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Deviousness `anmari has been spreading her infectious positivity throughout our community for over 6 years. Throughout this time Ana has been at the core of all things devious, passionately developing an eclectic gallery, helping organise devmeets, participating in chat events and also recently completed dedicating her time as a Community Volunteer. We are absolutely delighted to bestow the Deviousness Award for May 2013 to `anmari, congratulations! Read More
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Sta.sh
Your technique for using the stuff really shows off it's natural beauty.
I tend towards using stabilized woods mostly because then I don't have to worry about it changing shape at all or absorbing moisture, but it can feel pretty "processed" in it's overall aesthetic. I love the warm "raw" feeling that your scales give your pieces. Ever have trouble's with wood shrinking or changing shape at all over time? So beautiful...
Truth be told, if the wood is carefully selected and the model carefully designed it is fairly safe.
But organic material is organic material, and will never have the stability of anything of mineral nature, hence, even the best of unstabilised woods is at some degree of risk in bone dry environments (especially the smaller pieces). There is a huge yearly crafts show here in Quebec, and the woodworkers who make small objects are constantly struggling with the 2% humidity environment of the showroom. They've even devellopped a technique to "microwave stabilise their stuff". I can't vouch for the process' efficiency though as we haven't tried it out yet, though curiosity will surely get the best of us sooner or later and a few test will likely happen then.
Long story short, unstabilised wood will never be as stable as stabilised wood (which is rather self evident), but the world survived without stabilised wood for a ridiculously long time and given the proper design and care in crafting, it can be pretty close.
Hope I answered in part, but being mainly a metalsmith (my colleague Guillaume is the wood specialist), I have run into some frustration in the explaining or understanding of wood's behaviour, as it is unpredictable at best, whereas you always know what to expect from metal.
Glad to trade technicality's anyhow.
Since the wooden scales for my folders are quite small, I tend to play it safe with the stabilized, but working with Ironwood is my favorite which is naturally stable from baking for so long on the desert floor. I don't always have a piece though.
That Annual Crafts Show you mentioned sounds incredible!
In December, yeah? Is December a nice time to visit Quebec?
Sounds like an great thing to check out.
Keep up the great work!
You and your Buddy are an excellent team.
Hmm... December a good time to visit Quebec... I guess it depends on how you like your weather. Winter isn't in full tilt quite yet in december, but it can be pretty cruelly cold anyhow. Montreal isn't quite at its liveliest wintertime.
That said its a fun show, there's a lot of jewellery and ceramic work with quite a few interesting and visionary styles. At least a full quarter of the show is kitsch and considerably yawn-worthy, there is some quite interesting stuff among the other 75 % of work. If the show in itself is worth alone a trip to Montreal will largely depend on how you enjoy traveling. There's definately a thing or two to see even if it's in the white of snow covered sidewalks.
It sounds like such a beautiful place, and it's hard to beat a good craft show.
Thanks again for the extensive breakdown!
Keep up the great work and stay warm up there!