I am one to rarely accept special requests and orders, mainly because I have such a volatile schedule I can't guarantee time frames...and even if i could guarantee time frames, I as the wacky artist can only work when I feel so inspired, so things rarely move quickly. As a 'modus operandi' I prefer to make flutes I feel inspired to make, knowing they will 'find' their appropriate owner in due time. I make flutes simply because I enjoy the experience, and giving birth to 'playable art' that can touch the lives of others.
With that said, a customer wanted a 'sea' motif flute as he lives on a boat full-time, and wanted something in a spalted and/or curly wood. As I normally do, we tossed out ideas and suggestions and I set about to see what I was led to create. He wanted an F#, 6-hole, with a seagull for a block and a starfish inlay, for starters.
I selected some of my remaining Sycamore that is quartersawn and well-spalted (thin black fungal lines in the wood)....it's a very soft wood, so care must be used when power sanding, but it makes a beautiful flute. I decided on turquoise bands fore and aft as they were blue like the water, and put a starfish inlay of Bali Coral up just in front of the sound hole, leaving the center 'open' with the original wood. Because the wood has such pretty figuring and spalting, I left the flute long and opened up a lengthy tuning slot on the bottom to get the flute to pitch...
(click on pics to enlarge)
One aspect of the tuning slot I wasn't crazy about was that it created a curved appearance because of it's width, which intersected the circular barrel...too, I was a little too aggressive with the orbital palm sander which only made it more noticeable...
Still, the flute looked and played great, and when I went to sign the flute I realized that over a 2-month period....the pitch dropped from F# to F, which can happen on some flutes, depending on the wood and conditions. Lots of little tricks I can do to drop a pitch, but to raise a pitch is a whole 'nuther ball of wax. I wrote to the customer to see if he would mind an F, and also explained I could make it F# but the flute would lose over 4" in length. (NOTE: I could have drilled another tuning hole or elongated the slot, but it was already 'past' a useful dimension).
At his suggestion, he wanted the F#, and the idea of a more compact flute was nice since he lives in a very limited space. And so came one of those scary situations where I was going to take a perfectly good flute that was finished....and chop it. That is no easy task to do...I knew by the physics of this flute I would have to chop at the back of the tuning slot, and lose a lot of great wood as well as a turquoise inlay band.
OUCH!
The cut was made. The key was F#. The finger holes had enough thickness that I could lift their pitches without making the holes any bigger (removing wood from the base of the holes instead). However, when I looked at the cross-section, I had indeed over-sanded around the tuning slot (all too easy to do with soft woods)...and there was not enough thickness to run a new turquoise inlay band either. Ugh. What to do....
The flute needed something at the end, if for no other reason than to balance out the rear band. And so I thought and sketched and thought some more...I first thought a trident would be a great sea motif, and so I toyed with which direction to face it, size, etc....then took a blue Sharpie and drew a guide.
As I know to do, I just sat with the idea in my head for several days...lo and behold while at News 14 this week, during a lull, I had this idea to sketch a seabird motif with long sweeping wings...it would add the turquoise balance but not go near the too-thin bottom of the flute. And so Wednesday I made the cuts and put in the inlay, now with an oil wash in place for starters...
The block is pretty neat, but have held off posting pictures until I finish it. I'll put the finished flute on the blog when I'm done in a few days...whew, talk about the travails of flute-making!
In walking Mercy today I spied this really cool cedar log of sorts with all sorts of twisty limbs coming out of it. It's also almost pure red heartwood (instead of the cream colored sapwood). At the very least it will be great material for blocks and such, but it's also unique enough that I might have to carve the whole thing into some sort of organic sculpture with animals coming out of it....dunno. I've learned to just let something 'be' and look at it from time to time to see if anything 'comes' to mind. It is one intriguing piece of wood, for sure...
Too, with my wild success of my first branch flute, I collected what looks like great candidates for more branch flutes from that former forest. They take a lot of work and concentration (as any flute does, really), so I'm letting the branches sit out of the weather for now...
Never a dull moment, that I can assure you! Just battling the ol' energy-drain from filling in on my former shift...getting up at 1am is NOT conducive to feeling well-rested. However, the solo-studio I work in is fantastic for playing new flutes and honing their tunings - a nice little blessing!
With that said, a customer wanted a 'sea' motif flute as he lives on a boat full-time, and wanted something in a spalted and/or curly wood. As I normally do, we tossed out ideas and suggestions and I set about to see what I was led to create. He wanted an F#, 6-hole, with a seagull for a block and a starfish inlay, for starters.
I selected some of my remaining Sycamore that is quartersawn and well-spalted (thin black fungal lines in the wood)....it's a very soft wood, so care must be used when power sanding, but it makes a beautiful flute. I decided on turquoise bands fore and aft as they were blue like the water, and put a starfish inlay of Bali Coral up just in front of the sound hole, leaving the center 'open' with the original wood. Because the wood has such pretty figuring and spalting, I left the flute long and opened up a lengthy tuning slot on the bottom to get the flute to pitch...
(click on pics to enlarge)
One aspect of the tuning slot I wasn't crazy about was that it created a curved appearance because of it's width, which intersected the circular barrel...too, I was a little too aggressive with the orbital palm sander which only made it more noticeable...
Still, the flute looked and played great, and when I went to sign the flute I realized that over a 2-month period....the pitch dropped from F# to F, which can happen on some flutes, depending on the wood and conditions. Lots of little tricks I can do to drop a pitch, but to raise a pitch is a whole 'nuther ball of wax. I wrote to the customer to see if he would mind an F, and also explained I could make it F# but the flute would lose over 4" in length. (NOTE: I could have drilled another tuning hole or elongated the slot, but it was already 'past' a useful dimension).At his suggestion, he wanted the F#, and the idea of a more compact flute was nice since he lives in a very limited space. And so came one of those scary situations where I was going to take a perfectly good flute that was finished....and chop it. That is no easy task to do...I knew by the physics of this flute I would have to chop at the back of the tuning slot, and lose a lot of great wood as well as a turquoise inlay band.
OUCH!The cut was made. The key was F#. The finger holes had enough thickness that I could lift their pitches without making the holes any bigger (removing wood from the base of the holes instead). However, when I looked at the cross-section, I had indeed over-sanded around the tuning slot (all too easy to do with soft woods)...and there was not enough thickness to run a new turquoise inlay band either. Ugh. What to do....
The flute needed something at the end, if for no other reason than to balance out the rear band. And so I thought and sketched and thought some more...I first thought a trident would be a great sea motif, and so I toyed with which direction to face it, size, etc....then took a blue Sharpie and drew a guide.
As I know to do, I just sat with the idea in my head for several days...lo and behold while at News 14 this week, during a lull, I had this idea to sketch a seabird motif with long sweeping wings...it would add the turquoise balance but not go near the too-thin bottom of the flute. And so Wednesday I made the cuts and put in the inlay, now with an oil wash in place for starters...
The block is pretty neat, but have held off posting pictures until I finish it. I'll put the finished flute on the blog when I'm done in a few days...whew, talk about the travails of flute-making!In walking Mercy today I spied this really cool cedar log of sorts with all sorts of twisty limbs coming out of it. It's also almost pure red heartwood (instead of the cream colored sapwood). At the very least it will be great material for blocks and such, but it's also unique enough that I might have to carve the whole thing into some sort of organic sculpture with animals coming out of it....dunno. I've learned to just let something 'be' and look at it from time to time to see if anything 'comes' to mind. It is one intriguing piece of wood, for sure...
Too, with my wild success of my first branch flute, I collected what looks like great candidates for more branch flutes from that former forest. They take a lot of work and concentration (as any flute does, really), so I'm letting the branches sit out of the weather for now...
Never a dull moment, that I can assure you! Just battling the ol' energy-drain from filling in on my former shift...getting up at 1am is NOT conducive to feeling well-rested. However, the solo-studio I work in is fantastic for playing new flutes and honing their tunings - a nice little blessing!
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