Great Projects to Start a Furniture Design Class With.

Plant Stands (Workshop 2) or 

Stools (Workshop 3).  

Two Weeks to complete.

No drawings need to be submitted.

Any number of floor contact points other than 4 are allowed. 

Plant stands must hold at least one potted plant at least 6 inches above the support surface (table or floor). 

At the beginning of a semester class, when students haven't yet decided what they want to make or at least aren't ready with drawings or dimensions, these quick projects get their creative juices flowing, keeping them active in the workshop rather than sitting at their studio desk staring at their computers. Their semester project development can develop outside of class time, with a quick review each class day with the professor, one at a time for 10 minutes each while others continue working on their plant stand or stool. 

This is NOT recommended for their first workshop class given that students aren't yet familiar with where tools and materials are to use or how to use the power tools safely. A great project to teach them the tools, joinery, production sequence, etc., is this Joinery Box project. 

Projects from One Class

The leg limit (not 4) is intentional to encourage the students to think outside the 4-legs box.  Any number of legs are allowed from 0 (hanging), 1 (wobble base), 2 (rocker), 3 (tripod), 5 or more. Just not 4!

The stool project has a higher expectation given that their design must support the dynamic weight of humans. This is where a one-point (shallow dome) base or a two-point (rocker) design makes sense. 

Students enjoy this project!

With department head approval, a competition could be held asking departmental faculty to inspect all stool or plant stand designs to pick their favorite(s). The winning design might earn the student designer free printing/plotting for the semester.  Or perhaps a free t-shirt with the latest department logo on it. 

End the two week project with a photo session.  Have workshop 2 students bring in plants to adorn their stand designs with.  

I was asked one semester if a 3D printed plant stand was allowed.  My answer was yes, but only if it consists of at least 4 parts that need to be assembled after they are printed. 

This project turned the first two weeks of what had been a slow starting semester into a busy shop and enjoyable project making time.  The biggest challenge was getting the students to work on their semester project designs during that first two weeks.  Project drawings for that project should be submitted the first day of the 3rd week.  Materials should be on their way. 

4D

Ash and Red Zebra Wood Plant Stand

White Ash and Red Zebra Wood

Among the scraps of wood in my garage I found a nice big block of what looks like white ash wood. It was thick enough and large enough to make another plant stand top from.  Roughly 9" x 9.5", and 1.1875" thick.  

Taller and Wider

A little larger in diameter, and taller than the previous stands I recently made., This stand has three legs made from red zebra scraps I had. They are 3/4" diameter legs rather than the 5/8" dowels used for the previous two stands.  My thought is that if 3 rather than 4 they should be a bit larger to hold up the same weight. Using a little math tells us that four legs 5/8" diameter have a total cross section area of 1.227sq.in..  Three legs that are 3/4" diameter have a total cross section area of 1.325sq.in..  So in theory this little stand should be easily as strong as the two with 4 legs each.  A few other factors come into play, but with similar joinery and nearly the same angle to the floor both should do well. 

Detail continuity:  The radius of the dome shape is simply derived from the maximum useful diameter and thickness of the board used. The center point of the dome arc is also where the legs point to, and the chamfer on the edge also points to the same focus point. There is nothing arbitrary about each design consideration of these plant stands.  Even the length of the legs was determined from the diameter of the top.  They stop right below the edge.  The woods used and the finish applied are the only variables.  

The white ash wood was a bit splintery and chipped out an edge of the top surface.  A scar to remind us of its hard life before becoming a plant stand top. I could "fix" it with a patch, but that may be more obvious than the little chip out.  

I'd love to see a comment or ten with thoughts on what these should sell for.  There is about $20 of wood and finish in each one. 

4D

   

A Cherry and Walnut Plant Stand

Next Project. What wood do I have enough of to make something useful out of?   

1. Cherry.  Thick board found.  I can make a new plant stand with cherry as the top and walnut as the legs. 

2. Walnut.  5/8"diameter dowel legs.

Now there are two.

I like small simple projects such as this plant stand.  A simple but interesting top, with a simple set of legs below.  A small amount of material is needed. My CNC is already set up to cut the top and has a fixture ready to cut the tenons on the leg tops.  When done with those tenons the fixture can be reconfigured to hold the top to cut the mortises for the legs. 

I had a thought about mass production.  I could move the setup for cutting tenons to a different area on the CNC, and leave the angle jig set up for cutting the angled mortises on the top. Use G-code and 3 post processors so it will remember 3 home positions.  No, I don't have any plans to mass produce this plant stand.  A worthwhile mental exercise though. Readying  and clamping down the block for the top so it's center is always in the same place is a challenge to overcome. Blocks would all have to be the same overall dimension. 

The block of cherry wood was marked and clamped to the bed of my CNC.   Toolpaths for rough cut and finish cuts were created.   This top is cut from one solid piece.  While being rough cut it pointed out that the bit I was using was very dull.  The smell of burning cherry wood isn't horrible, but the smoke created persisted far too long.  That dull bit was thrown away. 

A lower point of view.

With walnut legs for contrast each part, legs or top, can be appreciated separately.  A bit more visually interesting than the monochrome stance if legs matched the top.  A design consideration I coined is "scenario of use".  Will a simpler plant stand all made of the same wood look best among the other things in the same room or space it ends up in?  Or perhaps the two woods/two colors both compose well among other things they share space with. 

Comments are welcomed. Self promoting ads aren't. 

4D

A Walnut and Cherry Wood Plant Stand

Walnut and Cherry

Often a project leaves useful scraps that also could be made into something useful.  That was the case with this simple plant stand. Some walnut salvaged from a previous design was re-configured to become the top. It became an eight inch diameter inverted dome cut from the glued up walnut.   

Walnut Top.  Ready for leg sockets

Lining up with the marked leg socket center

One socket cut.  

Four short sections of 5/8" diameter cherry dowels became legs. Each leg socket is perpendicular to the dome arc. The legs radiate out from the center of the arc. 

Standing up for the first time.

Deciding how simple or complex in detail the legs can be is a worthwhile iterative pursuit.  I've started with a simple cylinder with the bottom cut off to be flush to the surface it stands on. The sockets/mortises have a bump on their perimeter.  The legs ends have a notch to fit around the bump.  The reference orientation is what made it easy to cut the angle on the bottom of the legs as seen in the first photo.  

For detail I could add some plant inspired carving along the length of one or more leg.  I could simply roundover the ends or create more of a bullet shape or pencil tip shape.  I have the dowels connected but not yet glued into the top. It stands up to be observed and inspiring so this decision may be easier. If I do add more detail I'll post an updated photo.  With a plant on top to draw focus this little stand may be happy enough just supporting it rather than competing for attention.  ;)

A version with a cherry top and walnut legs:  Simple Plant Stand

A version with a white ash top and red zebra wood legs: Ash Plant Stand

Comments are welcomed and appreciated. 

4D