I've been doing some research lately on jigs. One thing that intrigues me about them are they often apply a completely different type of thinking when designing and building, ie economy, efficiency, etc. I'm trying to tie it into the Restrictions thread I created awhile back. I believe there are some connections between the two (limitations and jigs) and would like to find more reading material to aid my research. I've started by looking into Pioneers of Modern Craft by David Pye and some Hans-Georg Gadamer stuff. Does anyone have any suggestions of other places I might look? Thanks!
Sorry I can't really help on this one, but I can relate a story. In pre-Cranbrook grad school (UMich) I made an object that was a grid of 1/4" steel rod, 2" square grid, about 24" tall by 8" wide. I made 8 of these panels, and brazed all the pieces together. To keep them consistent I made a jig by running a piece of plywood through the tablesaw set to 1/8" deep in the grid pattern.
Well of course I ended up having to make 4 separate jigs because the brazing burned away the jig throughout the process! The half-burned jig with the half-brazed steel grid still in place made for a pretty cool object, possible cooler than the final piece ended up being.
Not sure where else to look for jig info. But I'll bet some "handy home woodworker" type publications might have some interesting diagrams.
I came across this guy the other day. I saw a couple of pages from one of his books - pretty fucking incredible.
thanks for the story lb. any photographs to share? In many instances, I find the jig to be superior to the object it helped create. Often more work, time and effort go into the designing and making of the jig than the actual object it is used to help create.
Glad I'm not the only one who obsesses over these things. Yes, the jig can be a a more interesting object than what it produces in that it inherently embodies the process used to make the final object, so it is analogous to the DNA of the object. It is akin to working in concrete, where much of the focus of the design and construction is on the form work, which then discarded/removed after the pour is performed (like the score to a musical performance).
In addition to jigs, it may be of benefit to think of story-sticks from furniture making in a similar manner. I don't have any useful links, but its the first thing that came to my mind.
Nope, more like this, although its not the best example. Basically its a single stick that has all the dimensions for a piece of furniture marked on it, rather than using plans, etc. It serves as a sort of plan and measuring jig.
In case you're having trouble sleeping, here's a snippet from my thesis statement, written many moons ago:
In between concept and object is the process of making, the vehicle of which is the tool. The tool is a prosthetic device, designed for a more specific purpose than the hand, yet general enough to be used over a period of time. In between tool and object, there is occasionally another kind of tool: the jig, designed specifically for one action. The jig usually occurs at a very critical moment of making, one where it can be considered a prosthetic of the tool and the object being made, yet it is usually discarded after it has fulfilled its purpose, being too specialized for its own good. However, its specificity is also its beauty; it is static and dynamic at the same time, cradling the form of the object moving toward the controlled violence of the tool. Removed from its context, it is a notation of shape, implement, and action, and by careful examination, the process and the tool can be determined and repeated.
What I have previously described as the ‘notation of process’ is applicable to the jig, especially in that it is the by-product of a specific intent, so it is process generated- representing the direct transfer of information from one system to another.
The concept of the jig brings much potential, such as the possibility to consider the process of making so carefully that the object being made contains the jig for itself, or that the jig could even become occupiable, a separate structure that is incorporated back into the building it generated. Imagine a doorway that actually built the rest of the building.
Andy Warhol once said that the most interesting part of a film is usually what winds up on the cutting room floor. This thesis is an investigation into looking at the by-products of the process of making: what exists before the sandpaper is brought out. The jigs, the forms, the imperfections that exist before fine tuning are seen as artifacts: objects that give a different insight into the intention of making as opposed to the mute presence of the final product.
Ahh now that makes sense. I'm definately going to look into the story-sticks. Thanks Pixelwhore!
That's some great stuff adso. Thank you for sharing, maybe you could email me some more? And I'd love to take a look at your bibliography.
Oddly enough, I did my undergrad "thesis" on 'the process of making'. It wasn't so much a thesis, rather a long series of experiments.
Unfortunately I'm slammed with project work for the moment - I'm trying to finish up for reviews in a week and a half. But hopefully once things slow down a little, I'll be able to pick your brain more.
This is an on-going process and something that I am trying to get set up for my Grad thesis next year.
Jigs
(and not the dancing type)
I've been doing some research lately on jigs. One thing that intrigues me about them are they often apply a completely different type of thinking when designing and building, ie economy, efficiency, etc. I'm trying to tie it into the Restrictions thread I created awhile back. I believe there are some connections between the two (limitations and jigs) and would like to find more reading material to aid my research. I've started by looking into Pioneers of Modern Craft by David Pye and some Hans-Georg Gadamer stuff. Does anyone have any suggestions of other places I might look? Thanks!
correction: Pye wrote The Nature of Design not ...Modern Craft
Sorry I can't really help on this one, but I can relate a story. In pre-Cranbrook grad school (UMich) I made an object that was a grid of 1/4" steel rod, 2" square grid, about 24" tall by 8" wide. I made 8 of these panels, and brazed all the pieces together. To keep them consistent I made a jig by running a piece of plywood through the tablesaw set to 1/8" deep in the grid pattern.
Well of course I ended up having to make 4 separate jigs because the brazing burned away the jig throughout the process! The half-burned jig with the half-brazed steel grid still in place made for a pretty cool object, possible cooler than the final piece ended up being.
Not sure where else to look for jig info. But I'll bet some "handy home woodworker" type publications might have some interesting diagrams.
I came across this guy the other day. I saw a couple of pages from one of his books - pretty fucking incredible.
thanks for the story lb. any photographs to share? In many instances, I find the jig to be superior to the object it helped create. Often more work, time and effort go into the designing and making of the jig than the actual object it is used to help create.
is always fun and the price is right.
Glad I'm not the only one who obsesses over these things. Yes, the jig can be a a more interesting object than what it produces in that it inherently embodies the process used to make the final object, so it is analogous to the DNA of the object. It is akin to working in concrete, where much of the focus of the design and construction is on the form work, which then discarded/removed after the pour is performed (like the score to a musical performance).
Along these lines, I've looked into the jig as a form of the trace/index of a process. The major essay that has helped me is Rosalind Krauss' "Notes on the Index" in The Originality of the Avant-Garde and Other Modernist Myths. A more architectural take on it is Stan Allen's "Plotting Traces:On Process" in Practice: Architecture, Technique and Representation.
Sorry if any of the code is crappy, but Preview doesn't seem to be cooperating today.
Thanks for the lit adso. I'll take a look at thoses essays!
In addition to jigs, it may be of benefit to think of story-sticks from furniture making in a similar manner. I don't have any useful links, but its the first thing that came to my mind.
story-sticks? like this?
Nope, more like this, although its not the best example. Basically its a single stick that has all the dimensions for a piece of furniture marked on it, rather than using plans, etc. It serves as a sort of plan and measuring jig.
Reminds me a bit of Duchamps 3 stoppages.
Exposing the narratives of process.
In case you're having trouble sleeping, here's a snippet from my thesis statement, written many moons ago:
In between concept and object is the process of making, the vehicle of which is the tool. The tool is a prosthetic device, designed for a more specific purpose than the hand, yet general enough to be used over a period of time. In between tool and object, there is occasionally another kind of tool: the jig, designed specifically for one action. The jig usually occurs at a very critical moment of making, one where it can be considered a prosthetic of the tool and the object being made, yet it is usually discarded after it has fulfilled its purpose, being too specialized for its own good. However, its specificity is also its beauty; it is static and dynamic at the same time, cradling the form of the object moving toward the controlled violence of the tool. Removed from its context, it is a notation of shape, implement, and action, and by careful examination, the process and the tool can be determined and repeated.
What I have previously described as the ‘notation of process’ is applicable to the jig, especially in that it is the by-product of a specific intent, so it is process generated- representing the direct transfer of information from one system to another.
The concept of the jig brings much potential, such as the possibility to consider the process of making so carefully that the object being made contains the jig for itself, or that the jig could even become occupiable, a separate structure that is incorporated back into the building it generated. Imagine a doorway that actually built the rest of the building.
Andy Warhol once said that the most interesting part of a film is usually what winds up on the cutting room floor. This thesis is an investigation into looking at the by-products of the process of making: what exists before the sandpaper is brought out. The jigs, the forms, the imperfections that exist before fine tuning are seen as artifacts: objects that give a different insight into the intention of making as opposed to the mute presence of the final product.
Ahh now that makes sense. I'm definately going to look into the story-sticks. Thanks Pixelwhore!
That's some great stuff adso. Thank you for sharing, maybe you could email me some more? And I'd love to take a look at your bibliography.
Oddly enough, I did my undergrad "thesis" on 'the process of making'. It wasn't so much a thesis, rather a long series of experiments.
Unfortunately I'm slammed with project work for the moment - I'm trying to finish up for reviews in a week and a half. But hopefully once things slow down a little, I'll be able to pick your brain more.
This is an on-going process and something that I am trying to get set up for my Grad thesis next year.
Thanks guys!
Bump the thread when things get a little less hectic for you, and we'll pick this up.
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