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Art inspired by biology, created by a biologist

The Art of Daniel D. Brown, Ph.D.
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nuthatch

Jan 21

Nuthatch & Chickadee, Daniel D. Brown PhD, 2023

LaughingMantisIntarsia, Scrollsaw, Woodworkinganimal, art, bird, intarsia, nuthatch, scrollsaw, wildlife, wood, wooden, woodworking

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Nuthatch & Chickadee.
Handmade wall art to adorn our bedroom wall along with my previously made song sparrow.
All cut by hand with a scrollsaw and chisel from a variety of wood species. No paint or stain. See my previous posts for more details and the story highlight on my profile, which documented the whole process.

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

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My loves, Tamaryn & Kylo. @tam_a_ryn @mindfulconne

My loves, Tamaryn & Kylo. @tam_a_ryn @mindfulconnectionspa. It’s been too long since their faces were actually on my post feed (instead of just in the random stories I post). I am forever grateful for the constant support and love from her. Most of what I do is try to continuously woo her. Except for the Star Wars stuff, which remains in the basement for a reason. 😂

I think I’m mostly done with shaping. I also use

I think I’m mostly done with shaping. I also used some vinegar/steel wool mix (iron acetate) to get some of the grays. I used a new batch and a 5 year old batch I made, which resulted in two different shades. The only other dye is the blue triangle.
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#themandalorian #grogu #babyyoda #woodworking #scrollsaw #geekart #woodsculpture

A little random trivia for you. There are a bunch

A little random trivia for you. There are a bunch of instances of traits in plants that we generally believe to be ecological anachronisms - that is they evolved in response to and alongside creatures that no longer exist. This continent was covered in gigantic beasts not that long ago! And humans lived beside them. Another favorite of mine is the Paw Paw fruit. I may mention this again later this summer when our paw paw trees leaf out. And maaaaybe fruit for the first time (we have our first flower buds!).
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#biology #botany #woodworking #honeylocust

Mid project post. Mando and Grogu have been on my

Mid project post. Mando and Grogu have been on my project list since episode 1. But I didn’t feel like doing it when everyone and their porg were making baby yoda things. It’s actually now been over a year since I did an actual Star Wars project. So i figured id try to knock one out by May 4th. This piece is based on the cover photo of “The Art of Star Wars: The Mandalorian (Season 2).
I now have the main pieces all scrollsawed (always the quickest part). On to shaping. Note: some of the maple will be ebonized to gray with vinegar/steel wool.
Made from 15 species: cedar, chakte viga, honey locust, lignum vitae (Argentine), limba, mahogany, maple, mulberry, rosewood, rubberwood, sapele, wenge, yellowheart (background not yet cut), and 2 unknown species
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#woodworking #woodsculpture#starwars #themandalorian #grogu #babyyoda #scrollsaw #handmade #geekart

We needed a quickly accessible box under the coffe

We needed a quickly accessible box under the coffee table for @tam_a_ryn to shove all her chargers and doodads into. I had the day off yesterday so I spent part of it building this thing. I had no plans and wasn’t sure if the shape of the lid groove would work properly. It does! I was basically just playing around in the shop, which is always fun after spending weeks to months on other projects (my back is still recovering from that table. For real).
Being in a prominent location, I figured it was time to use this gorgeous scrap from Paul @copper_pig_fine_woodworking along with some cherry cutoffs I got from a furniture maker years ago. Seriously, that little slice of scrap from Paul is one of the fanciest pieces of wood I own. Maybe second or third to a couple others he sent me. 🙏🙏🙏 I thought about doing something more “artsy” with this. But in the end, I thought the form and grain are pretty enough as is.
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#woodworking #woodenbox #boxmaking #dovetails

GUPPI! One of my favorite audiobooks is the “Bob

Just a quick little project I made after seeing @g

Just a quick little project I made after seeing @giorgoskaramos beautiful work. This was an experiment using an old piece of wood I had lying around. It’s not really weighted properly due to asymmetric wood removal (which I didn’t account for in the design). But it’s still a fun little addition to our yard - at least until a squirrel inevitably knocks it down and I lose the ball bearings that go between the embedded magnets. 😂
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#diyoutdoordecor #feather #woodworking #mobile

I love that I now have reaction vids from all the

I love that I now have reaction vids from all the Jaspers (Vicky @jasperfarms, Paul @copper_pig_fine_woodworking and Ruby @ruby.jasperr), but I have to say, seeing Betty Lou’s interest in the tiny version of her is just the best. I figured I’d throw both of the reactions together in a quick little edit. Because I love them! Bonus: you can hear Henry snorting around in the original in 2019. 😂 RIP little bean.
@tam_a_ryn and I have bonded with the Jasper family for years now over woodworking, science, pups, birds, and art (we even own a special piece by Ruby!). Paul, my brother in both science & art even built a box and commissioned @jendiarenzocreative to burn our Bandit pup’s face into it after he left us. 😢
Needless to say, they hold a special place in our hearts and I was glad to be able to add a little Betty Lou to the portrait.
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#reactionvideos #woodworking #dogsofinstagram #scrollsaw #frenchie

The making of the table! Tamaryn (@mindfulconnecti

The making of the table! Tamaryn (@mindfulconnectionspa @tam_a_ryn) and I wanted a smaller round dining table to replace the beefy rectangular one we bought when we moved in. We don’t use the space much, and it’s cramped maneuvering around the old one. So I asked her to come up with a design for the top. She also helped pick out the curly maple lumber from @sirsimon43.
Her heart was set on having the diamonds dyed blue, green, and blue-green (“we have too many shades of brown wood in the house!” 😂). It compliments our couch and some of our other decor. Boy-howdy did the dye introduce some serious challenges! As did choosing one of the most difficult woods to work with (curly maple LOVES chipping out). This whole project was full of challenges, mistakes, redesigns, and pivots. Obviously, I’m not a pro furniture designer or maker. But I learned so incredibly much from taking it on. I even had to dust off some trigonometry laying out this pattern! And despite all the challenges, I’m overall really really happy with it. I can’t believe I started at the beginning of December and have basically been focused on it since then! 2 solid months!

65 maple diamonds were scrollsawed & dyed (Chestnut Spirit Dyes), and then painstakingly re-dyed with a tiny brush when most of the dye was cut away after I inlayed and flushed them. Yeah that was a pain. All the inlays were done by hand, cutting the holes with router and chisel. The mortise & tenon base was built from maple and some 150 yr old white oak barn wood I’ve been saving for many years. The top is attached with figure eight washers (my go to for simple attachment that allows wood movement).

I will be anxiously awaiting the return of humidity this summer to see how much this top warps and how much the inlays bulge or move. I think by making them from the same wood (and in the same grain direction as the top), the movement will be minimized. But I still expect it to do the things real wood furniture does.
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#woodworking #scrollsaw #diyfurniture #homedecor #diningtable #makersgonnamake

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