Behind the Scenes: Making Galactic Butterfly Chairs
This an inside look to my process making four chairs for a show called “Forces with Nature 2” at the Los Angeles County Arboretum, Arcadia California in 2017. After a 2015 wind storm knocked down trees all over Los Angeles County the LA Arboretum decided to have an art show. This show allowed artists to hand select all types of wood from the fallen trees in the arboretum. There were all kinds of incredible species to choose from, and if I had a the space I would have tried them all but since I don’t I decided to work with Eucalyptus botryoides (aka: Bastard Mahogany) and Metasequoia (aka: Dawn Redwood). I also brought in from my personal collection some white maple and black walnut.
The chair backs and seat are the dawn redwood, and the long lengths of the legs are the bastard mahogany. These two species are complete opposites, the redwood being soft, and the mahogany being incredibly hard. It made the project both fun and challenging, learning the characteristics of the wood as I progressed toward a finish on the project.
This was the Bastard Mahogany that the arboretum were cutting slabs off of until it broke its final blade. You can see a final attempt on the right side of the log. This wood has sand in its grain, so it destroys blades. I got one of the last pieces they were offering.
These were the pre cut rounds of the Dawn Redwood, I was also lucky enough to get a small slab.
I started by filling the checking of the Dawn Redwood with epoxy Resin and pigment. I layered the resin alternating between black and white. I also used a lime green.
While the Resin was setting I was milling the Mahogany slab.
Milling the Mahogany was a challenge, since I don’t have a jointer I started my first rips on the band saw eventually getting some pieces to bring to the table saw. The direction of the grain was difficult to distinguish and any force with the material would have bow out. I had to work in tiny increments because of its density.
Once I started plaining the wood some beautiful grain and black sap pits were revealed.
I tried to keep these details as I milled down to the final sizes.
Once the resin was set I cut a Straight edge on the rounds.
I then split the rounds and biscuit joined them into a butterfly.
Once joined I used a hand plainer to get a rough level surface. I then ran through 40-220 grit sand paper using a hard sanding pad.
I decided to do a variation on the legs alternating the two sides with black walnut and white maple, as well as alternating the plugs.
The back supports are made up of the Mahogany, white Maple, and black Walnut.
These are the final products, For a finish I used General Finishes clear Poly Satin. Being that the rounds were from different sections of the tree it made for a fun variation of seat shapes.
