Apr 27

Yoda, Daniel D. Brown, 2023

“Yoda” wood intarsia. Hand cut on a scrollsaw. All natural wood colors. No paints or stains.
I first saw The Empire Strikes Back when it came out on vhs tape sometime between 1984-1987 when I was 7-10 yrs old. My wife @tam_a_ryn wasn’t even born yet! I wasn’t quite 3 when it came out in theaters in 1980. Actually, the original Star Wars and I were both “released” the same year (‘77).
The entire concept behind Yoda – this wizened, ugly, ridiculous little frog man who is actually a powerful warrior/space wizard – was both hilarious and mind-blowing to my impressionable young brain. I learned several incredibly important lessons watching (and rewatching and rewatching) “ESB”:
1) “Size matters not!” I was a very small kid – the shortest boy in like every single class until 7th grade. So I took this to heart. I’m thankful I never developed “little man syndrome” overcompensating with aggression. Perhaps I have Yoda at least partially to thank for this?
2) Do not judge a book by its cover. Again… ugly little green weirdo = great Jedi warrior.
3) Wisdom can be expressed with both extreme silliness and deep gravitas. I doubt I was aware I was learning this lesson. But I’d wager that my personality containing a fair mix of both irreverent humor and (I hope) some existential wisdom can be traced at least to some degree to this ridiculous little puppet voiced by the great Frank Oz.

I built this for myself. It is not for sale and I don’t take commissions.

Built from London plane, elm, holly, white oak, ebony, walnut, purpleheart, bloodwood, padauk, wenge, and an endangered wood I’ve decided not to advertise (I don’t want to increase demand. This is from an old turning block I’ve been saving).
Soundboard: @adafruit

Jun 16

Stormtrooper #2, Daniel D. Brown PhD, 2022

My IG friends Megan and Austin (@magicalmeg90 and @rebelartdesign) were lucky enough to attend this years Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, CA. Out of the kindness of her heart, Megan asked me if I wanted a silly “I hate sand” Anakin beach towel from the convention after I commented on her story. She quickly shipped it from Cali and cemented herself in my “good people” book (swipe to end). In return, I made her a little wooden stormtrooper helmet artwork, using the first SW design I ever cut. I gave that first one away years ago to my buddy Jordan @scrapforge, so I decided to make myself one as well.
Theirs is made from African padauk and purpleheart. Mine (shown in vid) is padauk and wenge. Handcut on scrollsaw. I expect the contrast on hers will pop a little more with time as the padauk darkens.

What’s funny is I had already intended on making her a small stormtrooper magnet. But after her act of kindness, she got an upgrade.
May the force be with y’all!

Jun 16

Stormtrooper #1, Daniel D. Brown PhD, 2022

My IG friends Megan and Austin (@magicalmeg90 and @rebelartdesign) were lucky enough to attend this years Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, CA. Out of the kindness of her heart, Megan asked me if I wanted a silly “I hate sand” Anakin beach towel from the convention after I commented on her story. She quickly shipped it from Cali and cemented herself in my “good people” book (swipe to end). In return, I made her a little wooden stormtrooper helmet artwork, using the first SW design I ever cut. I gave that first one away years ago to my buddy Jordan @scrapforge, so I decided to make myself one as well.
Theirs is made from African padauk and purpleheart. Mine (shown in vid) is padauk and wenge. Handcut on scrollsaw. I expect the contrast on hers will pop a little more with time as the padauk darkens.

What’s funny is I had already intended on making her a small stormtrooper magnet. But after her act of kindness, she got an upgrade.
May the force be with y’all!

Mar 15

Boba’s/Jabba’s Palace (#3), Daniel D. Brown, 2022

I’ve been meaning to make an actual post of this for a couple weeks. Long story, short: I lied about not liking this watercolored-sycamore background. It was intended all along as 1 of 2 pieces, the second of which would be given to Luke @cyclocrosscutter. A long time ago in a galaxy… well… here, Luke surprised me with a badass purpleheart and walnut Mjolnir with hand-routered details (swipe). He said I had to make him an intarsia in exchange. So I actually made two versions of Boba’s/Jabba’s Palace. If you look closely at the stories from this build on my profile, you can see that there are actually 2 of each piece. Luckily he’s not that observant. I decided to give him this one, mainly because I figured it’s a bit different from his own work. He could slap a few pieces of different colored wood together for the sky as easily as I can. But I felt like this one was a bit more “artistic”. Everything else is the same, except the palace itself is made from lombardy poplar (not related to construction “poplar” you find at big box stores, which is actually tulipwood) instead of sycamore. And the frame is different because this was all I had that was long enough (it’s roadside walnut firewood salvage). Go to his page to see it hanging on his wall of awesome geeky scrollsaw art.
PS please don’t ask for similar trades. It stressed me out trying to figure out what to make him 😂😂. I’m not sure it matches Mjolnir in coolness, but at least it does in time invested!

Mar 15

Boba’s/Jabba’s Palace (#2), Daniel D. Brown, 2022

Jabba’s/Boba’s Palace.
All natural wood colors (no paint or stain).

Note: I’ll be posting multiple versions of this. This one has good lighting/color. But you can’t see the totally superfluous lights, which I’m glad I added! (See previous post).
Built from purpleheart, bloodwood, mahogany, chakte viga, yellowheart, yew, sycamore, walnut, bocote, crab apple, wenge, hickory, Lombardi poplar, and maple.
This was a replacement for a smaller, simpler version I made a few years ago. I think practice has paid off a little. I started this thing 3 months ago, and I’m so glad to be done!