Season 7 next month! And why build 1 when I can build 2? The second one went to my fellow SW geek and woodworker buddy Luke @cyclocrosscutter. Made from regular, curly, and spalted maple, purpleheart, katalox, wenge, walnut, cherry, and luaun ply. PS pretend the purpleheart is blue. Unfortunately, blueheart wood isn’t a thing. And I don’t do stains/dyes. #starwarsart #captainrex #clonewars #intarsia #scrollsawart #woodart #maytheforcebewithyou @craft_the_force
Instagram post 2225768692052994400_556906553 “I Can’t Carry It For You...” 3D Wooden light-up “Lord of the Rings” intarsia art, roughly based on the scene when Sam carries Frodo into Mt. Doom (“but I CAN carry you!”). ... I’m finally ready to call this piece done! It ended up taking me 2 months to complete, despite initially planning it to be simpler and quicker than my Han/Chewie/Millenium Falcon piece. Ha! I always thought Samwise Gamgee was the real hero of the story and I decided a scene of him carrying Frodo into Mt. Doom might be a cool artwork with LEDs. My first design had much fewer layers, with the characters much larger. But I decided to add Barad-Dur, Shelob, and the black gate, which changed the scale dramatically (and made it almost 6” thick, and 24” tall). Obviously I’ve taken some liberties as they were much closer to the entrance when he carried Frodo (and Shelob was dead by then). Plus their scale isn’t exactly accurate. But they needed to be large enough to see. Everything was cut by hand on scroll saw and hand carved for the characters. I built this from crab apple, walnut, and cherry I milled up myself from reclaimed urban trees, as well as katalox (thanks @rapfohl), spalted hackberry (thanks @chipdwoodworks), reclaimed mahogany, red oak, poplar, canarywood, and ebony, with a maple frame. My wife @tamarynart did her pyrography magic to burn the “One ring to rule them all...” inscription into the frame. There are 4 LEDs running off three AA batteries, colored orange with acetate film. Shelob serves as the power button. The eye is a walnut pupil embedded in multiple layers of watercolored resin. I’m pretty stoked to have this thing shining over our “lair” across from the Millenium Falcon! Note: the build process was documented in many stories now highlighted on my profile. #lordoftherings “samwisegamgee #frodobaggins #gollum #scrollsawart #geekart #woodart #intarsia #oneringtorulethemall #pittsburghwoodworking #madeinpittsburgh #woodworking #handmade #scrollsaw #woodworking #woodworker #handmade #woodporn #maker #imadethis
Instagram post 2214359057492488896_556906553 And here are a couple stills. ... I haven’t posted on this LOTR piece entitled “I can’t carry it for you...” in a while (but tons of stories). I’m still working on it. When I designed this, I thought I was making it simpler and easier than my Star Wars project. It’s turned out only modestly so. I still have quite a bit to do, but the pieces are all cut, adjusted to depth, and finished with poly. I put resin in Mt Doom, got Sauron’s eye more or less how I envisioned (multiple resin layers with sanding and watercolor, then an acetate backing and a watercolored paper backing to hide the LED heat sink). It’s all wired up - the lights weren’t bright enough for my taste on 2xAAs, so I threw in some resistors to bump it to 3xAA (which is slightly above the voltage rating of these LEDs. Hopefully the resistors will protect them.). I still have to actually assemble everything with glue, attach Sam/Frodo, Shelob, and Sméagol. And figure out how I’m gonna frame/mount this beast. ... #lotr #buticancarryyou #samwisegamgee #frodobaggins #smeagol #mountdoom #scrollsawart #woodart
Instagram post 2214349162298817312_556906553 I haven’t posted on this LOTR piece entitled “I can’t carry it for you...” in a while (but tons of stories). I’m still working on it. When I designed this, I thought I was making it simpler and easier than my Star Wars project. It’s turned out only modestly so. I still have quite a bit to do, but the pieces are all cut, adjusted to depth, and finished with poly. I put resin in Mt Doom, got Sauron’s eye more or less how I envisioned (multiple resin layers with sanding and watercolor, then an acetate backing and a watercolored paper backing to hide the LED heat sink). It’s all wired up - the lights weren’t bright enough for my taste on 2xAAs, so I threw in some resistors to bump it to 3xAA (which is slightly above the voltage rating of these LEDs. Hopefully the resistors will protect them.). I still have to actually assemble everything with glue, attach Sam/Frodo, Shelob, and Sméagol. And figure out how I’m gonna frame/mount this beast. ... #lotr #buticancarryyou #samwisegamgee #frodobaggins #smeagol #mountdoom #scrollsawart #woodart
Instagram post 2211824432245322337_556906553 A few days ago, @mandyrubes asked me to make a quick box for a chef’s knife she got from @jestergregg. So I whipped this thing up from gorgeous claro walnut and some scrap cherry I milled from firewood. @tamarynart burned the letter. If you want a laugh, swipe to the last photo to see what I put in the box. They hosted last night’s New Years party, and I cut the box contents in the 5 minutes before we left for it. Which means my official final project of 2019 was a.... 😂😂
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