Family . . .

. . . An abstract carving in redwood atop the mantel along side 'Roots 1' with some family photos and one of my paintings in the background.

I suppose this blog should be called "Woodwork, etc.", or some such, because there is precious little posted here about Platonic solids, as yet.  I hope to change that, soon.  The dodecahedron is my favorite Platonic solid, and I have tried several approaches to making them, so there will probably (eventually) be more here about dodecahedrons than any of the other Platonic solids.

Abstract carvings, such as the "Family" featured in this post,  are things I like to do.  Whittling was one of my first hobbies, and I still enjoy it more than any other type of woodwork, and my whittling usually produces an 'abstract' piece of one sort or another.

Works in Progress

Here is a sample of works in progress in the woodwork shop:

A ball carved within a dodecahedron.  I started this project by cutting a solid dodecahedron, then carving to 'liberate' a ball within.

This project turned OK, but the result is not altogether satisfying, so I have not bothered to finish the carving with coats of varnish.

The major challenge here is carving a near-perfect sphere within the dodecahedron.  There are a number of different ways to approach this sort of thing.  I think it may be best to do the ball and dodecahedron separately, then combine them for the finished product.  One way to do this would be to  cut a finished dodecahedron in half, hollow it out, then insert a sphere carved separately into the dodecahedron.  Another possibility is to build a 'stick-figure' dodecahedron around a ball.  Each approach presents unique challenges, and the idea is to develop a method that results in the best finished product.

Sadly, wood carving has been somewhat neglected for the past few months because of various distractions.  I hope to get back these and other woodwork projects soon because working with wood is one of my favorite things.