After our return to Charleston from the weekend build on Tuesday evening, there was still much work to be done in the various other aspects of CAC.C student life. Namely, the first major “Introduction to Craft” project was due Wednesday evening. This project involved each individual crafting a box from wood with a lid that contained an interior volume of 250 square inches. Simple enough, right?
Just because the scale of the box project was much smaller than our studio project doesn’t mean that it required any less planning and time management. The only difference is the scale. The tolerances and details at the full building scale worked from 1/2″ to 1/8″ tolerance as the project buttoned up. The box, however, couldn’t even afford a 1/32″ tolerance without noticeable consequences.
There is also a whole different level of care given to the finishing at the different scales. Because most of the members of the CropStop were structural, they only required primer and paint for protection. However, the small wooden box is at a scale where the very sensitive hand will be able to feel roughness and inconsistencies, so every component must go through various levels of sanding and be coated in multiple layers of finish to protect the wood and become acceptable to the hand.
Having this project happen in tandem with our studio project was a great experience for building at different scales, and understanding the different properties of wood at different scales. Now, we transition scales again as we begin a cabinet project!