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By Hand & Eye
“By Hand & Eye” is a deep dive into the world of history, architecture and design. And the authors have emerged with armloads of pearls for readers.
Instead of serving up a list of formulas with magical names (i.e. the Golden Section, the Rule of Thirds) that will transform the mundane into perfection, George R. Walker and Jim Tolpin show how much of the world is governed by simple proportions, noting how ratios such as 1:2; 3:5 and 4:5 were ubiquitous in the designs of pre-industrial artisans. And the tool that helps us explore this world, then as now, are dividers.
The key to good design is to master these basic “notes” – much like learning to sing “do, re, mi.” How to do this is the subject of the first three-quarters of the book. It offers exercises, examples and encouragement in opening your inner eye, propping it up with toothpicks and learning the simple geometry that will help you improve your design.
The last quarter of “By Hand & Eye” takes these principles and puts them into practice by designing nine projects that are decidedly contemporary – proof positive that design isn’t reserved for highboys and 18th-century Philadelphia side chairs. The projects show all of the book’s design principles in full flower, and yet the projects are small enough and simple enough (for the most part) that you can use them as a way to explore the book’s concepts without risking a lot of wood or time in the process.
Instead of serving up a list of formulas with magical names (i.e. the Golden Section, the Rule of Thirds) that will transform the mundane into perfection, George R. Walker and Jim Tolpin show how much of the world is governed by simple proportions, noting how ratios such as 1:2; 3:5 and 4:5 were ubiquitous in the designs of pre-industrial artisans. And the tool that helps us explore this world, then as now, are dividers.
The key to good design is to master these basic “notes” – much like learning to sing “do, re, mi.” How to do this is the subject of the first three-quarters of the book. It offers exercises, examples and encouragement in opening your inner eye, propping it up with toothpicks and learning the simple geometry that will help you improve your design.
The last quarter of “By Hand & Eye” takes these principles and puts them into practice by designing nine projects that are decidedly contemporary – proof positive that design isn’t reserved for highboys and 18th-century Philadelphia side chairs. The projects show all of the book’s design principles in full flower, and yet the projects are small enough and simple enough (for the most part) that you can use them as a way to explore the book’s concepts without risking a lot of wood or time in the process.
186 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2013
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395 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 27, 2018
I'm still reading this & making notes in my shop book about it as different parts become useful & I try them. I may print out the PDF & bind it in a folder with note pages. It's that useful of a working book.
This has taken me a long time to go through because it is very dense. It's best read quickly a first time to get the gist of the sections & where the book is heading. Repeated reads & hands-on work are needed to really get into the details. There's a LOT of good information contained in this slim volume whether you're just interested in design or intend to actually do it.
I find it really interesting how any construction, from tiny items to cathedrals, looks best to us when it is built on specific proportions. I've always just turned bowls by eye, but I built a story stick as recommended in the book (It looks something like 2 rulers at angles to each other & measures proportions.) & started checking out the bowls I've turned that I like best. They fall right into the ratios the authors talk about using.
It gets more complicated with curves, but a bit of fiddling to construct a few of the right sizes showed me that I am making those along the proportions described, too. Many of my bowl side profiles are a plain ogee curve. Bowls that don't quite tickle me generally don't have the correct proportions somewhere. I rarely knew why, just that they didn't quite work for me, but now I do. Not that I'm going to start measuring when I turn a bowl, but I know better what to look for.
I'm a real fan of tight writing, but I was often left somewhat bewildered by the sheer paucity of the text & drawings. Nothing approaching a proper explanation was given for many elements in the book. The reader is often referred to one of several web sites; the authors' or the publisher's.
http://www.jimtolpin.com/
http://georgewalkerdesign.wordpress.com/
http://blog.lostartpress.com/2014/09/...
I resent having to resort to the web after spending money on a fairly expensive, fine hardback book. I bought the PDF version as well, but I don't like being tied to the web & computer for explanations. I've since downloaded the animations & they're small & very good, but I had to google "neusis" since it wasn't in the 'rabbit hole' where the authors said it was. In fact, that entire post seems to be missing. Was that just laziness? I doubt it very much, but it shows that the web isn't as permanent as a fine hardback. There's a reason I bought the edition I did.
The book reads as if the authors were told they had a certain amount of space which they could use & they tried cramming the subject into it like a socialite who's only allowed one suitcase for a month long vacation. Both are experts & obviously had more to say, but they cut everything they possibly could & were still strapped for space. On top of that, they wrote different sections, so there were parts that would have read far better if they had been blended better. There was even some duplication, although Walker & Toplin come at the same topic from different directions, so that wasn't too bad.
I love constructions since I make a lot of unique items designed on the fly with what's available. While I own a lot of rulers & am good at math, I find it is far more efficient to transfer sizes with a scribe or calipers & build them into the work. That means I've always used constructions a lot, but this book really expanded my knowledge & use of them.
I also found
http://www.mathopenref.com/constructi...
a handy reference. Their simple Java constructions & explanations filled in some gaps & expanded on the text.
This construction of an oval whiskey barrel is a good place to start on constructing ovals.
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/37524
If you want smaller ends, so the circles don't overlap, just find the bisecting line, set the heel of the compass on it where the chord will cap the end circles properly. I used this to create the oval shape in the puzzle I just made for my grandson. While the results aren't a true constructed (mathematically true) oval, it's far better than any I've made fiddling with string. I had a definite line to cut to quickly & it looks great.
You should have plenty of paper (graph or plain), a couple of good straight edges (ruler & scale, if you can), compasses, & dividers. You'll also need a desk to sit at & be prepared to spend time drawing the various exercises. I'd suggest reading through the section first & then coming back to practice.
(No, you can't trisect a line, but must pace it out with dividers, although the book makes it seem as if this is an obvious construction in the first section, although it's made clear that it isn't later on in the book.)
A circle can be trisected by using the radius to pace around it. That's 6 paces which forms a hexagon inside the circle, so using every other one will trisect it. Very handy for setting the legs of a 3 legged milk stool or table. (I like 3 legged tables since they can't wobble, no matter how far off the floor is.) Some angles can be trisected, but it's generally faster & easier just to pace them off with dividers unless it is a quick construction, like that for a 30, 45, or 60 degree angle.
I'm marking this book as read, but it's an ongoing project. I'm conflicted as to whether to give this 4 or 5 stars since it does contain so much, but at times it's been so frustratingly obtuse that I've wanted to beat the authors bloody with it.
This has taken me a long time to go through because it is very dense. It's best read quickly a first time to get the gist of the sections & where the book is heading. Repeated reads & hands-on work are needed to really get into the details. There's a LOT of good information contained in this slim volume whether you're just interested in design or intend to actually do it.
I find it really interesting how any construction, from tiny items to cathedrals, looks best to us when it is built on specific proportions. I've always just turned bowls by eye, but I built a story stick as recommended in the book (It looks something like 2 rulers at angles to each other & measures proportions.) & started checking out the bowls I've turned that I like best. They fall right into the ratios the authors talk about using.
It gets more complicated with curves, but a bit of fiddling to construct a few of the right sizes showed me that I am making those along the proportions described, too. Many of my bowl side profiles are a plain ogee curve. Bowls that don't quite tickle me generally don't have the correct proportions somewhere. I rarely knew why, just that they didn't quite work for me, but now I do. Not that I'm going to start measuring when I turn a bowl, but I know better what to look for.
I'm a real fan of tight writing, but I was often left somewhat bewildered by the sheer paucity of the text & drawings. Nothing approaching a proper explanation was given for many elements in the book. The reader is often referred to one of several web sites; the authors' or the publisher's.
http://www.jimtolpin.com/
http://georgewalkerdesign.wordpress.com/
http://blog.lostartpress.com/2014/09/...
I resent having to resort to the web after spending money on a fairly expensive, fine hardback book. I bought the PDF version as well, but I don't like being tied to the web & computer for explanations. I've since downloaded the animations & they're small & very good, but I had to google "neusis" since it wasn't in the 'rabbit hole' where the authors said it was. In fact, that entire post seems to be missing. Was that just laziness? I doubt it very much, but it shows that the web isn't as permanent as a fine hardback. There's a reason I bought the edition I did.
The book reads as if the authors were told they had a certain amount of space which they could use & they tried cramming the subject into it like a socialite who's only allowed one suitcase for a month long vacation. Both are experts & obviously had more to say, but they cut everything they possibly could & were still strapped for space. On top of that, they wrote different sections, so there were parts that would have read far better if they had been blended better. There was even some duplication, although Walker & Toplin come at the same topic from different directions, so that wasn't too bad.
I love constructions since I make a lot of unique items designed on the fly with what's available. While I own a lot of rulers & am good at math, I find it is far more efficient to transfer sizes with a scribe or calipers & build them into the work. That means I've always used constructions a lot, but this book really expanded my knowledge & use of them.
I also found
http://www.mathopenref.com/constructi...
a handy reference. Their simple Java constructions & explanations filled in some gaps & expanded on the text.
This construction of an oval whiskey barrel is a good place to start on constructing ovals.
http://lumberjocks.com/projects/37524
If you want smaller ends, so the circles don't overlap, just find the bisecting line, set the heel of the compass on it where the chord will cap the end circles properly. I used this to create the oval shape in the puzzle I just made for my grandson. While the results aren't a true constructed (mathematically true) oval, it's far better than any I've made fiddling with string. I had a definite line to cut to quickly & it looks great.
You should have plenty of paper (graph or plain), a couple of good straight edges (ruler & scale, if you can), compasses, & dividers. You'll also need a desk to sit at & be prepared to spend time drawing the various exercises. I'd suggest reading through the section first & then coming back to practice.
(No, you can't trisect a line, but must pace it out with dividers, although the book makes it seem as if this is an obvious construction in the first section, although it's made clear that it isn't later on in the book.)
A circle can be trisected by using the radius to pace around it. That's 6 paces which forms a hexagon inside the circle, so using every other one will trisect it. Very handy for setting the legs of a 3 legged milk stool or table. (I like 3 legged tables since they can't wobble, no matter how far off the floor is.) Some angles can be trisected, but it's generally faster & easier just to pace them off with dividers unless it is a quick construction, like that for a 30, 45, or 60 degree angle.
I'm marking this book as read, but it's an ongoing project. I'm conflicted as to whether to give this 4 or 5 stars since it does contain so much, but at times it's been so frustratingly obtuse that I've wanted to beat the authors bloody with it.
August 10, 2017
The worst case of empty pattern recognition misfiring since a failing design student learned about the golden ratio in the early 19th century, though instead of phi Walker and Tolpin find small integers everywhere. It's not that these ratios don't exist in (most of) the designs they look at; they're just so trivial that their presence is as surprising and deep as finding a connection between a pair of apples and the number 2. They almost approach awareness of this fact in a note after an exercise they put to the reader:
Even so, many of the ratios they find in existing designs (especially the inevitable Classic Orders) still manage to be spurious, in exactly the same way they've always been spurious, relying on fudged measurements and squinting (Look at how the diameter of this Doric column returns in its superstructure! Ignore that the diameter of the column varies continuously along its length).
Moreover, this supposed philosophy of ratios is never synthesised into anything meaningful, and while the authors' designs in the final chapter mostly aren't overtly poorly proportioned, that's just because it's harder to accidentally design an ugly piece of furniture than a decent one.
Lost Art Press books keep setting themselves up as being very interesting and then hugely underdelivering. Still, if it gets more people to use their dividers more often, I guess this one doesn't hurt.
VERY IMPORTANT: Once the drawing is complete, go back and set your dividers to some of the simple divisions from your module key and probe the drawing for relationships. You will be pleasantly surprised to see how many simple proportions you wove into this without realizing it.
Even so, many of the ratios they find in existing designs (especially the inevitable Classic Orders) still manage to be spurious, in exactly the same way they've always been spurious, relying on fudged measurements and squinting (Look at how the diameter of this Doric column returns in its superstructure! Ignore that the diameter of the column varies continuously along its length).
Moreover, this supposed philosophy of ratios is never synthesised into anything meaningful, and while the authors' designs in the final chapter mostly aren't overtly poorly proportioned, that's just because it's harder to accidentally design an ugly piece of furniture than a decent one.
Lost Art Press books keep setting themselves up as being very interesting and then hugely underdelivering. Still, if it gets more people to use their dividers more often, I guess this one doesn't hurt.
February 9, 2023
Geometry without mathematics, basically. Astonishingly practical information and guidance on using simple tools to design... almost any human-scale object.
March 26, 2014
This was pretty good, definitely worth reading if you like the books from Lost Art Press. I had a couple of minor gripes with it. First, the author suggested an exercise for drawing a the Greek architectural orders as a way to develop a sense of design. It included an illustration for a Doric column (with few instructions on how to proceed -- that's ok, but it made it difficult), but had none of the others, and no suggestions where to find them. It left me wondering what to do next.
The second gripe is about the compass and straightedge exercises, which has only one illustration for each one. It would have been clearer had there been small multiples of the steps. On the website, there was an expanded, animated version, but for a book that's made to last (acid free paper, nice binding) to then have to go to a website to figure out the steps is a pain.
The second gripe is about the compass and straightedge exercises, which has only one illustration for each one. It would have been clearer had there been small multiples of the steps. On the website, there was an expanded, animated version, but for a book that's made to last (acid free paper, nice binding) to then have to go to a website to figure out the steps is a pain.
September 14, 2022
This is a good book for woodworkers and makers that want to learn the “lost art” of finding the right proportions for their designs.
The book covers how whole number ratios can simplify our designs and make them feel pleasing and natural. The authors go in to great detail about the use of ratios in design and the big takeaway is that so many of the objects we interact with and enjoy are that way because they are designed to human-scale.
It is also helpful for the precision-obsessed craftsman to read a book like this one, as it makes a great point that our work needs to be neat and accurate, but machine-level precision is not necessary to designing and building beautiful projects.
My only criticism is that the book does become a bit monotonous while making these points. That being said, I’d highly recommend this book to anyone that doesn’t know where to start or would like to improve their design skills.
The book covers how whole number ratios can simplify our designs and make them feel pleasing and natural. The authors go in to great detail about the use of ratios in design and the big takeaway is that so many of the objects we interact with and enjoy are that way because they are designed to human-scale.
It is also helpful for the precision-obsessed craftsman to read a book like this one, as it makes a great point that our work needs to be neat and accurate, but machine-level precision is not necessary to designing and building beautiful projects.
My only criticism is that the book does become a bit monotonous while making these points. That being said, I’d highly recommend this book to anyone that doesn’t know where to start or would like to improve their design skills.
January 17, 2023
Really enjoyed this book on dynamic, classical design using geometry rather than measurement. By using personal measures rather than standard imperial (feet, inches) or metric (cm, m, km), you can create furniture or artistic objects that obey proportional rules — and such things wind up looking balanced, timeless, and lovely. As someone who works in paper, wood and textiles, this was a lovely thing to read at the start of the new year; I'm in the process of scaling up a sewing design to a useful size from a pattern book, and as a result, this was immediately useful guidance.
I'm looking forward to doing more of the design exercises from Part III of the book, which includes the traditional drawing-out of a Doric Order column. This is a book I'll return to over and over for guidance.
I'm looking forward to doing more of the design exercises from Part III of the book, which includes the traditional drawing-out of a Doric Order column. This is a book I'll return to over and over for guidance.
November 1, 2023
Great insights, I love how they use ratios instead of dimensions and at times, 'modules' instead of numbers. Understanding the uses for traditional tools and geometry is also a very cool skill( geometry is confusing but the videos on YouTube help!)
June 19, 2017
A wonderful read getting back to the basic artisan methods of furniture design & building. Much more than that, it open your inner eye to the relations/proportions in the natural world...something we all could gain a better understanding of if we take the time to learn. Definately a great book to read whether you are a furniture maker or have any desire to improve your self as a architect or craftsman.
May 10, 2017
For someone who had no idea about proportions and artisan dimensioning this book was amazing. My only minor gripe is as follows; At some point in the book it was mentioned that they would show how to mark directly onto the stock. Truth be told, I did skim some of the exercises but I don't think this was covered. I deduce from the book overall that you should use a separate "module" or story pole as a source of dimensions and that these external references could be used to mark the stock. However, I interpret this to be an "indirect" marking system.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
November 5, 2018
Wonderful book, though it seems just the start of a rabbit hole. Though they are focused on furniture and architectural design elements, probably going to see if my daughter who has is artistically inclined might be interested.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews