Category Archives: proportions

useing proportions in furniture design

Design workbook coming in 2015!

Posted on December 30, 2014 by walkerg

  Jim Tolpin and I are in high cotton. Even before By Hand & Eye was finished we sensed there was still a critical missing piece. That missing piece was a bridge that linked the head knowledge of design with … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, Design Book, proportions, Resources | 10 Comments

Crossing the Line

Posted on August 28, 2012 by walkerg

Have you ever winced when someone admired your work and declared you an artist? I take it as a sincere compliment, but I think of my work as craft. If done well it extends our craft tradition, a reward in … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, proportions, The Classic Orders | 7 Comments

Inch or Metric?

Posted on August 2, 2012 by walkerg

Machinists are spinning in their graves at what I’m about to share and I can’t quite believe it myself. It’s hard to explain the attachment one gets to a measuring system when you’ve made a living dodging hot steel chips … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, Design Book, proportions, tools | 7 Comments

Design at the Point of a Tool

Posted on January 16, 2012 by walkerg

The February issue of Popular Woodworking Magazine prompted a woodworker to ask if I could give a little detail about the tool rack lurking in the background. Actually this plain but very functional tool storage rack was an early exercise in … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, proportions | 15 Comments

Apprentice Sketchbook December 2011

Posted on November 29, 2011 by walkerg

Three months ago when I hit the send button to submit the December installment of my Design Matters column in Popular Woodworking Magazine, I did so with a bit of trepidation. The article, “Why Design”, is something of a departure. … Continue reading →

Posted in Apprentice Sketchbook, proportions | 5 Comments

Proportions add life to a design

Posted on October 18, 2011 by walkerg

Gaining fresh new insights working on the upcoming Lost Art Press book on design. As often happens when teaching or writing, the process forces you to flip over more stones in the creek bottom to see what might scurry out. I’ve … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, Design Book, proportions | 4 Comments

Right up to the edge

Posted on September 6, 2011 by walkerg

Just back  from a week in the Northwest with Jim Tolpin working on our upcoming book on furniture design. I was reminded while eating some amazing king salmon why I never order seafood back home. In the midwest we’ve got pork nailed, but nothing  … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, proportions | 2 Comments

The human connection

Posted on May 3, 2010 by walkerg

It’s full blown spring here in Northern Ohio. Barbie’s Hostas are coloring the brown garden beds with pure hues of green. The leaves are perfect and clean and create a miniature forest for migrating birds. Wood thrushes, Towhees, and white … Continue reading →

Posted in Architecture, proportions, The Classic Orders | 3 Comments

Use proportions to punctuate

Posted on April 12, 2010 by walkerg

Which of the three scenarios should make your heart skip a beat while canoeing?  A. The river takes a sharp bend up ahead and you cannot see beyond the where the water turns a corner.  B. You spot rapids ahead … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, proportions, The Classic Orders | Comments Off on Use proportions to punctuate

Get the proportions right

Posted on March 29, 2010 by walkerg

Weekend before last Barbie and I went up to Lake Erie in hopes of seeing the waterfowl migration. Starting in late Feb through March, large flocks of ducks, geese, and swans congregate in the wetlands between Sandusky and Toledo Ohio. … Continue reading →

Posted in Design Basics, proportions, The Classic Orders | 9 Comments