One of our very first art commissions was a special wood sphere, commemorating a client’s beloved family member. An heirloom piece that was to be made of solid Black Walnut logs and turned into a perfectly spherical shape, Matt and the WoodLab team were determined to work through the engineering and fabrication challenges to make this simple concept into a powerful monument to one family's shared love and devotion.
This gallery of images shows the fabrication process and final art installation photos.
Finding straight lengths of Black Walnut, with a smaller diameter, was surprisingly difficult because tree limbs are typically discarded when felling a large tree.Each log piece was first air cured for approximately one year, and then hand carved and shaped into straight, cylindrical sections.Since full-length logs were surprisingly heavy, and not straight, smaller sections were arranged to create a hollow sphere at the specified final size of 36” in diameter.Every piece of treated wood that we had was utilized to form a rough shape of stacked logs, ready for turning.This custom routing jig and turntable prototype was engineered in CAD and made from simple wood materials, metal brackets and ball bearing drawer glides.Excess material was first cut away to allow the piece to spin on its turntable platform.The pivoting router gantry provided a horizontal cutting axis, while the piece slowly turned. Only very shallow cutting passes were possible with this hard wood species.As the wood material was carved down to shape, whole logs were shaved away, revealing the hollow interior.New logs were carefully shaped to size and fastened into position so that carving could resume.After many hours of routing, a beautiful, perfect spherical shape emerges from the rough stack of logs.Once the proper diameter was achieved, the piece was carefully flipped, for shaping the other half of the sphere.A plywood base was included in the final shaping, providing a sleek access port to the hollow interior.We created a removable light tube with remote-controlled LED puck lights, fashioned to a thick foam and felt base pad.Lit from the inside, the sphere creates a glowing kaleidoscopic pattern between the stacked log shapes.Finally shaped to a perfect diameter, the piece is transferred off the routing platform, ready to deliver to WoodLab for finishing.The unfinished piece shows off its intricate visual design, revealed by this three-dimensional carving technique.One more shot of the unfinished piece, and the warm copper and cream radial end grain pattern of these beautiful Black Walnut logs.Natural light from the setting sun shines on this stunning sphere during installation at the client’s home.Setting this simple, natural wood form within the client’s modern home architecture created a truly moving statement.Warm and delicate, yet unlovable, Memorial Sphere will be a forever reminder of this family’s joyful memories and steadfast love for one another.
