Human Silhouettes
The inspiration for my multiples assignment is an illustration by Japanese artist Aoki Tetsuo. It is a woodblock print. The print depicts a line of people leaning forward. I want to translate the two dimensional print into a three dimensional object that still resembles the original print. I want the print to be more tangible, so I can rearrange the print in real life. And arrangement of the human silhouettes can convey a different meaning and feeling, I thought that is interesting and fun to explore.
Making Process
Having my concept in mind, I got the material needed for the project. I wanted to practice using wood as a material, which is completely new to me. Luckily, I found a whole dumpster of wood and used some for this project.
First of all, the raw material was too thick, so I split it using the bandsaw. After that I printed out a picture of the print, and made a template of the silhouette. Using the template, I traced it on to the wood.
Because the human silhouette is curvy, I used scroll saw to cut it out. I planed the sections of the block, so it can be easily cut out.
Once all the pieces are cut out and sanded, I needed to drill holes on the silhouettes for the stand. I initially thought the doweling jig would be great for this. However, not with my irregular human silhouette. I used a table clamp to hold it still while drilling. Additional concern with drilling for me was the width of the dowel. It was close to the bottom width of the silhouette. I was concern if I could split the wood. After asking the shop staff, I started with much smaller bits and build it up to the actual size 3/16’’.
I also needed to drill for the bottom of the stand. The best tool for that is the drill press.
Finally, I put the parts together, and varied the height of the stand for each silhouettes.
This assignment made me realize it is very difficult to make precise cuts or drill holes without guides; especially when making multiples of the same thing. Looking back, it is important to have a complete plan and a workflow setup. Although I did have a plan in mind, there are things I overlooked. For example, I should have found out about the process of staining wood beforehand. Also, I should have made a guide when cutting the block of the silhouettes.
Human Silhouettes
There are some examples of different arrangements:
