Course Materials
To Prepare:
Enjoy looking through Dan's five books, his website, www.danielmack.com, and work by Andy Goldsworthy, Chris Drury, Patrick Dougherty, David Nash and Nils Udo.
Suggested Tools & Supplies to Bring:
Materials/tools are supplied, but you are encouraged to bring some of your own tools and local materials to share. For convenience, people are encouraged, but not required, to bring some of their own tools and supplies. However, a workshop is a great opportunity to use different tools BEFORE you decide what to buy.
DRILL: electric with extension cord or cordless with extra battery.
BITS: Brad point bits or spade bits… both have tips to hold a place in round wood. (The Black and Decker Bullet set and Irwin Speebore bits 5/8" and 3/4")
SAW: Like the Stanley Shortcut or a folding camping saw from Fiskars, Florian, Stihl, Coghlan's
PRUNING CLIPPERS: Like ratchet clippers by Florian. 157 Water St. Southington, CT (800 275 3618)
KNIFE: Any easy-to-hold knife is OK. Not a Swiss Army Knife
OTHER STUFF: work gloves, safety glasses, Band-Aids to prevent blisters…
BRING: Natural materials you've collected to share with others and pictures of work you do or admire.
SPECIALIZED TOOLS: Take a look at the Tenon Cutters from Lee Valley. For chairs, I use the 5/8 " and 3/4"; for beds I use the 1 1/2" and 2".
Checklist of Course Elements:
Goals:
- Increased facility with tools and techniques
- Better understanding of personal sense of design and motivations for Making
- Appreciation for breadth the "grammar" of natural materials
Tools:
General Set-up | Tables, lights, storage, heat, safety, air cleaning, safety glasses |
Drills: | 1/2", 3/8", corded, battery, "keyless chuck" |
Drill Bits | Varieties, uses |
Drill Press: | Floor, table model, use of V blocks, shims |
Cutting: | |
Saws: | Hand, folding, circular, reciprocating, jig, chain saws (gas, electric, battery), chop saw, safety, blocking |
Tenon Cutter: | Stationary, changing heads, adjusting blades, safety, portable (Lee Valley), methods of use |
Alternatives: | Hand cutting, chisels, hole saws, grinders |
Antique Tools: | Hollow auger, spoke pointer, rounder |
Holding: | Hands in gloves, vises, clamps, extensions, bungees, shaving horse and drawknife/spokeshave |
Finishing: | Rationale(s). Grinders, dremel, sanders (random orbital, etc), sandpaper (grits, backings) |
Specialised: | Arbortech Carvers |
Techniques:
Construction: | Mortise/Tenon, Wedged Tenons |
Mechanicals: | Rationale, screws, (trims, timberloks...) |
Chemical: Glues | Varieties, conditions for use |
Alternative Joinery: | Gravity, wire string, wax, Velcro |
Bark Applique | handling, adhesion, trimming, finish |
Finishing | Oils, stains, lye, vinegar, Sealers: oils, water-based, wipe-ons, Waxing |
Woods | Identifying, Acquiring, Harvesting, Peeling, Storing Drying and Kilns and Bugs |
Country Woodworking: | Froe, Hatchet, Drawknife, Spoke Shave shaving Horse |
Seating | Seat Weaving, Upholstery |
Tricks & Tips | markers, paints, plugs, dirt, acorns, leveling legs |
A man's work is nothing more than to rediscover, through the detours of art, those one or two images in the presence of which his heart first opened. Albert Camus
Menu of Possible Projects | Time to allow |
Trophy chair, about 12" high | 4-6 hrs |
Simple Bench with 1 ¼" mortise and tenon joints | 4 hrs |
Imaginal, Ephemeral and Sculptural Objects, "Smalls" Toys, Site Work, done and left in the woods, Willow Deer, Peach Pit Work, Yard Scampers | 10 minutes to a lifetime |
Counter Stool, driftwood legs | 8 hrs |
Child's arm chair, about 22" high | 6 hrs |
Adult arm/side chair | 10-12 hours |
Headboard | 3 hrs |
Table structure: | 4-6 hrs |
Garden Structures or Furniture | 3 hrs+ |
White Birch Bark over purchased casework | 2 hrs+ |
FOR SALE: Books, Birch Bark, old and new tools
Discussion concepts and terms:
Ways to Think about Rustic:
Geometry/nature, order/chaos, mater/pater, understructure/over structure, copy another piece.
Start from intuition: texture, size, material, technique... what wants to speak through you?
Related Topics:
Wabi-sabi, moodling, The Imagination: Mythic, Alchemical, Archetypal punctum/ "feeling in" Home Altars Politics of Organic Model. Green Man./Al Khdir and the Technical Model
Nature-Time-Patience are 3 great healers
Human nature loves heartily well-balanced irregularity and longs for it in life, in character, and in almost everything else Calvert Vaux, Villa and Cottage Architecture 1864, (1991 Dover Reprint)
"Other" Activities/Exercises to honor the "other" workshop
- Be Alert to moods, coincidences, annoyances, animals, insects, weather, sleep
- Tree Id/Woods Walks
- Watching people
- Looking at Slides and Videos
- Build a Hut
- Collecting Materials
- Read Design Books
- Field Trips
- Visiting Sawmills
- Drawing
- Haiku/Senru Poetry
- Mud Painting
- Gift for your least preferred s'elf (your embarrassment, addiction, weakness)
- Dancing with Sticks
- Utensils
- Kinetics
- found/arranged
- Gifts for Others
- "Smalls" and Toys
- Land-Based Arrangement
- Objects reflecting various techniques/materials
- Collaborate, Assist, Be Assisted
- www.woodlanders.com
- www.rusticfurnituremakers.com
For workshops at Dan's Warwick studio
Where to Stay??
Warwick Motel, 5 minutes away: 845 986 4822. Ask for special Workshop rate... Or the Holiday Inn Express, Chester, NY, 20 minutes away: 845 469 3000.
Warwick, NY's Points of Rustic Interest for Possible Side Trips
Within 20 minutes:
- Appalachian Trail/6000 yr old quarry
- A few massive ancient trees deep in the woods
- Black Dirt farming region
- Sugarloaf, NY, "Village of Craftspeople"
- Pacem in Terris Meditation Center, Bamboo Grove to cut in
- Bowling Alley/Drive In Theater
- Chestnut Log Homes in Greenwood Lake, NY (from 1950s)
- Unusual Saw mills, Florida, NY, and Sugarloaf, NY
40 minutes:
- Storm King Art Center has an exceptional collection of outdoor sculptures + Andy Goldsworthy
- Dia Art Center, Beacon, NY: exceptional modern art in a 240,000 sq ft facility
- Bear Mt Inn: where Dan has installed several benches at Hessian Lake
80 minutes:
- New York City
- Dan's Dutchess County Studio in Wingdale, NY, at Webatuck Village