# Art Prize 2011



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Planning*

If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.

Which is my intention..

I wanted to blog about this earlier, but I opted against it because I wasn't sure where I would be hosting my piece and I thought it could be kind of a let-down if I planned and shared about it and then wasn't able to secure a venue. What you do is, you register to enter as an artist and then you match up with a venue (there's about 200 venues available, who previously registered). As it turns out, my hesitations had a good backing because I "almost had" a venue a couple of times. I am happy to now announce, though, that I will be hosting my 2011 Art Prize entry at the Holiday Inn in downtown Grand Rapids.

You can take a peek at my artist profile here.

The reason I am posting there is, naturally, is because the piece I am making to enter into Art Prize is a woodworking piece. Y'all probably remember my earth carving.










If you read my artist profile, you see that I am going to make one into a table-top. Should be pretty cool.

Points of discussion for you awesome people:

1. I am debating between laminating solid wood and using plywood. I want the table top to be roughly 3 inches thick with a little over 2 inches of carving (so very few parts of it will actually be three inches thick). Arguments for or against either choice?
2. Related to item 1, but I want it to be kind of a "fancy" wood- I'd rather not use baltic birch ply but I'm having a hard time finding nice plywood that is actually wood all the way through and not a core of some kind. Walnut may be okay, but it may end up being a little too dark.
3. How heavy do you think this will be? Surely it won't be any worse than a farm-style dining room table which all seem to do just fine on four legs. I want to make the legs easily detachable so I'm thinking some kind of screw-in hardware.
4. I would love to hear suggestions for what to do on the legs. I have a couple of ideas but nothing concrete. I want to learn towards a vaguely post-modern, vaguely art deco. Simple enough to not compete with the obvious centrepiece of it all but interesting enough to not look like an afterthought.
5. And last- I want to float a glass/plastic tabletop on top of it so you could use it as a normal table. Right now the best idea I have is a series of pegs around the circumference with spacers so that the top sheet could sit snugly in it. but I'm not sure.


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## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


Just a few things that come to mind:

Pure solid wood will be problematic because of wood movement. Cracks will be really unsightly.

Building from layers of veneer with different woods for different depths/altitudes

Possibly "Dynawood" I think is the trade name with the veneers of different dyed colored wood

Plywood core or torsion box with slab wood overlay for carving

Include Mercator latitude and longitude to be able to work in sections. Clear acrylic supports at intersections to support glass or have clear acrylic on edge to form the entire grid as support

Butcher block type construction with continents that are one wood and oceans another

One substrate for oceans and over sized cut out land applied and then blended in with final carving

Looking at the earth carving, besides the idea of the basic art deco type look, a full on modernistic Flash Gordon retro modern or a steam punk flavor would be stunning.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


I'm cutting it at one piece, however I end up doing it. I want the end result to look as close to "one solid piece of wood" as possible. (With the understanding that you can't have a 4×8' piece of wood unless we go all crazy into giant slabs….. which is well out of my budget)


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## AZMac (Jan 10, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


Lis
I think the table base, (legs) are important also. When someone views your work you don't want a distraction with simple legs. I would go with a Trestle type base. Also I would use glass for the table top not plastic.
AZMac


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


What about cutting a piece of plywood 3/4 inch shy of your overall dimension then mitering some nice wood to cover the plywood. That may be simpler to do.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


I figured if I used solid wood there would be plywood under it. But not sure if that would be enough to prevent it going hinky.


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


show me your thoughts on Monday or sometime next week and maybe i can help you tweak it.


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## mnpete (Feb 15, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


I can't wait to see this project in the works.

Could you laminate the whole slab yourself? If you want color variations, could you select a wood that's nicely carvable and dye the various layers? I'm not a carver, so I don't know if it would be an issue to have multiple wood types.

Maybe even dye the lower layers in graduated colors of blue to represent the oceans? Get's darker as you go deeper?


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## BobTheFish (May 31, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


Do a 3/4" plywood base, and then sculpt your way up using cutouts of veneer (depending on the thickness chosen I wouldn't add on much more than a half an inch the thickness. ). (and remember when laminating, always do crossgrain). The cutouts shouldn't be too much trouble to machine out on a CNC, right? (I have no clue… I do most things by hand)

you can then do some finer detail carving the layers down, and the "create your own" approach will allow for you to choose your colors.

A few things to consider: you will need a solid base upon which to create, hence the "build up" approach, rather than the "carve down". A table is probably going to be taking a fairish bit of weight if you are planning on glassing over the top…. with leads to…

If the table is going to be 4'x 8' consider the temper, type, and and thickness of the glass. The bigger the glass gets, the exponentially more fragile it becomes, as it is more likely to bend….. Though there are lighter weight, more stable glass sheets (borosilicate glass comes to mind), and laminates that might help, glass also gets exponentially more expensive the larger you require…. and you're requiring some HUGE honking sheets of glass.

Which all leads up to a thicker base, and more supports throughout the central area of the table, rather than the sides only…..

SO…..

Now I'm thinking screw it all, and pour epoxy on a finished map. (though still go with the far more dimensionally stable, far less prone to warping or resizing, plywood). Build up some thin walls around the piece to frame it off, probably in a somewhat contrasting colored wood. (if you use a white wood plywood, then a reddish hued border, mitered 45 degree corners, inlays along the center of the border, perhaps these? http://inlays.com/woodinlaystrips.asp?Format== , which BTW< I've never used before, but they look very geometric, very art deco, and can be easily applied with a bit of work with a router.)

Furthermore, a compass rose might be able to "float" above the map itself dimensionally with a poured epoxy, (something like this= from the same source).

Finally, the legs can be done with just a simple taper, but then use a similar inlay to the ones used on the table border to create a bit of design cohesion (also with an apron below the map top, maybe a drawer or two, housing a few woodworked "nautical" map type tools: a sextant, a drawing compass, perhaps a loupe…though the tools are unnecessary upon retrospect and detract from the project. drawers are cool though, but less necessary, the apron a must for visual space and structure between the top and the legs.)

Another thing though, is with an apron, a carved art deco design is also possible, leaving some open space there as well…

The sky's the limit.

Though seriously, ditch the glass idea, go with your regular map making method, and pour the epoxy. MUUUUCH safer.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


I have the capability to laminate the whole thing myself.

I could build it up, sure, but I need to cut the whole thing at once so I'd have to build it up in little sections all around. It's an interesting theory and I've been kicking it around a little bit. I may have to try.

I also thought of epoxy, and I think I may prefer that, but I'm still a little stumped on it. How to do it and have the surface mirror flat. Can I sand/buff epoxy and have it come out optically clean? How much would it cost to do a 4×8' sheet a couple of inches thick? I've done some epoxy work for this type of thing, but in my dollhouse so obviously this is a totally different ballgame.


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## BobTheFish (May 31, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


If you do the epoxy route, you should be able to just work as normal as well. I kinda wrote as an "in thought process" sort of thing. I'd still go a bit thicker with your base, just so you have the additional structural stability if you go down, rather than up.

The epoxy should be pretty easy. Just mix (without air bubbles) and pour. You can do multiple coats, etc.

I even found this a while back: http://www.aeromarineproducts.com/bar-top-epoxy.htm They even have a FAQ at the bottom of that page (again, haven't used them, but was thinking of using it for a project)

as for a flat, mirror smooth finish, it should be damned easy as well. I haven't worked with it much myself, but had a checkerboard done for me. You can see their pictures that they seem to have no issues getting a nice finish either. AAAAAAAAND, since they take CC orders over the phone, giving them a quick call should result in some tips as to how to get such a finish.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


My concern with the epoxy would be that it's a one-shot risk. If something goes wrong and it turns out hazy or bubbly, you're screwed. If you do go with a glass top, keep in mind that support around the perimeter will not be enough. You would have to either add supports in the center area, or have parts of the project itself be high and flat enough to support the interior portion of the glass. Otherwise, unless you used an impossibly heavy thickness of glass, it's going to crack the first time you move it.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


Those concerns are why I was thinking of using a plastic rather than actual glass.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


I think a good quality acrylic sheet would work well, with two caveats:

1. Scratching could be an issue, but since this is really an art piece and not an everyday-use piece it should be okay.
2. You still would not want the edges too high without support in the center, because sagging would be visible.


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## Tearen (Aug 2, 2007)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


You could use different veneers to create your top. Start with a solid core ply for the base and build it up from there. That would give you lots of color variations.


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## SteveMI (May 19, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


Check out your glass options real early in the design. Any of the glass that is better than normal window glass comes in certain standard dimensions. If you need it a "custom" size the cost goes up incredibly. You might consider pitching the idea to a glass supplier to trade their product for a credit and photo op in the final piece.

Steve.


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## SteveMI (May 19, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


If you are thinking about veneer, check out Vacuum infusing at Joe Woodworker site.
http://www.joewoodworker.com/veneering/vacuum-infusing-chamber.htm

You could get the colors for water, moutain tops and polar caps that way.

Steve.


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## Kjuly (May 28, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


Hi Lis,

The glass edges can be polished to give you a clean look. I don't think that is possible with plastic. 
I don't think the weight of the table would be a problem because it will not be moved once it's at the venue.
Good luck at ArtPrize !! It is a great opportunity to show your work to a large group (as in thousands) of people.
A month ago another LumberJocks member said the he had a venue in ArtPrize but I could not find the post. 
Keith


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## bent (May 9, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Planning*
> 
> If you're not familiar with it, Art Prize is an open art competition that takes place in Grand Rapids, Michigan, every autumn (for a few years now), but is open to any and all artists from all over the world. I think last year roughly 1700 people were in it and 40% or so were not from Grand Rapids. The top prize is $250,000 (chosen by popular vote), but most people enter Art Prize for the exposure.
> 
> ...


what about using a solid wood for the base layer, and then laminating plywood over it? if you could get the seam to be at sea level of the map, you would have a different look (constrasting solid color) for the oceans. also, having the layers of the plywood for land masses would create a topographical map of sorts.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Design Progress*

For the past several days, I've been messing with the images used to make my elevation of earth. I dug around and found various maps and data and combined them to be what I needed. I had a finished map done previously, but magically my computer ate it over the past year- I think in one of the backup/transfer sessions it got stuck in the ether.

anyway. I made an image I liked and then converted it into a three-dimensional model. This is full scale- that is to say, this model believes it is 4'x8'x3".










The brown coloured parts are the surface of the original wood. I need to knock it down a little for Antarctica and Greenland. No big deal..

In the meantime, the rest of the planet looks pretty slick.

Today's task is to glue up a bunch of plywood for a test piece. I have a lot of "junk" plywood that will work just fine for this application. My plan is to do two of them: One smaller (and thus faster), probably in the neighbourhood of 30-40" long and then a full size one. After the full-size one is cut, I am going to use it as a guide to determine where I will need to stack wood for the final one. I find it easier to work off of a full size model. But first, glue.


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## davidswoodwrks (Aug 14, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Design Progress*
> 
> For the past several days, I've been messing with the images used to make my elevation of earth. I dug around and found various maps and data and combined them to be what I needed. I had a finished map done previously, but magically my computer ate it over the past year- I think in one of the backup/transfer sessions it got stuck in the ether.
> 
> ...


Are you using a program to get the images? It looks similar to the carvewright software.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Design Progress*
> 
> For the past several days, I've been messing with the images used to make my elevation of earth. I dug around and found various maps and data and combined them to be what I needed. I had a finished map done previously, but magically my computer ate it over the past year- I think in one of the backup/transfer sessions it got stuck in the ether.
> 
> ...


I'm using a couple different pieces of software. It's the same concept as the Carvewright system, or any CNC software.


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## davidswoodwrks (Aug 14, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Design Progress*
> 
> For the past several days, I've been messing with the images used to make my elevation of earth. I dug around and found various maps and data and combined them to be what I needed. I had a finished map done previously, but magically my computer ate it over the past year- I think in one of the backup/transfer sessions it got stuck in the ether.
> 
> ...


very nice. this is a great idea, i may have to hijack it for a world map for my son


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Design Progress*
> 
> For the past several days, I've been messing with the images used to make my elevation of earth. I dug around and found various maps and data and combined them to be what I needed. I had a finished map done previously, but magically my computer ate it over the past year- I think in one of the backup/transfer sessions it got stuck in the ether.
> 
> ...


Very neat. I'll have to drop in again and see the CNC in action!................Jim


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## SCOTSMAN (Aug 1, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Design Progress*
> 
> For the past several days, I've been messing with the images used to make my elevation of earth. I dug around and found various maps and data and combined them to be what I needed. I had a finished map done previously, but magically my computer ate it over the past year- I think in one of the backup/transfer sessions it got stuck in the ether.
> 
> ...


You have obviously put a lot of work into this well done.I know you'll end up with what you intended have fun . Alistair


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Design Progress*
> 
> For the past several days, I've been messing with the images used to make my elevation of earth. I dug around and found various maps and data and combined them to be what I needed. I had a finished map done previously, but magically my computer ate it over the past year- I think in one of the backup/transfer sessions it got stuck in the ether.
> 
> ...


Jim- yeah! Please do.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Getting there*

I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.




I had to split my map into levels- you'll see why in a few minutes. It was… tricky.




You can kind of see what I am doing.

All that work and I ended up with something that looked like this.



The black parts are the actual levels and the grey parts are the buffers.



Separated out it looks more like this.

Now, what I determined from all of this crazy-cryptic fussing is that this piece will require four layers of plywood. Two need to be full-size and the other two layers won't take a full sheet. Between the top two layers, they take less than one full sheet.



And so I cut it. I nested the parts so that I could cut it all on one sheet and leave the most amount of useful wood afterwards.



And I forgot to take a picture of it, but the step in-between was to take the double-sheet of plywood that I had previously glued up and I just did a light (0.01" deep) carving of the edges of the pieces that I cut out, where they should land on the sheet. So then it was just a matter of putting puzzle pieces together.
 


If you look closely, you can see that I have labelled them- both in a numbering scheme and I named the geographic locations if they were specific so that between the two it should be relatively easy to assemble it again.



So many islands! Who knew? I mean, we know that there's a bunch of islands around but they are generally not big enough to really notice when looking at a map.

So that left me with a task I was dreading. I had to re-make the double plywood because, uh, somebody accidentally tinkered with my old one and pried them apart. Ooops.

Since I felt like I could do better than I did previously, this time around I took both sheets and lightly roughed them up with a belt sander to knock off the varnish that was covering it. I then hosed it off with air and vacuumed up the whole lot. I then had a buddy help me out and we covered it in glue.



I then had that buddy and another buddy help me place the second sheet on top and then weight it down. Boy, was it floaty! I used a lot more glue than I did before. (So, in theory, somebody shouldn't be able to just pry them apart huh?) We then used some serious weights. The first time I clamped it and put some weights on it. This time we put, uh, some real weight on it. Each of those "boxes" weighs roughly 400 pounds.

(They're Aerovox capacitors from the Nova Laser in case you wanted to know.)

For good measure we added some extra weights. The gym weights are all 50-pounders, the buckets are over 100-pounds per (filled with lead and tiles) and that vice is pretty surly.

You can see we got quite a bit of seepage of the glue. Excellent! I did this yesterday. I'm letting it stay put today. Tomorrow I'll take it off and see what happens.

With any luck tomorrow I'll be able to etch the surface with lines and then glue the next level on!

So in case you were wondering-this is going to be the full size test piece. I'm using some of that subfloor plywood I asked about in the forums recently. Worry not. I went over the entire lot with a metal detector before doing anything. 

If the carving looks good when I'm done I'll cut it out of "good plywood". OTOH if I think this looks awesome I'll do it again with this stuff. ha. We'll see. But I thought I'd test it out on free wood before dropping a few hundred bucks on nice wood.


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## nailbanger2 (Oct 17, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


Oops moments are what helpers are for… to blame them on! Even if you work alone.

This blog should be testament to the actual work involved in a CNC carving, next time I hear "all you did was push a few buttons", they should be directed right here. Hope everything comes out great, Lis.


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## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


getting there Moose


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## EMVarona (Aug 21, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


Very technical indeed but very interesting. Map making is one of my interests. The making of relief maps is most fascinating. Very nice.


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## BobTheFish (May 31, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


Intriguing. I've been very curious as to your methodology throughout this process, and it's rewarding seeing you walk through it.

Question though about the knots: How do you end up detailing the mountain tops with the knots in the center of some of those ranges? Are they to be covered up with higher layers, or is it not a concern?


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


The knots don't matter in the slightest. The CNC sheet router cuts through knots just as cleanly as it does the rest of the wood (in fact better- it likes the hardest surface possible, wood is kind of a pain). On the final product it will just be a matter of aesthetics, but I'm not expecting the cabinet-grade plywood I will be getting to have any particular knots.


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## FatherHooligan (Mar 27, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


A very interesting project; are you using the Shuttle Tomography stuff? I bet it will be a 'relief' when you are done!...okay the pun sounded funny in my head before I typed it…


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


Mark- yes, I am using the topography info released from NASA to do this. It wasn't easy, but they at least gave out all the info one could possibly require to make it work.


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Getting there*
> 
> I've been very busy on my project, but most of the work for the past couple of weeks has been extremely technical.
> 
> ...


I'll come down to see it for sure!!!!!!!!...............Jim


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Ready to Cut*



I glued in the rest of the pieces today. The big three (Americas, Eurasia-Africa-Australia, Antarctica) were glued in with wood glue and then weighted. I let it dry for about 10 hours and then brought it up on the router table. Lightly etched where the top layer pieces go and then busted out the industrial CA. It comes with a spray-on coating for one piece and glue for the other side. WORKED AMAZING!

Everything is settled and hanging out happily on the table. Tomorrow I start cutting.

I'll be sure to take lots of photos and keep you all updated. 

In other news, while I'm on the subject of my shop..



Look what I got this week! Woohoo!

I also got a new air compressor this week. Ingersoll Rand 5 HP 80-Gallon 135psi=- works great! The last one I had in the shop was an old portable one just not meant for the kind of use I give it. (My sheet router pumps out a LOT OF AIR. A compressor is a required component.)

Just a short update-hopefully I'll have some good pictures tomorrow!!


----------



## LittlePaw (Dec 21, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Look at all the room you have in your shop, er correction, hanger! You must do a lot of cutting on big panels, Lis!! Is your Art Puzzle in pieces to be put together like a jig saw puzzle? It looks huge!


----------



## BobTheFish (May 31, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You're right. There are a lot of little islands you wouldn't think about normally. Especially surprised about the masses around south america and africa. madagascar's a given but the others… :S


----------



## scrollgirl (May 28, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I can't wait to see, Lis! Good luck to you - this has to be very exciting!

It is good to see a picture of the shop too. I was following along with that and I must have missed some entries. It looks like it is a great place to create.

I will be anxiously awaiting! 

Sheila


----------



## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


looking good sofare Lis 

thank´s for the shop update

Dennis


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


@LittlePaw, lol. The facility is pretty big, but we do more than just woodworking there.  I have about 4,000 square feet between the machine shop (this corner you see) and the woodshop (in another room for dust control).


----------



## Bertha (Jan 10, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Wow! that's one panel saw! Any tools that incorporates stairs is all right in my book


----------



## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Nice to see it worked Moose. When I come in next week I will show you something I figured out the other day. I should be there Monday.


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Ready to Cut*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


It looks like it is coming together nicely! I can't wait to see the finished product!
I ran into a guy this weekend that does laser reliefs of mostly lake Michigan. I'll send you his website. You might have something in common!


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Rough Cutting*

On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.

I was able to get it in the afternoon yesterday. Once that was in, it started going significantly faster (and better).



I stopped around 10pm last night and the table is roughly 50% rough cut.



A closeup of the before/after. Can you tell where on earth this is? 



Another view.

I'm going back to the shop in a few minutes to continue. Depending on how quickly it goes, I may re-cut some of the rougher spots that I did with the other bit. (Like Greenland, which is that fuzzy patch in the last picture) However it won't actually matter when I go to do the final cut, so we'll see.


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


Boy that is a lot of hogging out of material. How this is the final board? It looks to be 3" thick ( 4 sheets)...Jim


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


Jim that's correct .. 3" thick.  Which is why I thought I'd save a lot of sawdust/the life of my tools by "cheating" and doing the top 2 layers additive and not subtractive.

I'm cutting more right now! and it's going pretty good.


----------



## Pick (Feb 4, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


What about the actual table structure? That is where you will get votes for your piece.


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


I have a pretty solid plan for it, but you all will have to wait until I get to that point to see it. I think it is going to be awesome. Due to limitations because of the table's size (and the fact that it must remain portable), the legs will be removable. But I think it will be impressive even without fancy joinery.


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


Hi Lis, 
Looking at it, I think you are doing first the South America … just a wild guess. This will be a tremendous work. Are you also cutting the deepness of the seas and ocean? This is good art… title… The earth surface with water drained. Based on my experience, some of the plywood used threads in between. It may rip out some portion. Just be careful. Keep it going.


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


Bert, yes, exactly! 

The final product does look like the earth drained completely of water. It's such a surreal appearance… it really ends up being more of a map of the surface of the ocean's floor than anything else. We all know what the land surface looks like, so the captivating part ends up being that which we do not recognise. 

So far so good with the plywood. (crosses fingers again)


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


Now I see the difference of both the top and bottom…. Mt Everest is 36 000 ft and the deepest part at Marianas trench is 39,000 ft. The trenches will look very nice specially when you do the Philippines Trench and Marianas trench… this will attract a lot of people. Put a miniature bathyscape or bathysphere on those trench.. Just a suggestion for the finishing… Another one interesting is the shipwreck like Titanic, and many others… Hmmmm I am getting excited on how this will come out. I knew you can do those small details that you had done on the dollhouse..


----------



## BobTheFish (May 31, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


Very interesting. I would have said north america based on the second to last picture, where I can see alaska on one end, new england into canada on the other, and towards the bottom, mexico.


----------



## EMVarona (Aug 21, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Rough Cutting*
> 
> On Friday I was able to start rough cutting. Unfortunately, it took me most of Friday to also figure out the best way to program this beast. Late in the day I sorted it out and made some real progress. However, my cutting bit was *toasted*. I continued on while I searched where I could procure a replacement in town.
> 
> ...


Wow! That's quite some project.


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Finishing (is deceiving)*

I finished the rough cutting! YAY!

And I started finishing cutting. The reason I say this is deceiving is because I really need to finish cut twice, and then of course after the finishing cutting is done I have to.. um… actually finish it and then do the rest of the table. 
 


In this image I'm roughly 1/3 to 1/2 done with the finishing. (Which is where I left off today!). I should say.. FIRST PASS.



Hey look, Florida! 



You can see a nice before/after here. You can also see that the parts that got chewed up pretty hardcore from the first cutting bit really aren't any worse for the wear anymore.

What you may notice are some flat spots (which I have carefully marked with a pink marker for easy spotting later)... I missed some spots in my roughing-glueing process. What can I say, it was a complicated process. Anyway, I'm going to glue some small pieces of wood onto t he flat spots and re-cut them when I do the second finishing pass.

Once it is done cutting there will be no need to sand anything.


----------



## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finishing (is deceiving)*
> 
> I finished the rough cutting! YAY!
> 
> ...


Wow Lis, this is very, very interesting following you through this project. It looks like an incredible amount of set up to get all the cuts programmed correctly. I really look forward to seeing the finishing piece!


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finishing (is deceiving)*
> 
> I finished the rough cutting! YAY!
> 
> ...


It is starting to take shape!!
Are you going to fill it with clear blue epoxy to simulate the oceans when you are finished?


----------



## BobTheFish (May 31, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finishing (is deceiving)*
> 
> I finished the rough cutting! YAY!
> 
> ...


The second picture doesn't really resemble florida to me, but I'm in love with the wild, organic look to the plywood, with the bits that look like their spalted, and the others that have almost this wild fungi look to them… Like some exotic alien mushroom thing going on. I just want to kind of sit and stare at it for a few hours.

Hmmmm…..

Anyhow, looks like you've still got a bit to go, but the progress is fantastic!

keep up the good work.


----------



## scrollgirl (May 28, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finishing (is deceiving)*
> 
> I finished the rough cutting! YAY!
> 
> ...


Quite a huge amount of work! But it is coming out fantastic! This is going to be one amazing piece. I can't wait to see it done.

Sheila


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finishing (is deceiving)*
> 
> I finished the rough cutting! YAY!
> 
> ...


Wow! I can see now how deep the oceans I've sailed before. Just on the right of Florida is the Bermuda Triangle. We can now see why the waves over there are unpredictable. The ocean bed is flat which is directly connected to South Atlantic Basin… The current from North west will end and bounce in the eastern (not sure if it is called eastern) coast of USA including the circular boundaries by isthmus of florida and on the elevated portion of the North Atlantic underwater ridges making tremendous turbulence of water in the Bermuda triangle. 
Thanks Lis for this… Not only an artwork but a reality of Ocean floor. Keep it up.


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finishing (is deceiving)*
> 
> I finished the rough cutting! YAY!
> 
> ...


Bert, I had the exact same revelation when I saw the Bermuda area. It was a huge moment of AHA! I get it now! So that's why things fall out of the sky and the sea!

Bob,, it's actually all of North America… Florida is sitting kind of bottom-right.

Thanks all!


----------



## NMADVR (Aug 22, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finishing (is deceiving)*
> 
> I finished the rough cutting! YAY!
> 
> ...


very cool!


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Back at it*

So I ended up getting kind of sick immediately after my last blog post and I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING because I just spent two weeks laying down doing nothing… and to make sure I was good and recovered I removed the temptation and spend two those weeks with family a few hours away.

Today is my first full day back.. it's nice to be back at it!



This arrived in my absence.  It was part of a trade we did with a good friend in Missouri… I sent him a totally different piece of equipment that he really, really wanted/needed and return he ordered this and had it sent to me. I will have to go get appropriate fittings and such, but this is going to attach to the sheet router sometime this week or next. Can't wait! A shop vac is not an ideal solution for this setup because I run the sheet router for hours on end (sometimes solid days), but a dust collector should be able to deal with that. I know it's not the greatest dust collector that ever collected dust, but I feel it should be a perfectly adequate stepping stone.



I then spent a few hours re-roughing some spots that had caused me trouble previously. I don't know how, but I totally missed them before…



I also stopped at Woodcraft today to replace this cutter. Guess when I bought it…... if your guess was FIFTEEN DAYS AGO… you win! Yeah, I'm hard on tools. I had a nice chat with Freud's CS today and they are going to replace the bit for me, but it'll be by mail and I simply can't wait that long so I purchased a replacement as well. You know, you can never have too many.. *especially* small round-nose router bits! It's what I use more than anything except a V-bit.

Also a huge shout-out and appreciation to the staff at the Grand Rapids Woodcraft… they've been extremely helpful and supportive through this whole project. They were more than happy to spend over half an hour with me today puzzling over bits and we found an extension bit that should work great for me.



A peek at the surface of the whole thing.

Tomorrow I do not have to run errands / get everything set up again / spend an hour trying to figure out how to fix my vise / etc so it will be a long day of lots of cutting. YAY! I'm approaching the point where I can think about shellac and I *can't wait*!


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Back at it*
> 
> So I ended up getting kind of sick immediately after my last blog post and I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING because I just spent two weeks laying down doing nothing… and to make sure I was good and recovered I removed the temptation and spend two those weeks with family a few hours away.
> 
> ...


Hi Lis,
Good to hear you are back again on your earth project. You mentioned shellac finish. This is very glossy finish that will affect the contours emphasis because of light reflection. I know you are very much experience on photography, but I believe that flat finish absorbs light rather than reflects. Satin finish or semi gloss will be better. Anyway, you will be covering it with glass… Up to you, just a suggestion. Thanks.


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Back at it*
> 
> So I ended up getting kind of sick immediately after my last blog post and I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING because I just spent two weeks laying down doing nothing… and to make sure I was good and recovered I removed the temptation and spend two those weeks with family a few hours away.
> 
> ...


In my experience with this kind of carving, when you have the grain open in so many directions, the shellac doesn't get particularly glossy until after a few coats.


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Back at it*
> 
> So I ended up getting kind of sick immediately after my last blog post and I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING because I just spent two weeks laying down doing nothing… and to make sure I was good and recovered I removed the temptation and spend two those weeks with family a few hours away.
> 
> ...


Thanks for that Lis. We have the same thought about the light reflection that will give a really good art. I believe the beauty will now be in the finishing while revealing the nice contours of our earth. I know you have the skill for this… Keep it up.


----------



## Kjuly (May 28, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Back at it*
> 
> So I ended up getting kind of sick immediately after my last blog post and I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING because I just spent two weeks laying down doing nothing… and to make sure I was good and recovered I removed the temptation and spend two those weeks with family a few hours away.
> 
> ...


Hi Lis,
I agree, Gary has a great crew at the West Michigan Woodcraft. 
What is a sheet router? 
Keith


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Back at it*
> 
> So I ended up getting kind of sick immediately after my last blog post and I haven't been able to work on ANYTHING because I just spent two weeks laying down doing nothing… and to make sure I was good and recovered I removed the temptation and spend two those weeks with family a few hours away.
> 
> ...


Keith- it's a computer controlled (CNC) router.  You can see it in action in this blog post.


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Progress*

I've been busyyyyyyy.



I glued together a bunch of plywood that I previously cut on the panel saw. Man, I love that panel saw! 



My pile of plywood waiting for me. You'll have to wait and see what's going to happen with that.

Ignore the pink spray paint… I was painting the clamps and since the wood is going to get carved into pieces anyway.



I took these- they were turning blanks… I milled them down. We will return to this later.



This is what I started off with today… woohoo! the plywood additions were really handy. I went through almost a pint of CA glue. Yes.. I said a pint.



Thought you may enjoy this.. its what I stare at a lot while cutting. You can see I made it pink..  Also you can see some of the magnets I made hiding up on the top of the arm. Hehe.



This is my set up.. thought I'd share. There's the sheet router. And then the camera crane.. I am shooting timelapse of the *ENTIRE THING*! The ladder is there because we need to be able to get up to the camera.



I went to cut the pieces in half and my bandsaw was just NOT having this super hard exotic wood. So I made a jig for the mitre saw. I kept all my fingers! 



This is how I left it tonight. Not done yet! But you will see what happens next…. in the next blog post.



And lastly, this is how I left those little exotic pieces of wood. After I resawed them, I cut some maple to fit the same length and glued them in pairs. They are going to get sawed back into rectangles and after that-you'll have to see!


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


It is taking shape!! Nice work;-)


----------



## nailbanger2 (Oct 17, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


Teaser alert! Come on, Lis, my fingers are tired from hanging on this cliff!

Looking good, it must feel good being back in the shop.


----------



## Rustic (Jul 21, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


I missed alot of fun stuff


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


The world is getting flat…. What a beauty>.. The exotic wood will become the boarder or should I say a segmented frames that will look like a map scale boarders.. Woodworkers will say … A gian banding… Just a guess… I just couldnt wait the outcome…. Just be careful… you are handling bigger shop tools..


----------



## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


wow, this is the first time I could make out the outlines of the continents on your project; it looks amazing…and a frightening amount of work. Don't leave us in suspense too long…


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


Nailbanger- it sure does!!  I missed it.

Rick- this is all I did yesterday! Crazy huh.

Bert- Those are some good guesses. You're on the right track…! 

Rob- Thanks!


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


Additionally… I am thinking of those tags… names of the ocean, like Agean sea, Greece, and do not forget where my house is….


----------



## Bearpie (Feb 19, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


You must be a Florida Gators fan, I see an orange car and a blue car, UF colors!! ;-) Looks like you have a lot on your plate.


----------



## DaddyZ (Jan 28, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


Definately a Atlas, I guess of where in the world does this wood come from.


----------



## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


Hi Lis, you are a busy girl!!. I think you are in the shop more than me!!!

I can't wait to see it. Where will your display be located in GR?...........Jim


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Progress*
> 
> I've been busyyyyyyy.
> 
> ...


Jim, I will be showing at the Holiday Inn on Pearl Street next to the Ford Museum. I hope you get a chance to see it in person and VOTE!


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Glue!*



I've been busy milling down hunks of wood to the same dimensions. wee!
 


I got the jointer! It's been very handy so far. I've been happy with it.



I then did a bunch of glueing and a lot more milling and ended up with a bunch of little boards.



And I made a bunch of little boards with just maple, rather than maple and something exotic.



I spent a lot of time today listening to WRRRRRRRRRRR (in addition to EEEEEEEEEEEEEEE of the sheet router)....



EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.



I then took a few minutes and cut 96 more maple blanks for the all-maple boards.



And this is where I left today. I stopped because I ran out of glue!


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Glue!*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I almost forgot what you are making, but I didn't. I did go back to check to make sure ;-)) Hope you win the big prize!! Keep up the good work ;-) When do you have to have it done?


----------



## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Glue!*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


well you are into it now

taking big boards
and making little bitty ones
from them

so you can glue them up
into big boards again

the essence of woodworking !


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Glue!*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I am supposed to install it on Saturday!!!! So we'll see how this week goes. 

It is a rather awkward phase of it where I am just finishing up the finishing cuts on Earth's surface so while that's been working basically non-stop for the past several days, it doesn't look all that different in the photos.


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Yay.*

A short update today, that is also very big.



It is off the sheet router. 



The sheet router feels empty! Weird. 



And I put a note on it to warn passers-by about touching it. It has to sit on sawhorses in the shop for a few days while I finish the legs.

150+ hours of machining and 200+ hours of programming. Whoooo! I still have some gentle finishing to do in random spots to get rid of marks that happened when the top of a level was a glue layer in the ply.


----------



## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Yay.*
> 
> A short update today, that is also very big.
> 
> ...


A few more hours of programming could have eliminated those glue spots ;-)) Awesome!! What are all the blocks for that you ran out of glue on yesterday? Are they part of the base?


----------



## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Yay.*
> 
> A short update today, that is also very big.
> 
> ...


Lis,
Really nice to touch after all there is no water in the earth. I can see the reality of the effort you made. 
The legs and framings will likewise requires programming? and Cutting? Keep it safe… you are working big for this project… After all, I still remember you 1:12 dollhouse model. Now it the earth's flat and the scale is probably 1: 100000… dont know. Thanks and keep it going.


----------



## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Yay.*
> 
> A short update today, that is also very big.
> 
> ...


Lis,

You have some incredible detail in your project. How many hours did the CNC router need to cut it? Is the sea level depth consistant? If so, how about some of the thick bar top clear epoxy poured in for your ocean?


----------



## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Yay.*
> 
> A short update today, that is also very big.
> 
> ...


The blocks are part of the legs. I worked on them a lot today, but they look basically the same as when I left yesterday… there's just more… 

The legs will require a little bit of programming… not nearly as much as the table top! Most of it hand work though. Glueing and sawing and glueing and sawing. I'm utilising the mill to flatten everything, because it lets me multitask.

I wanted to do something with epoxy, but technical details prohibited it, ultimately. To fill the entire table top with epoxy (my original intention) would have used over 60 gallons of epoxy! O.O And would have been severely heavy. Not to mention crazy expensive.


----------



## jeth (Aug 18, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Yay.*
> 
> A short update today, that is also very big.
> 
> ...


Wow, what a remarkable project to take on. Incredible detail.

Just looking at it I'm wondering how you will "finish" it? Is it getting colour or something. May just be the pthoto angle but it's not so easy to make out the forms of the land masses. I'm thinking it would have been good to add a darker layer in above "sea level" to define the outer edges of the continents.

Been interesting following this blog as it relates to a very different way of working than the usual..


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Barreling towards the finish*



I finished the plain set of blocks. They've been routed on the edges and I've added some shellac to it. They're spending today getting many layers of laquer… I'm also spending today finishing up the exotic blocks.




And I turned the first piece of many for the rest of the legs. Wee! They are made from oak, which is not a wood I typically work in. A friend of mine gave me four oak 4×4's that were about four feet long. I cut them up into 12 inch pieces and they're perfect. They've been air-dried for a few years and some pieces had little ant farms in them… it's turning it into quite the pretty spindle.



A shot of the spindle being turned on my lathe. A little different from what most people here do, I know. I have to say I'm pretty proud of this because it's actually the first thing I've turned on the lathe that wasn't a cylinder when I finished turning it…....
 


This is the "before" shot of the spindle. I had to cut the edges off on the table saw because my lathe can't handle things more than about 5"D and the 4×4 is about 6"D when it's a square.

Also yesterday I put many.. MANY.. coats of finish on the table top. Woo.



Looking pretty huh?



Table gets installed.. SATURDAY. Cross your fingers for me. Right now I'm feeling pretty good about it.


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Hi Lis. You are getting there! Looks good!. The plywood looks lie the layers of the earth like you see them in the mountains.
Is that a cnc lathe…........Jim


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Jim, it sure is.


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## CharlieM1958 (Nov 7, 2006)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looking good!

I'll trade you a rusty PC690 for that lathe.


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I love your lathe too. So many times working on my wood lathe, I want to make a precision cut and have the same diameter from one end to another +/- 0.0002 like I did a long time ago. But, my metal working tools are long gone.


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


I love your lathe too. So many times working on my wood lathe, I want to make a precision cut and have the same diameter from one end to another +/- 0.0002 like I did a long time ago. But, my metal working tools are long gone and I'm lucky to hold 1/16" from end to end on a rolling pin.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Looking good Lis!! Is that last shot of the Grand Canyon?


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## scrollgirl (May 28, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


You are in the home stretch, Lis! I have really enjoyed seeing this come together. Keep it going! 

Sheila


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


The Grand Canyon actually barely shows up… it looks huge ni person but in the scale and scheme of things is actually pretty small.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Barreling towards the finish*
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Shucks!! ;-(( Maybe it could be given 2x scale just because it is the GRAND CANYON!! ;-))


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Hey look! A table!*

Look!



It's a table! 



The legs aren't glued together yet so if you are wondering why the bottom blocks are kind of crooked there is your answer….
 


A view from the underside. You can only see the brace if you stuck your head under the table, but I still wanted it to be a little fancy. I'm going to sand it and shellac it shortly.



A view of the side brace up close. Both sides have the compass in the middle.

I am SO excited that it is standing on its own!  Yay! Now only a few things left to do- time to go to work!


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## HalDougherty (Jul 15, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


Beautiful work. I can't wait to see it finished.


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## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


Wow. If only I could vote in the contest, you will be the winner. Now, I can see what those blocks of wood are intended for…. By the way, how will you transport it. It seems that all of the parts of the table are detachable. I like your idea on the compass in the arbor..


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


Hey Lis. It is coming right along nicely. Where will you be located downtown for Art Prize?
.........Jim


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


Jim, I will be at Holiday Inn!


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


wow, amazing! Nice to see that you're finally nearing the end. Must be a relief to you after many, many days of work on this.


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


wow! you are gonna need a crane to lift or move that baby..


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## scrollgirl (May 28, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


Awesome, Lis! I was wondering, as Roger was - how the heck are you going to move it??

Sheila


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Hey look! A table!*
> 
> Look!
> 
> ...


Hahah. We just lifted it. It weighs less than 400 pounds right now and after we put glass on it, the total weight should be around 550 pounds. Maybe I just hang around strong friends, but two people can lift it and four people can easily lift it.


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## tyskkvinna (Mar 23, 2010)

*Finished and Installed*

You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.

We installed the table yesterday at the hosting venue, Holiday Inn.
 


And it was kind of an…... event. I ended up waiting at the hotel for over an hour for the glass installer. We'll just say it was a rough day for everybody. But he arrived, sheet of glass in-tact and we installed it. And then I made the table opening about 1/32" too narrow so we took a chisel to it and fixed it. That was… fun. Yeah, let's say fun! 
 


But it all worked out in the end. Hoorah!

The hotel is thrilled and excited to host it. I am very happy with it and I've had SUCH fun talking to people about it. Everybody has been really impressed.

Please check out my blog post on my website about it as well.

Thanks for following me along on this journey! It has meant so much to me to have the support of fellow woodworkers as I trudged through SUCH a large undertaking.


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## Kentuk55 (Sep 21, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


congrats on a well done project. I'd like to see an overhead pic of it if possible. It looks awesome.


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## scrollgirl (May 28, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


Hooray for you! Simply OUTSTANDING! Once again, best of luck in the contest. Your table is wonderful and the blog was greatly enjoyed by so many! 

Thanks for taking the time to post it so we could make this journey with you!

Sheila


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


Looks good in there! Hoping for a BIG win ;-)


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## BertFlores58 (May 26, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


Outstanding work. Eye catching to look into it. It is perfect for the hotel reception. Congratulations for achieving such tedious project. Most people will be amazed much more if they discovered that a woman had made this. Enjoy now for the nice comments…
TIP: A lazer pointer will help you in pinpointing those places that they will be looking at… have it available.


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## Rob200 (Sep 21, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


nice work I love it


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## Jim Jakosh (Nov 24, 2009)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


Very nice project and lots of work. I'll be sure to visit there next week!...........Jim


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


amazing result after the many, many hours you worked on it! Best of luck with the competition!


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## nobuckle (Nov 3, 2010)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


How many ways are there to say WOW! What an awesome piece. It's a winner in my book.


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## WesGrimes (Sep 17, 2011)

tyskkvinna said:


> *Finished and Installed*
> 
> You can see the final Project Listing up! But I wanted to wrap up the blog too so it wasn't hanging.
> 
> ...


That is really impressive. Your blog is really interesting too. I would love to see an aerial shot.


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