Is it a Painting; is it a sculpture? It's an Abacus!
- onepaintingaday
- Jan 7
- 8 min read
Updated: Jan 8
My next sculpture, something I've been calling an Abacus is progressing steadily. Learning much along the way. Still limited by the tools available (daydreaming of a table saw and a drill press), but enjoying the challenge for now, as the limitations in space, material and tools are helping define the solutions and approach to the puzzle. Good fun requires the perfect blend of skill and chance. Creating art often feels a bit like this at times. The best way to build skill is through experimenting and play, and chance rewards the tinkerer willing to fail for the sake of curiosity. I've been thinking much about skill vs chance in the making of this new sculpture. The skill(s) I am still acquiring, but building upon what I've learned so far; and chance, the chance discoveries that are crucial to success that are uncovered along the way, are so wonderful when they happen.
What is an Abacus you may ask? In this context, the Abacus will be a large double-sided interactive sculpture with rotating tiles comprising a larger composition. Similar in size to the mobile I made last year, and similar approach to applying a pattern of one of my paintings to the surface of the tiles. In the gallery, the Abacus will be an invitation for viewers to play with the sculpture and rotate the tiles around the dowels, changing the sculpture with their own hands and discovering new relationships in the work itself. Another layer of encountering a bit of chance within the work.
To pull this off, I've been trying to anticipate and isolate various aspects of this construction to test quickly and try out the set up and techniques that will be applied at scale of 36 tiles, 72 sides, 144 pillars, and 288 Velcro tabs. Lots to figure out before July's show! I've been focusing on critical pieces of one of the tiles and then three of the tiles together before tackling the large scale production of these pieces. So far, I haven't hit any full stops, only minor setbacks. I think the biggest challenge will be time. And I am starting to feel the pressure to advance this further so there is enough time to paint it and then install it. Below is a summary of where we are today.
Puzzle 1: What size should the interior frame supports be? I went with something large enough to support a dowel, but not too large to be heavy or bulky. After some trial and error, I settled upon using 1/4" thick pine molding that is 1-3/8" wide. This allows for a 5/8" dowel to rotate through the center of the frame. This is a little less wide than the other frames I built for the grid paintings. I set up a fence on the chop saw to make sure they are a consistent width for the sides with holes and then put a spacer between the wood and the fence for the shorter sides. This results in really uniform size pieces for all 36. I did happen to have a small mishap with the chop saw that moved the fence, so I'll have to reset this soon to build pieces #4-#36.
Puzzle 2: How to drill a smooth hole through the center of the wood without it blowing out the hole? After trying wood drill bits, spade drill bits, and countersink bits, the hands down best bit is the Forstner Bit! Thanks to my brother-in-law for the suggestion! I hadn't heard of this bit before. It has blades like round teeth, and shaves the wood down, creating a somewhat smooth hole in the center of the cut and minimizes blow out the back. I picked up a set of these bits from Home Depot. Using the 5/8" Forster bit which is just a tad bigger than a 5/8" dowel. The suggestion feels a bit like chance. Especially after many hours of trial and error working with other bits.
Puzzle 3: How to attach the wood (future painted) panels onto the face of the frame? I want them to be 100% removable in case I mess up on the painted surface or in case I want to swap out the image in the future. Solution: custom built corner interior pillars and attach them to the wood with Velcro tabs. Since I don't have a jig saw, a ban saw, or a table saw, I punted and ordered 1" x 1" x 1" wood square blocks online as well as 1/8" x 1" x 1" wood tiles. PSA, 1" means different things to different people. Regardless, this appears to be working well! Question: Should I continue with the round Velcro tabs or transition to square?
Puzzle 4: How to connect the dowel to the outer frame? I was thinking of curtain rods and how a hole could be cut into the upper edge of a piece of wood. I clamped the wood down and applied my Forstner bit. All was well until about half way through the first drill and the bit spun out. Gordon suggested I put two blocks together and clamp them down and drill through both at the same time. I used a third clamp horizontally for good measure, and reapplied my safety glasses. Turns out this works! But the drill is off center as the point preferences one side more than the other. This results with one block getting more of a circle cut out than the other. In spite of the clamp convention, I was starting to worry that I might injure myself with all the slipping and locking up of the drill. I will need to hone my technique before the final drilling of knockouts. I am isolating this task to improve my technique before applying it to the final work, and moving onto other tasks to keep forward momentum. My motto for this particular puzzle follows: Drill another day, and build supporting skills along the way.
Puzzle 5: How will I keep the tiles upright on the dowel to face the front? And if I can how hard will it be to spin them? Drumroll! Ok so these are perfectly balanced. I think the size and proportion of weight with the pillars and the wood panel are just right to stay vertical. Once I pull off the cover, the tile rotates backwards at a 45 degree angle (as seen below) due to the slight shift in weight distribution. The fact that it is so stable with the fronts on, and leans back with the covers off, is not something I could have anticipated. This is one of the joys of the making process-- 100% chance. It just worked. But if I think about the physics and load distribution, it makes total sense.
Puzzle 6: How to keep these somewhat in the right place on the dowel horizontally?
Velcro to the rescue again. Using now a self wrapping strip of Velcro friction tight to the dowel. Since it's internal to the structure you won't be able to see it from the outside and it doesn't impeded the rotation of the tile. It is just almost enough friction to suggest where the tiles should go, but just a bit of pressure and they won't prevent the tile from sliding. I may add a dab of glue to the dowel and let it dry to see if that helps with the friction for the Velcro, without hindering my ability to slide the tiles up and down the dowel.
Whew! Now that the mechanics are working, I wanted to circle back to getting ready for the painting. And like any good novel, we just hit a bit of a hiccup somewhere in the middle.
Puzzle 7: Introduction to Cupping!
Like any bad news- it is always best to receive it early, when there may be enough time to act in the best interest of all involved. And like any good narrative, if it is indeed a comedy and not a tragedy, bad news arrives somewhere in the middle, if not early on, when there is still time to intervene. The Abacus has met its first setback= Cupping of wood. Once I started applying gesso to the wood panels, it started cupping!!!! This is where the middle of the tile pulls up about a millimeter from the edges, warping an otherwise flat plane of material. What was so svelte in the early prototypes is starting to look well, janky.
Worried that this could be really visually distracting, I tried painting on the other side with gesso but it didn't work well to offset the first cup. Reading a bit more, it sounded like the application and direction that gesso was applied might be a factor, so I tried starting in the center and working my way out, and then painting a frame and working my way back in. But to no avail. Later, after talking with my master craftsman friend, Bill, he suggested that the issue may be moisture differences on one side versus the other. Some alternatives may be to stick the work in the oven or introduce supporting straps to the back of tile against the grain. Worried about inhaling fumes, catching my oven on fire, or adding weight to the tiles and inadvertently causing the dowel to bend, I decided to go back to researching proper art preparation!
So some more research online for art painting on wood advice and many websites suggest, Gloss Gel Medium from Golden is a good sizing material to apply first to the wood to seal it before putting down gesso. (Sounds like wood can also stain its way through paint, so sealing first is critical for long-term survival of the painted image). Most resources recommend placing the Gloss Gel Medium on both sides of the wood. Some suggest coating the ends also. Since the tiles are so thin (1/8"), I will probably inadvertently coat the ends also. Here are the results:
Test 1- Gesso one side= cupping
Test 2- Gesso both sides=less cupping, but still cupping
Test 3- Gesso on side + Gloss Gel Medium on one side=no cupping
Test 4- Gloss Gel medium on one side= cupping
Test 5- Gloss Gel medium on both sides= No cupping
Test 6- Currently underway, gloss gel medium both sides with a layer of gesso above
The Gloss medium has a sheen and a tactile quality I don't find particularly pleasant. Hoping to be able to gesso over both sides once the medium dries underneath. It does appear that if there is some initial cupping on one side, applying the Gloss Gel medium to the opposite side can pull things back to true. (wish me luck)!