Kelly Parker

Surface embellishment is a way to add visual interest and value to your work. It can be used to differentiate good work from work that is truly remarkable. Imagine opening a cabinet door and being greeted by a burst of color or delighting in the texture of a carved drawer front. Consider the visual impact of ebonized legs supporting a table top or the discovery of the gilded interior of a box. These are all examples of ways that embellishment can be used to enhance a project. These techniques can be used on furniture, turned objects, boxes, and more. They can even be used to transform a cheap, mass-produced item into a lovely, thoughtful gift. In this 1-day action-packed technique class students will learn a variety of ways to embellish their work. In between demos there will be plenty of time for hands-on practice of the techniques. Students will be encouraged to play and explore as they learn to take their work to a whole new level of WOW!

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

• Ebonizing
• Pyrography (wood burning)
• Gilding
• Creating textures
• Fun with fire! (AKA torching your wood)
• Unexpected use of color
• Color with texture
• Texture with gilding
• Ebonizing with pyrograph
• Whatever combo your heart desires!

Recommended student tool list:

• Note taking supplies
• Ear and eye protection – required for use of equipment
• Water bottle
• Wood burner and various tips if you have one
• Small brass brushes (cheap from Harbor Freight)
• Plumber’s torch and lighter if you have one
• Variety of sharp carving gouges or Dremel tool with carving burrs or Foredom tool with carving burrs
• Drawing tools like circle templates and French curves
• Hair dryer or heat gun (nice to have but not required)

Tuition: $175

Material: $50

Capacity: 10

At the intersection of chemistry and craft is where Kansas City-based Kelly Parker feels most at home. She is a designer and maker of contemporary studio furniture and sculpture. After graduating with a degree in biochemistry, she worked in the corporate world for 18 years before taking a rather circuitous route into art. Her chemistry background informs her pragmatic approach to problem-solving in building the sculptural designs that are the hallmark of her work. She has a curvy, contemporary aesthetic and often uses steam bending, bent laminations, and vacuum forming as part of her process. Kelly finds design inspiration wherever she sees a beautiful form, whether it is a flower or the engine cowling on a Boeing Dreamliner. To accelerate the transition from analytical chemist to artist, Kelly has taken numerous design and technique classes at various craft schools while also extensively experimenting in her own studio. She has been an artist-in-residence in Michael Fortune’s studio in Canada and was selected as an artist-in-residence at the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Nelson, New Zealand. She has been awarded professional development grants from the Furniture Society and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, was the first recipient of a professional development grant awarded by the Krenov Foundation and was awarded Best in Show at the biannual chair exhibition, American Craft Today: Chairs, hosted by The Bascom Gallery in North Carolina. Her work has been featured in Fine Woodworking, Australian Wood Review, and Rooted: Creating a Sense of Place: Contemporary Studio Furniture. Kelly is also an occasional writer for Australian Wood Review. In addition to making and writing, Kelly also teaches at craft schools and guilds across the US. https://woodsongstudio.com/

This 1-day hands-on clinic focuses on how to produce identically shaped, complex parts.  Kelly’s work includes parts that are heavily shaped and often feature compound curves. She will teach how to easily fabricate identical parts that cannot be created by pattern routing.  Students will first create templates for the front, side, top and bottom of a part.  These templates will be traced onto a rectangular 'blank' to guide the shaping process.  Kelly will demonstrate how to rough out parts using the bandsaw and router table, then refine parts using a variety of rasps, card scrapers and profiled sanding blocks, while carefully working to layout lines.  Students will have the opportunity to practice these techniques as they create a shaped table leg using the templates they created.  If time allows students will be encouraged to design a leg and fabricate the necessary templates to create it.

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

•        intro to layout tools: adjustable square, center-finder, drawing bows, French curves

•        intro to shaping tools: bandsaw, router table, Shinto rasp, cabinet maker’s rasp, card scraper, spoke shave, profiled sanding blocks, etc.

•        drawing, cutting, fairing and using templates

•        laying out a 'blank'

•        working off of center lines and layout lines

•        shaping multiple parts in a consistent, repeatable manner

•        discussion of hard lines and soft lines

At the intersection of chemistry and craft is where Kansas City-based Kelly Parker feels most at home. She is a designer and maker of contemporary studio furniture and sculpture. After graduating with a degree in biochemistry, she worked in the corporate world for 18 years before taking a rather circuitous route into art. Her chemistry background informs her pragmatic approach to problem-solving in building the sculptural designs that are the hallmark of her work. She has a curvy, contemporary aesthetic and often uses steam bending, bent laminations, and vacuum forming as part of her process. Kelly finds design inspiration wherever she sees a beautiful form, whether it is a flower or the engine cowling on a Boeing Dreamliner. To accelerate the transition from analytical chemist to artist, Kelly has taken numerous design and technique classes at various craft schools while also extensively experimenting in her own studio. She has been an artist-in-residence in Michael Fortune’s studio in Canada and was selected as an artist-in-residence at the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Nelson, New Zealand. She has been awarded professional development grants from the Furniture Society and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, was the first recipient of a professional development grant awarded by the Krenov Foundation and was awarded Best in Show at the biannual chair exhibition, American Craft Today: Chairs, hosted by The Bascom Gallery in North Carolina. Her work has been featured in Fine Woodworking, Australian Wood Review, and Rooted: Creating a Sense of Place: Contemporary Studio Furniture. Kelly is also an occasional writer for Australian Wood Review. In addition to making and writing, Kelly also teaches at craft schools and guilds across the US. https://woodsongstudio.com/

In this 5-day class students will construct a unique side table while learning the basics of solid wood construction, exposed-dowel joinery and finishing.  Kelly loves to teach people how to use power tools and safety will be her focus as the students learn how to use many common shop tools, including the bandsaw, miter saw, drill press and router table.  Students will learn to use several types of jigs throughout the project.  Additionally, they will learn how to fabricate simple dowel jigs that will allow them to create joints that are both functional and decorative. Spontaneous learning opportunities will ensure that students learn basic problem-solving skills that will be useful as they work on future projects.  As time allows, each student will be encouraged to embellish their project with pyrography (wood burning), ebonizing, application of color, etc., so that the table created is reflective of each student’s personal aesthetic.  The class will also include strategies for successful glue-ups and discuss simple finishing techniques.  By the end of the class each person will have a unique table and a new-found confidence in their woodworking skills!

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

• the safe use of common hand and power tools 
• reading plans
• successful construction techniques for solid wood
• exposed-dowel joinery
• use of shop-made jigs
• pattern routing
• problem solving skills
• successful, stress-free glue-ups
• use of sub-tops in lieu of aprons to attach a leg substructure to a table top
• creative use of wood dowels
• intro to embellishment techniques: wood burning, ebonizing and color
• easy finishing techniques

At the intersection of chemistry and craft is where Kansas City-based Kelly Parker feels most at home. She is a designer and maker of contemporary studio furniture and sculpture. After graduating with a degree in biochemistry, she worked in the corporate world for 18 years before taking a rather circuitous route into art. Her chemistry background informs her pragmatic approach to problem-solving in building the sculptural designs that are the hallmark of her work. She has a curvy, contemporary aesthetic and often uses steam bending, bent laminations, and vacuum forming as part of her process. Kelly finds design inspiration wherever she sees a beautiful form, whether it is a flower or the engine cowling on a Boeing Dreamliner. To accelerate the transition from analytical chemist to artist, Kelly has taken numerous design and technique classes at various craft schools while also extensively experimenting in her own studio. She has been an artist-in-residence in Michael Fortune’s studio in Canada and was selected as an artist-in-residence at the Centre for Fine Woodworking in Nelson, New Zealand. She has been awarded professional development grants from the Furniture Society and Anderson Ranch Arts Center, was the first recipient of a professional development grant awarded by the Krenov Foundation and was awarded Best in Show at the biannual chair exhibition, American Craft Today: Chairs, hosted by The Bascom Gallery in North Carolina. Her work has been featured in Fine Woodworking, Australian Wood Review, and Rooted: Creating a Sense of Place: Contemporary Studio Furniture. Kelly is also an occasional writer for Australian Wood Review. In addition to making and writing, Kelly also teaches at craft schools and guilds across the US. https://woodsongstudio.com/