Odens chair

 

 

Creating the Ragnarok chair.

My chair tells the story of Ragnarok the end of the world for the Norse Gods. The introduction of Christianity was the beginning of the end for the old Gods of the Viking world. I represented this with the Celtic rope work beginning and ending with the cross, creating a noose around the drawing of Oden meeting his end in the Jaws of Fenriri the wolf and the world serpent Lormungand.

Wood carving from a church in Torpo, Hallingdal, Norway.

SUPPLY LIST

Chair is produced by Wild Hare Woodworks.

Minwax water based wood stain, English Oak tint.

Wood burning pen and tips.

Large pieces of paper. Butcher paper is cheap and you can see drawings through it.

Artist graphite paper or carbon paper

Pencil and pen.

Scotch tape.

Acrylic paints, Square edged and round brushes.

Minwax Polyurethane varnish, Fast-drying Clear Satin.

 

1. 1. Decide on a design. Do your research; find as many photos as possible. Most of the designs from the medieval times will be quite crude. As in the example shown above. Try to be as true to the original design as possible but don’t be afraid to alter a little to fit your purposes as long as you maintain the feel of work done in the period.

2. 2. Prepare the chair with a coat of Minwax water based wood stain. This helps seal the wood.

33.  Find the center of your chair back and place a small pencil mark on top and bottom of design area to center your drawing on the chair back.

4. 4. Fold your design in half along its center and line it up with the pencil marks.

 

 

5. 5. Open the design and tape it to the chair on top and bottom with a small amount of scotch tape.

 

6. 6. Slip a piece of carbon paper or artist’ graphite paper under the pattern and trace onto the chair.   Using a different color pen then that which you used on your drawing will help you determine if you have traced the whole design. I start my trace at a juncture (shown in photo) and work down the line until the line hits the intersection of an opposing line of rope in the design. Remember what you trace has got to be exact because it is forever on the wood surface below.

 

 

7. 7. Remove the pattern and burn along the design with the wood burning pen using the sharp point shown in photo below. Use the same method of drawing with the pen as in tracing. Wood burning the design does not require pressure but instead it depends apron the amount of time the pen comes into contact with the wood. Some parts of the wood grain are tighter and will resist. Other places the pen may sink into the wood very rapidly.

 

 

The basic wood burnt line will not be perfect. I think this adds to the feel of “not manufactured.”

My pen gets very hot and my hand very tired so at this point I took a brake and switched to painting what I just did. We will cover more wood burning later.

PAINTING THE PROJECT.

7. 7. You will put a lot of work into a wood burned piece and the result is very subtle so go easy on the paint. Your color can always be darkened with another coat of paint but you can’t remove the color once applied.           Color Delta Tomato spice thinned with water.

SHADOWING WITH THE WOOD BURNING PEN.

8. 8. Change pen tip to a broader round tip. This will help you fill the areas in faster. The longer you hold the tip in one place the darker and deeper the burn will be. I have worked my pen in a circular motion, creating tight circles at a slow pace near the rope and then moving faster and creating wider circles working away from the design.

THE CENTER DESIGN.

9. 9.  I did the center design on a separate round piece of paper so that I would have the option of adjusting it into  a position that I felt the action had a balanced look inside of the rope ring.

1010.   I repeated steps 1 through 9 of rope work.

ADDING COLOR TO THE CENTER DESIGN.

11. Choosing the colors can be confusing. I knew I wanted to use as few colors as possible so that the color would not overpower the simplicity of the design. If you are having trouble deciding what colors to use, start with an object on your design, like the leaves, which you know should be a certain color. Use color pencils or crayon and color the item in on your sketch to get a sense of the finished product.

Base color of leaves Delta Leaf Green

12. Using a flat brush I painted the underside of leaves and scowls with Delta Timberline Green and then highlighted the top edge of each with Delta Straw.

13. I used the Delta Tomato Spice on Oden’s shirt and the flowers. This reintroduced the red from

the rope work and balanced the color within the piece. Try to do this with all colors.

14. The serpent would not stand out if he was also green so I applied Teal over a base wash of Timberline green Inner diamonds were done in straight Teal and Golden Brown.

 

 

15. At this point I had to decide what color to make the wolf. Black would be to dark and overpowering, Brown would blend into the background and straight white would be too bright. A combination of all three did the trick. A light gray with a touch of brown.

16. The wolf’s teeth are Straw with a little Tomato spice as shading. Oden’s pants are a Raw Sienna and boots, belt and hair Raw Sienna with a touch of black.

17. Black was the last color to be added. Make sure this is transparent. If it is to dark the items painted will jump out and distract from the rest of the painting.

18. I felt the background needed to be darker but instead of painting it I used the wide tip of the wood burning pen and filled the background with dots.

19. The last step was applying 2 coats of Polyurethane varnish. I used a clear satin to keep the piece looking natural not shiny and provide it with a bit of protection.

20. For protection during transporting the chairs, I purchased an old comforter at a second hand store and created a bag that fit the back piece of the chair. I used Velcro to close the open end. I then made a tapestry case that the seat of the chair could fit in. When packing I place the back face down and the arms on top using the covered seat piece in between the arms for padding. When in use the large bag folds up and is stuffed inside the tapestry pillow to form the seat cushion for the chair.

 

The finished product with Oden’s Ravens beneath the circle.