Kumiko art — HANABI

[Des.K.]

HANABI Part 1

This was a kumiko art piece I completed almost 12 months ago. I thought it might be of interest because it shows, on a relatively small scale, what is possible in kumiko art with some planes, saws, and thin pieces of wood.

The size of the piece is roughly 1200 x 700 mm, and there are somewhere between 10,000 and 12,000 individual pieces. Kumiko size is 1.6 x 10.0 mm.

There are 13 types of wood, and eight different kumiko patterns (these patterns, and more, can be seen in greater detail on my website). The timber is all natural colour.

The piece is titled "HANABI", which is Japanese for "fireworks". As the piece fills out, hopefully you will see why.

All kumiko joinery was cut by hand, using my kumiko saws, special planes, and a lot of jigs.

Attachment 197607
These are the pieces that make up the kumiko base for the patterns, This base is called the jigumi. There are about 50 long and 28 short kumiko. The timber is Tassie oak.

Attachment 197608
The thickness of all jigumi kumiko is 1.60 mm. For a three-way joint (mitsu-kude) jigumi of this size, this thickness must be precise.
On the longer pieces I accept 1.58–1.62 mm; on the shorter pieces it's 1.60 or 1.61 mm. This way, gaps are kept to the minimum, provided my cutting is accurate.

Attachment 197609
All the pieces are cut and colour-coded for the jigumi, and the assembling begins. The pitch (interval between kumiko) is 35 mm.

Attachment 197610
So far, so good. These kumiko are only 1.6 mm thick, and there is only 3 mm of wood left where each of the kumiko joints are cut, so they can snap very easily.

Attachment 197611
About half-way through. As more kumiko are assembled, the process becomes much more difficult and hair-raising, because all kumiko are exerting tension on all adjacent kumiko. Any minor accuracy errors will increase this tension, making the joints harder to fit.

Attachment 197612
Thankfully, the jigumi is completed with no major mishaps.
The straightness of the individual kumiko is a good indication of accuracy of the cuts. The photo above shows the longest diagonal kumiko. Not 100%, but considering the length (over 1200 mm) and the number of joints (36), I'm reasonably satisfied.

Attachment 197613
This is an indication of the unfortunate wastage involved in this kind of work. The kumiko came from the same size of timber as on their left. Only about a quarter of the rough-sawn timber is used. The timber is American walnut.


More to follow…

[Des.K.]

HANABI Part 2

…

Attachment 197614
The jigumi is safely and securely framed, and the different parts are marked out. The fun, and the tedium, begins.
All the initial patterns are formed from the asa-no-ha, and these are done first.

Attachment 197615
The asa-no-ha are gradually filled out.

Attachment 197616
The piece gradually takes on more bulk, and hopefully, you can make out a tree on the left.

Attachment 197617
Some more bulk, and hopefully you can see a tall structure with surrounding buildings start to take shape. And the hills and mountains in the background.

Attachment 197618
Now to start on the sky.

Attachment 197621
The sky is safely completed. Now for the hanabi.

Attachment 197620
The first few hanabi done.

More to follow…

[Des.K.]

HANABI Part 3

…

Attachment 197622
The hanabi fireworks completed.

Attachment 197623
Next is the foreground vegetation and flowers.

Attachment 197624
After about two months, the internal patterns are completed. Next job is to make up the frame. Hopefully you can make out what the landscape is meant to be: a lake scene with a built up area on the far bank, with, of course, some fireworks.

Attachment 197625
Now safely secured in its frame with a solid protective backing.

The following photos show some of the patterns in a bit more detail.

Attachment 197626
Detail of the hanabi. The patterns are: kaza-guruma (pinwheel) for the larger hanabi; dahlia for the smaller hanabi; and kuruma-kikkō (in this case, wheel) for the sky pattern.
Wood types are: Brazilian bloodwood, saffron-heart, purple-heart, Huon pine, kauri, silver ash, and Tassie oak.

Attachment 197627
This photo shows the main structures and foreground vegetation.
The patterns are: yae asa-no-ha for the main structure and built-up area; yae-zakura for the green vegetation; kawari-yae-zakura for the tree trunk, background mountains, and lake; and rindō for the leaves.
Wood types are: American walnut, silver ash, Qld maple (sapwood), red cedar, Tassie oak, Tassie blackwood, a bit of radiata pine, and sassafras.

Attachment 197628
This shows the flowers, with a bit of vegetation, and a bit of the lake.
The patterns are: kawari asa-no-ha for the flowers; yae-zakura for the vegetation; and kawari-yae-zakura for the lake.
Wood types are: Huon pine, a tiny bit of radiata pine, sassafras, Brazilian bloodwood, purple-heart, saffron-heart, red cedar, blackwood, and silver ash.

Thanks for looking, and I hope it's been of some interest.

Des

[Waldo]

Absolutely brilliant. Your skill and attention to detail shows through.

[Crunchie]

As the young ones say - Oh My God!!!! I get a shiver up my spine at the amount of work, the patience and the skill. Absolutely fantastic!

[NCArcher]

When I saw this thread I thought "Oooh, another Des K WIP. Goody"
I wasn't disappointed. Magnificent work Des.

[Scott]

There are definitely some talented people on these forums.

[Des.K.]

Thanks all for the kind words.

Rest assured, there were many "Oh gosh darn!" (this is the heavily censored version) moments.

Des

[enak]

Lovely work Des. Do you have higher resolution pictures of them, it would be great to see!

[Des.K.]

Thanks Kane.

Unfortunately, restrictions on the size of uploaded image limited the size of the images, and this was generally about as big as I could get them. I believe that having so many small pieces of a different colour limits the amount of compression the image can go through, hence a larger file size.

The images in my website are a bit bigger.

Des

[enak]

Thanks Des, I'll take a peek.

Regards,
Kane

[Chief012]

Now thats impressive and beautiful!

[corbs]

I really have no words which express how much I love this. Please tell me it's going to make a trip to Bungendore so I can have a look at in person

[munruben]

Magnificent. work.

[Des.K.]

Thanks Guys.

Corbs, this was made for an art competition in Hobart last year - result: not in the slightest bit interested; didn't get past the photo stage.

I also submitted photos for an art competition in Brisbane later in the year - result: same high level of absolute disinterest.

So at the moment, it's safely tucked away at home. The boss is quite happy that we get to keep it though.

Des