simon king

Simon King, Wanaka, Otago, NZ
member

Teacher of design and technology in Wanaka, New Zealand. Self taught designer, furniture maker, turner, carver, builder.

Gender: Male

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Contributions

Partners' Box

Oct 30, 2008

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jewellery box

Oct 30, 2008
1 comment

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kumete

Oct 29, 2008
6 comments

A kumete (bowl) constructed using traditional pacific island joinery techniques. Sapele, beech, chestnut, tallow wood, sisal lashing.

Hatta in Prison

Oct 29, 2008
4 comments

'Hatta in Prison' based on the illustration by Sir John Tenniel of Lewis Carrol's 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' and following the work of Ian Norbury. Carved in limewood, walnut and ebony. Plinth...

box for jo

Oct 28, 2008

This box is made to store the tail feather of the one of the world’s rarest birds, the Kakapo. The inlay is an ironic reference to flight – the Kakapo is a large flightless...

woodturning in the Cook Islands

Oct 23, 2008

Woodturning done while teaching in Rarotonga, Cook Islands. The boxes are inlaid in the rim - this gives the person opening them a surprise and preserves the colour of the inlays. Timbers and shells...

dan's chair

Oct 23, 2008
1 comment

A chair for my son's 21st birthday based on the form of a traditional chief's seat in the Pacific Islands. All surfaces textured with plane or #2 carving chisel and finished with Tung oil.

box for christine

Oct 23, 2008
2 comments

A box made to celebrate the fiftieth birthday of an old friend rediscovered after 34 years. Box: Sides - walnut, Base - ripple figured olive ash Trays: Sides - figured maple, Base - JarrahLid...


Recent comments


Re: kumete

About 600 x 400 x 100mm

posted: 1:02 am on November 4th  

Re: Hatta in Prison

Hi Gavin,
I posted a few more pictures. Ian Norbury's book 'Projects for Creative Woodcarving'has three pages on how to make this carving. In my version the figure is about 220mm high.

The chain is an old carvers trick - if you want to win a beer, bet your mate that you can make a piece of wood longer without joining any extra pieces on and get carving!
cheers
Simon

posted: 8:43 pm on October 31st  

Re: kumete

Thanks for the positive comments.
I spent two years living in the Cook Islands teaching design and woodwork and during that time i became very interested in the traditions of wood joinery that evolved in the absence of metal. These traditions are most evident in the construction of buildings and canoes. Pieces of wood are generally shaped to fit together and lashed using a variety of techniques with coconut sennit. In some situations the lashing takes on a significant decorative role, particularly in the construction of public buildings and I found much evidence of this in Samoa. Apart from visiting museums to see examples of pacific island canoes, the Bishop Museum in Hawaii has a number of excellent publications showing details of canoe building techniques, though most are out of print. http://www2.bishopmuseum.org/press/web/quicksearch.asp
I am very busy preparing my students for their end of year assessments at the moment but I will post some more pictures and links in a couple of weeks.

posted: 2:48 pm on October 31st