Dancing Cobra - Scupture and a Clock

An ‘audacious’ item incorporating steam bending and wood turning techniques.

Curvy ‘Cobra’ or ‘Fish’ shape residing on a sphere embracing melon shape split in half to expose orange ‘fruit’ and a black ‘nut’. Round bumps indicate hours. Fish shape: oak/ash, outer husk: walnut, inner fruit: hedge (Osage orange), nut: ebony, sphere: marble.

A: paper patterns for the husk shapes laid out on a walnut board, ready to be cut out on a bandsaw. The curvy shape in the background is the form for steam bending the cobra shape.

B: Two melon halves glued and clamped together. Note two ‘fruit’ pieces’ and round walnut bases.

C: At first the thought was to glue the two halves together with regular yellow glue, then cut them apart on a band saw. Hence the dorsal fin like appendages design to provide a stable base for sawing. I later hit upon the idea of using reversible hide glue, far better solution. The hollow space is reserved for the clock movement.

D: The two halves glued and clamped together with hide glue. Just a half might be turned on the lathe, but it the fact that it would be unbalanced would present a challenge.

E: Shot showing the two halves with the hedge ‘fruit’.

F: A screenshot from sketchup giving an indication of the process by which a final 3D rendering may result.

G: First concept sketch.

H: Rendering of final design.

This article does not cover the complete process by which this clock was crafted. Hopefully I can come back at a later date and flesh out the process.