Floating Top Meditation Bench
Some Jobs…
Whenever I do a job, it entails meticulous planning to ensure that both the customer is happy, and that I am pleased with the process and result. This small bench on which a vertical format altar will be placed is one of those jobs that worked perfectly in all aspects. I was contacted by the wife of a man who had a meditation altar in his home, but the bench on which it was placed was actually a plant stand repurposed to support his altar. Her desire was to create a similar sized bench built to compliment the altar. Not only was this project a wonderful companion to his altar, but the entire process of creating it flowed beautifully, start to finish. This project was immensely rewarding to create, and partnering with the client to achieve her goal was equally rewarding. Some jobs just work!
I have been tinkering with my design process through the years and growing more satisfied with the process. Originally, I would work with the client to figure out what was needed, then sit at the drafting table to draw it . It felt very stiff starting at the drafting table, and took me a fair bit of time to draw the piece. If I wasn’t happy with the outcome, I had to start over.
Now I work with the client to get some general ideas, making sketches and taking of notes on site. I don’t touch the project design work for three or four days thereafter. This doesn’t mean I’m not designing in my head, though. I often awaken in the middle of the night and in something of a liminal state find ideas, process solutions and more that gives me a lot of grist for the mill. Then, I head to the shop and create a cardboard cutout the size of the piece that provides me with a “space” in which to work. I use more cardboard to model the parts of the piece, placing them on the space playing with lines, proportions, angles and more. This play/work continues until I am satisfied. I refine the parts for dimensions, curves and such, and then send a picture to the client for approval. Upon approval, or after a bit more tweaking based on client input, I then turn to a CAD (computer assisted design) program to further refine the piece. I create a video featuring a walk-around experience and send it to the client for their final input and approval. This method has produced some lovely pieces with a nice flow as I design them. Much less stiff, and based on client input, appears to be a more successful method of design.
(click to enlarge)
This black walnut bench is small – twenty inches tall and twenty-two inches wide. The joinery is a series of compound-angle dadoes for the shelves and the supports for the top. A good bit of math was required as the legs angle inwards both from the sides and front to back. It employs the floating top I have used on the Asian Hall Table and the Darshan Tables. For this project, the top needed to have the space the floating connection offered to not look stodgy, given its small size and the dimensions of the legs.
The actual assembly and glue-up stage went perfectly! (It always pays to do numerous dry runs at the glue-up stage to avoid surprises!) No mechanical fasteners were used to assemble the base portion. The only fasteners used – small brass screws – were to attach the top. I used a dado on the inside of the supports along with clips I built to allow the top to be well connected, yet still allow for expansion and contraction of the top.
The entire project flowed in such a lovely manner from design to final assembly and finishing. The client was very happy with the outcome and it proved a real surprise for her husband’s birthday. As I said, some job just work!