Oliverblythe's Blog
Wood
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Just an update on the type of timber im using for the finals: its an australian hardwood called rose mahogany (its also known as rosewood). Its grown in queensland, so its an australian timer which is good. it also has a very nice dark-ish colour that comes up very nicely when oiled up etc.
a site which iv found which has some info is:
The down side is that its pretty hard, which makes it an absolute nightmare to work with (well, for someone whos not that experienced like me…guess it would probably be easier for someone who was experienced at lathing). It basically means that the tools need to be sharpened extremely regularly, and youve got to be very careful about trying to take too much off at the one time while lathing, because it can dig in and take huge chunks out (which therefore ruins the look). But, although it is hard to work with, it looks like it should come up nicely in the end which is nice.
Although its slow going because of the timber, it is quicker in terms of knowing what to do/how to do it (because its all been done before) so i know how to do it etc.
heres some photos too, just to give an idea of what the wood colour is like (tho it obviously changes a bit when oiled). Ill post more up over the next few days…
update
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this week iv been doing a collection of different things (while i sort out getting the right wood for my final pieces). iv been making the model of the snake (which curves around the maraca) so that i can then make molds off that to make the final silicon/rubber ish one. iv also been doing quiet a bit of work on the music cards, which are starting to come along nicely. iv also been looking up woods, and places that sell it, so that i can find some nice stuff and make the final versions of the models. on top of that iv been making adjustments to the designs: not the shapes, but the aesthetics…basically id been planning on painting the toys bright colours when they were done, but now that they arent going to be painted, iv had to make some minor adjustments to how id go about making them (and how id still capture the same feel without the use of bright colours etc).
