An interesting design and materials selection process came up recently with Brittney Townrow, our school's formidable indigenous education coordinator. She proposed creating cutout shapes of Pacific Northwest Coast formline art, specifically her Heiltsuk community. She could then use these cutout shapes as physical building blocks or stencils for art.
The primary formline is typically continuous making it an ideal shape draw as vector lines. Other smooth undulating lines combine to make up a variety of shapes that can convey animal anatomy. Recreating these lines in Illustrator was quick and resulted in editable vectors:
Of course, vector files allow for easy laser cutting since it's s standard file format. I like the feel and texture of the wood cutouts, but I think the 3D-printed ones will last much longer in younger student hands:
Brittney also had some great ideas of having students learn traditional techniques of indigenous paddle carving by making their own. What a wonderful idea to not only have children apply what they've learned but to also express their own creativity and influence on artwork. I have an ADST Woodworking class that sees every Grade 6 student so this was also a natural conveyance point.
We're purposefully limited to safer hand and power tools in the Makerspace so I explored ways to make a paddle safely that also had maximum student creativity. We typically use dimensional SPF lumber in woodworking due it's price point and relative softness but even thinner material would pose a problem for the curves and cutouts of paddles. Chisels were out the question due to their sharpness and longevity of the blades so I tried coping saws, rasps and files, and a jigsaw on basswood, a much softer wood.
I printed out a paddle image for a test and used a light coating of spray adhesive on a 3/16"x4"x24" plank of basswood. If you let it dry a bit the low tack should help the paper come off a bit easier. Our tech ed teacher just uses glue sticks but I think it's pretty fun using spray adhesive! Student projects can draw out their own paddle shape on a pre-determined paper size before gluing.
I first tried using the rasp and files since I figured it mimicked the traditional use of chisels. It worked, but required a lot of effort in consistent strokes. It also created a lot of dust and I split the wood a couple of times being a bit careless. This means students would undoubtedly split it and I quickly abandoned rasping. I then tried the jigsaw and coping saws. The jigsaw applied too much vibration and required constant re-clamping. The coping saw worked well. You can see the texture differences below, from left to right; jigsaw, coping saw, rasp:
I can see a lot of extensions and modifications possible for this project. If time is a factor then paddle blanks can be purchased and focus placed on the artwork. Coloured sharpie or other permanent markers worked great with wood and bypass the messiness of paint. Mineral oil is a safe finish to apply that also bypasses any fumes or fire hazards. The laser cutter could also be quick cutouts or engraving, especially if 3D carving is needed. Even simple wood burners would add a nice textural feel and look.
