Bookstand c.1912
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This was a quickie I banged out this morning before leaving for work. It is based on a piece from around 1912. I don't know if the spiral design really fits the Arts & Crafts style but the original has it so I included it.
The wood grain is a hand drawn fumed white oak, the image is a combination of a pencil line style, a KT clay render, a textured image and a little Fotosketcher action. Very simple with most of the post processing being unattended.
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A sort of Yin Yang ?
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I really love the wood grain and how the shadow looks on this!
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Very nice, Dave.
Hand drawn fumed White oak? What is that?
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Thank you all.
Daniel, the texture is a hand drawn texture as opposed to being a photographic image. A method of getting oak to have that dark color is to expose it to fumes of ammonia which reacts with the tannins in the wood and changes the color. Oaks are generally classified as either red or white. These aren't just two different species of oak. There are a number of species in each category. White oak has less of the pinkish color prevalent in the red oaks. White oak has tyloses that give the wood a closed cellular structure, making it water- and rot-resistant. Red oak is open so it is not so rot resistant.
There, more than you wanted to know.
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Thanks, Dave. I thought perhaps "hand drawn" might have refered to some kind of graining technique. I remember reading somewhere the finish on the wood trim at Biltmore estate included setting trays of ammonia under the wood for twenty-four hours or so.
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Yes, the fuming technique was popular as a way to stain oak in the early part of the 1900s. It was develop after people noticed oak horse barn timbers turned dark with exposure to horse urine. Fortunately they figured out that ammonia was all they needed to recreate it.
The process has experienced a recurrence with some woodworkers and they use blue print ammonia for the job. Of course you can buy stains that are easier to work with and less dangerous. -
Having worked with ammonia blueprint machines in the 80s, I'll stick with stains!
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