Kingfisher Segmentation -FRAMED

[Frank Pellow]

Getting Started:

The starting point of this is Haida artist Glen Rabena's Kingfisher painting:

                                            

FrankEV  kindly used Inkscape to come up with a scroll saw pattern for this:

                                                       

I made a few changes to Frank's pattern using old fashioned tools, namely pencils and whiteout:

                                                       

For the most part, the pieces will be cut from 3mm Baltic Birch plywood.  But there are a few lines that I will handle by a cut over a painted portion of the backer board.

I'm using very small drill bits (#70 .028") thin blades (Flying Dutchman 2/0 Ultra Reverse).  There are some very very small parts.

Here is photo of the whole panel:

                                      

And this is what I see through my lighted magnifying glass:

                                      

 

 

Edited May 14, 2021 by Frank Pellow

[Scrappile]

Can I use that pattern?  don't know when I would get to it but I love it.... Anxious to follow your project.

[Frank Pellow]

58 minutes ago, Scrappile said:

Can I use that pattern?  don't know when I would get to it but I love it.... Anxious to follow your project.

Certainly.  Would you like the pattern as rendered by FrankEV or the one after I made the changes to make it better for segmentation.  I can send either or both to you if you give me an email address.  Just send me a note at:   fpellow@sympatico.ca

 

[Scrappile]

Thanks... I can down load the one posted,, and I hate to trouble anyone,, I may not get it done but would like to have it in my library in case... I have so many, and at 77, I know I will never get to all of them... darn,, I just typed 77 and thought is that true...?!  Got out the calculator and yep... guess it is.. sadly..

Edited May 7, 2021 by Scrappile

[Frank Pellow]

Haida Formline:

I’m going to delve into a bit of an art lesson here.  A formline is the main design element of Haida (and other Northwest Coast indigenous peoples) two dimensional art. Here is the definition of formline in the book ‘Learning by Designing’ by Jim Gilbert and Karin Clark:

Primary Formlines are continuous, swelling, curving lines which join over a given area to outline the main form intended to be represented by the art.  They are continuous in that one can follow a primary formline from any point continuously throughout the whole artistic piece without interruption. 

Secondary and tertiary formlines also exist and are utilized for body parts, but I will not go into that depth in this discussion.

In most of the older Haida two dimensional style art, primary formlines are quite abstract and body parts quite disjoint.  An example of this is the bentwood box that I made and carved a few years ago.

                      

Folks unfamiliar with this type of art will likely need an explanation in order to understand that this represents a Beaver.

Some modern-day Haida artists such as Glen Rabena have created formlines that are much more recognizable to the uninitiated.  For example, it is obvious that this is a n eagle carrying a fish.

                           

End of lesson.

Edited May 10, 2021 by Frank Pellow

[Frank Pellow]

Parts Cut:

First of all, I decided to do this as a complete segmentation rather than resorting to a the use of cut-outs showing painted backer board in a few places.  This resulted in a few very small parts.  Cutting had to be very precise and I could not have accomplished this without the great pattern that FrankEV made for me using Inkscape. 

Below is a photo showing all the parts.  There are about 65 parts and it took me between 3 and 4 hours to cut them..

    

Here is a photo of the part that comprises the entire primary formline:

     

Notice that, as it should be, the entire primary formline is one contiguous part.  

Edited May 10, 2021 by Frank Pellow

[preprius]

Yes, the lesson was needed.  

This is going to be goooood. 

 

[Frank Pellow]

Parts Painted:

Acrylic paints were used to paint the appropriate parts:

Some of the parts certainly are small and fragile.

[Frank Pellow]

Glue-Up:

Next, comes what I regard as the fun part, that is re-assembling and attaching all the parts.

        

I find that Aleene's Tacky Glue works very well for this.

Although finger pressure for a couple of minutes is probably all that is needed, I did clamp a few of a assemblies, leaving the clamp on for about half an hour..

[Ceric ME]

I look at the segmentation done by others and I keep wondering how come I don't see any drill holes.

[Frank Pellow]

1 hour ago, Ceric ME said:

I look at the segmentation done by others and I keep wondering how come I don't see any drill holes.

If you look really closely, there are some drill holes that you can see in my work although I work hard to either eliminate or hide them.

I use the smallest possible drill bit for the small blades that I am using and, when possible, I drill the hole at the place where a line changes direction.

[preprius]

scrolling tip alert.   

That drilling placement tip is great.  

 

[Frank Pellow]

Assembled:

All the parts have been glued into place and I have cleaned up as much as I can.  Here is a photo:

    

It looks good at a distance, up close, there are many noticeable imperfections.  For instance:

•  I lost a couple of small parts and had to recut them.  The substitute parts did not fit as well as they originals, leaving some small gaps.
• There are a few glue smudges which I can't seem to either scrape or sand off without making things even worse.

I am going to apply a glossy finish to the work, build a simple frame for it, take it to my cabin (there are Kingfishers in the region and I occasionally see them fishing), and hang the work high on the wall where it can's be closely examined.

Edited May 12, 2021 by Frank Pellow

[preprius]

It is a great segmentation piece.  The painting enhances the intricacy of cuts to the pieces.   The thin pieces get enhanced really well.    

There must be some significance of shapes "D" and "whales tails" and swiggly lines for birds?  Kinda like the curvey bracket "{". 

 

[Frank Pellow]

Framed:

                

The Rosseter-Pellow frame is made from 1/4-sawn White Oak and I gave that a distressed look by first painting the frame then sanding off some of the paint.  

Everything was finished using clear gloss "rattle-can" stuff.

[amazingkevin]

Man you did a good job!!!