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).
Dec 29

Mom & Jack, Daniel D. Brown, 2018

Some of you may have seen in my series on the octopus intarsia, that my step-dad Jack died rather unexpectedly in November. For Christmas, I decided to make a wooden artwork for my mom based on her favorite photo of them together in Mexico. This was a hard one for me to make, and equally hard to give. But I’m really glad I made it, as it represents a very meaningful memory. I love you mom! @pjwages.
Built from walnut, mulberry (from our back yard), cedar (reclaimed from our own roof), yellowheart (the sun) bloodwood, maple, and a cherry frame with walnut splines.