divided sphere... a design challenge...

Scott Bultman, a Froebel enthusiast and filmmaker I mentioned in yesterday's post sent me the image at left with the suggestion that I figure out how to make the hinged sphere. One way would be to design it in sketchup and print it.  It would be interesting for some parents to use their 3-D printers to make Froebel's gifts for their children.

On the other hand, to make the gifts from real wood has merit, and offers challenges to both the mind and hands, that printing in plastic does not.

At some point, I may use sketchup to design the various gifts so that they can be downloaded and printed by those who have little or no interest in developing and exercising skill. But would that be useful in the larger sense of the word? While the whole world is racing toward 3-D technology, there may be greater merit in doing that which others will out of laziness or disinterest not do.

I found very tiny brass hinges for making a hinged sphere and ordered them from China through Etsy.com. To make a doubly quartered sphere on the lathe, each section being 1/8 will require gluing (8) 1 1/2 in. cubes together in a larger cube with brown paper between. After turning a 3 in. sphere, the sections can be forced apart and hinged. Each section will have to be routed twice to form hinge mortises, allowing the parts to nest tightly together as a ball.

In both shops, home and at school I am working to be ready for next week's class making Scandinavian bentwood boxes.

Make, fix and create...