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Art inspired by biology, created by a biologist

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When the Cows Come Home

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

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Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D. | Breast Cancer Research Scientist
Woodworker/Artist
Husband to @tamarynart.
AKA: @danieldbrownphd
Pittsburgh, PA.

This week we decided to set up a reading nook for

This week we decided to set up a reading nook for @tamarynart in the basement (which will eventually be curtained off). I threw together this little table to go next to her new chair. The top is a walnut log I got for free down the road a few years ago (cut for power lines) and the legs are a spalted white oak log I picked up from the in-laws yard in NC last year. I had zero designs making this and built it on the fly, guided by that gorgeous feathering after I cut the log in half. I’m pretty happy with it for having essentially started as 100% firewood!
...
#woodworking #carpenter #furnituredesign #diyfurniture

Seed storage box! I’ve been slowly accumulating

Seed storage box!
I’ve been slowly accumulating garden seeds, both leftovers from this spring, and harvested seeds (for example, I ferment a couple tomatoes every year to collect for next year). I had a large dusty ziplock of them just sitting in my shop and decided they needed to go into a dark, dry box in our basement pantry. This was a great excuse to use up some cherry logs I got from my boss @adrianvlee1, which are completely filled with bug holes and not very usable for most things. But they’re perfect for something that will be hidden for ~363 days a year and only be seen by me. So why did I waste time on that power-carved walnut leaf top? Because I’ll still see it once a year. Also, I wanted to practice cutting some dovetails. I also through some dry rice in there as a desiccant.
#woodworking #woodenbox #seedstorage

Happy birthday, Victoria!!! “Momo”, 2020, wood

“Guillermo de la Cruz”, Daniel D. Brown, PhD,

“Guillermo de la Cruz”, Daniel D. Brown, PhD, 2020, wooden intarsia art.
23 species of wood, no paint/stain.

Im happy to finally post the final shots of this piece devoted to everyone’s favorite Vampire familiar/slayer!

After watching “What We Do in the Shadows” (@theshadowsfx) on @fxnetworks, this idea randomly hit me one day and it was one of those “well I guess I have no choice but to make this now” deals. I felt compelled. After I began, I must admit that a big motivation came from the Guillermo actor himself, Mr. Harvey Guillén (@harveyguillen). It turns out, Harvey is a pretty rad guy in real (virtual) life and gave me tons of private encouragement and funny little quips he’d rather I not share for reasons that would be obvious 😜. Needless to say, my inner geek was pretty stoked to be chatting about an artwork with the actor who inspired it! Harvey is easily 1 of the 4 funniest characters on the show and everyone should watch it. 😜

This piece is is roughly based on a promo from FX marketing. I wanted to add a little more detail to highlight the duality behind Guillermo’s loyalty as a familiar/desire to become a vampire and his apparently inherent penchant for slayage. The sun, fire, and door represent his first hilarious kill. Of course I added the stake bandolier and a crossbow. But astute fans will note that the bandolier also contains his trusty “Tide to go” pen for clean-up duties. The promo had the bat wings as sort of a looming presence. But I see them here more as Guillermo’s desire to become a Vamp and “BAT!” away with Nandor (@kayvan_novak). The font is based on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Constructed from maple, zebra wood, Brazilian rosewood, bocote, wenge, katalox, ebony, holly, sapele, mahogany, walnut, chakte viga, redheart, purpleheart, yellowheart, mesquite, bloodwood, honey locust, elm, ash, yellow pine, Douglas fir, luaun ply.
***
#whatwedointheshadows #teamguillermo #scrollsawart #woodintarsia #geekart #woodcarving #woodsculpture

“Guillermo de la Cruz”, Daniel D. Brown, PhD,

“Guillermo de la Cruz”, Daniel D. Brown, PhD, 2020, wooden intarsia art.
23 species of wood, no paint/stain.

Im happy to finally post the final shots of this piece devoted to everyone’s favorite Vampire familiar/slayer!

After watching “What We Do in the Shadows” (@theshadowsfx) on @fxnetworks, this idea randomly hit me one day and it was one of those “well I guess I have no choice but to make this now” deals. I felt compelled. After I began, I must admit that a big motivation came from the Guillermo actor himself, Mr. Harvey Guillén (@harveyguillen). It turns out, Harvey is a pretty rad guy in real (virtual) life and gave me tons of private encouragement and funny little quips he’d rather I not share for reasons that would be obvious 😜. Needless to say, my inner geek was pretty stoked to be chatting about an artwork with the actor who inspired it! Harvey is easily 1 of the 4 funniest characters on the show and everyone should watch it. 😜

This piece is is roughly based on a promo from FX marketing. I wanted to add a little more detail to highlight the duality behind Guillermo’s loyalty as a familiar/desire to become a vampire and his apparently inherent penchant for slayage. The sun, fire, and door represent his first hilarious kill. Of course I added the stake bandolier and a crossbow. But astute fans will note that the bandolier also contains his trusty “Tide to go” pen for clean-up duties. The promo had the bat wings as sort of a looming presence. But I see them here more as Guillermo’s desire to become a Vamp and “BAT!” away with Nandor (@kayvan_novak). The font is based on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”.

Constructed from maple, zebra wood, Brazilian rosewood, bocote, wenge, katalox, ebony, holly, sapele, mahogany, walnut, chakte viga, redheart, purpleheart, yellowheart, mesquite, bloodwood, honey locust, elm, ash, yellow pine, Douglas fir, luaun ply.
***
#whatwedointheshadows #teamguillermo #scrollsawart #woodintarsia #geekart #woodcarving #woodsculpture

Step 11: Finishing! Finally! There are many books

Step 11: Finishing! Finally!
There are many books on wood finishing. Needless to say, my knowledge is limited.

I have tried many different finish types and brands and settled on a few out of my own comfort, confidence in getting the look I desire, ease of use, and personal taste. Many of my artworks use multiple finishes to achieve different looks.

For example, Guillermo here has a natural wood oil finish for his skin, satin clothes, and glossy eyes.

My finishes:
1. For organic, natural wood looks and feel I use hard-curing oils. I often use these on soft creatures, skin, etc. I’ve used many curing oils (tung, walnut, SimpleFinish, etc) - and there is a world of options out there. But hands down my personal favorite is @odiesoil. It cures fast, is super water resistant, cures inside the wood, incredibly easy to apply, and smells great (I swear I’m not sponsored). Rub on, let sit for ~20-30 minutes, buff it off. 1 coat is usually sufficient, but sometimes 2 is better. It does not create a top coat. So prep/sand your surface well. Con: it’s a pain in the ass if you have a lot of crevices (between intarsia pieces). Globs will harden white if you don’t wipe them away. So I often finish with oils before glue up.
2. For shine, I use polyurethanes. I like @generalfinishes for wipe/brush-on and @minwax for sprays. I choose satin, semi-gloss, or gloss, depending on desired look. I sand at 400 grit after the the first coat and 800 after subsequent coats (almost always 3 coats). Use water-based poly for less “yellowing” of the color. Oil-based is easier to get a nice surface, but also yellows the color.
3. I’ll occasionally use shellac for gloss as well. But I find it to be a little less predictable and more difficult to work with on small pieces. I’m also inexperienced with it. Some people swear by it (shellac master Paul @copper_pig_fine_woodworking). I’m more confident with poly, but shellac absolutely has its place in my shop, especially for organic, wet looking things.

That’s pretty much it. Don’t rush the finishing! It took forever to get here. So don’t screw it all up trying to speed up this crucial step.
My art is 90% patience.

***
#scrollsawart #woodintarsia

Step 10: Glueing. Pretty much all of my intarsia p

Step 10: Glueing.
Pretty much all of my intarsia pieces are glued up using two products: cyanoacrylate (CA glue. AKA superglue) and polyvinyl acetate (PVA. AKA wood glue). I tend to use both in each artwork. The CA glue (I use @starbondadhesives) is primarily used to quickly adhere small pieces. Wood glue is often not feasible for these tiny pieces. With accelerator spray, CA glue cures to holdfast in about 2-3 seconds. I apply glue to one piece and spray to the other for a more or less instant bond. Every artwork is a little different, but I typically CA glue individual pieces together, and then glue the combined pieces onto a backer with @titebondproducts PVA glue. PVA is stronger than CA. But in artworks like this with little force or pressure (aside from natural wood movement), both generally have more than enough strength and longevity. But I use PVA whenever I can. I use Titebond II for most typical applications. If I need a longer time before it cures (“open time”) or if I need good water resistance, I go with Titebond III (my go to for cutting boards, outdoor furniture, etc).
Another little trick I use quite often is to glue with Titebond, but use a drop or two of CA glue to “clamp” the piece down while the wood glue cures. This comes in incredibly handy - it’s rare that I can get an actual clamp on these pieces.

Sometimes I glue up my whole artwork AFTER I apply finish. Especially in pieces like this where I’m using different finishes on different parts, so I can’t just glue it all up first. This means I have to be careful not to mar the finish during glue up. But when I can get away with it, it’s often much easier to glue everything together and then apply finish.

An important point: if you are going to finish first, be sure to score or sand the surfaces you want to adhere. As I have personally seen, CA glue doesn’t bond to finished surfaces very well (like polyurethane) and it’s quite easy for these pieces to pop off.
***
#scrollsawart #woodintarsia #howtowoodworking

Step 9: Sanding. Buy sandpaper. Rub it until you c

Step 9: Sanding.
Buy sandpaper. Rub it until you can’t anymore. Then do it some more at a higher grit.
I hate sanding.

Seriously there are tons of sanding tutorials out there. I start with 60 or 120 grit. Finish with 220 or 320 (or higher. I go to 400 and then 800 when I want a near perfect shine). Wet the wood with water and let it dry before the final grit. This “raises the grain” and gives a significantly smoother surface. Degree of sanding is determined by your choice of finish and desired look and feel.
I pretty much exclusively use @mirka_usa sandpaper and high-grit meshes.
***
#scrollsawart #woodintarsia #howtowoodwork

Step 8: Adjusting depth. This step is fairly speci

Step 8: Adjusting depth.
This step is fairly specific to my style of intarsia. Some intarsia artists make their pieces more or less in a single plane, somewhat like marquetry (marquetry is typically described as veneered inlays within other wood to make a flat image. Intarsia is usually defined as through-cut pieces that fit together and have some 3-dimensionality. The processes are similar but also quite different). But I like to add decent depth in some of my pieces to create a semi-3D sculpture.
There are 3 main ways to get your pieces at different depths:
1. Start with different thicknesses of stock.
2. Laminate two pieces of the same species together to make thicker stock.
3. Use whatever thin stock you have and bring it to the height you want with shims/risers.

I pretty much exclusively go with 3, unless I really need the extra depth to maintain color/grain through thicker shaping.

Using risers allows fairly quick and precise depth adjustment. I have a box of variably thin scrap I use, and I quickly cut pieces a little smaller than the piece I want to raise (swipe for image).
Some may find re-cutting risers instead of laminating beforehand a waste of time - which may be true if you have your thickness/depth pre-planned and laminated. However, I usually figure out my depth as I go. And I still find making a quick CA glue riser to be faster than a properly wood-glued full lamination (which can also be wasteful if you don’t need a full laminated board). Most important for me: cutting thin wood is far more precise than cutting laminated thick wood that makes it easy to bend the blade and have a non-square cut (and pieces that don’t fit tightly). Using risers with thin stock also conserves my exotic woods.

The degree of depth added depends on the specific project. This particular project has fairly subtle depth per layer but more dramatic depth between layers.
Go checkout @entwoodcrafts for some really mind-blowing intarsia with a lot more depth.
***
#scrollsawart #woodintarsia #howtowoodworking

Step 7: Shaping The next few steps (shaping, adjus

Step 7: Shaping
The next few steps (shaping, adjusting depth, sanding, finishing, and glueing) aren’t necessarily done as separate steps or in this order, though I will still dedicate posts to them. In fact, with this piece in particular, certain parts I glued up before shaping. The eye parts are usually glued first so I can shape the pieces together as one and get a smooth glossy surface across the pieces. With some pieces I need to see the depth before I can accurately shape.
I have a few standard tools I use for all my shaping.
1) Dremel with a flex shaft. The flex shaft is critical for me. I just can’t hold a dremel with much precision using these little hands. I’m not a large dude. (there’s a joke opening for you, Luke).
2) I primarily use @saburrtooth carbide burrs - the course green ones - for removing decent amounts of material. I’d like to try their new white whisper burrs some day (hint hint), but for now, I switch to sanding drums for fine tuning the shapes.
I have various other dremel bits for carving certain details.
3) For larger pieces, I use my trusty @ridgidpowertools oscillating sander.
There’s not much more to say about this step. Creating depth with shaping is where your artistry comes in.
...
#scrollsawart #woodintarsia #howtowoodworking
Cc @harveyguillen

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