Flowerpot Materials

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Anatomy of a tree

This images below show the different parts of a tree. The main parts that we are interested in today are the Sapwood, the Heartwood and the Growth Rings.

Lesson words:

Grain - The lines that you see on the surface of wood.

Durable - able to last for a long time without deterioration in quality or value.

Sapwood - The wood that is located nearer the outside of the trunk of a tree

Heartwood - The wood that is located in the very middle of the trunk of a tree

Hardwood - Wood from a deciduous tree that is generally durable and hardwearing

Softwood - Wood from a coniferous tree that generally has a less durable quality than hardwood

Growth Rings - The rings that appear on the cross-section of the tree that are formed as a result of the growth cycle of the tree

Where do hardwood's and softwoods come from?

Deciduous

This type of tree looses their leaves in winter, is flowering and produces seeds with a form of covering

Evergreen (Coniferous)

This type of tree does not loose its leaves in winter and lets seeds fall to the ground as the seeds are with no covering at all

Different woods

Different woods comes from different trees and they all have different appearances.

Mahogany

Mahogany has a dark brown apperance with a red-ish pink tone. Mahogany is very durable.

Walnut

Walnut is dark in colour and has a tight grain. The color ranges from creamy white in the sapwood to a dark chocolate in the heartwood.

Beech

Beech comes from the beech tree and has a light colour with a fine, distinctive pore pattern grain which looks a bit like lots of dots on the surface.

There are several different types of Hardwood that are available for this project and you will get the chance to choose a piece for hardwood that you like for the base of your flowerpot.

Veneer

Veneer is a thin type of hardwood that has been processed into a very thin sheet.

It can be either rotary cut where a large motorized machine that spins the log against a knife (like a big apple peeler) or quarter cut where a log is loaded into a veneer slicer (like a huge deli-meat slicer). The log is run back and forth across the knife to produce thin slices.

Veneers are a flexible material that can be bent or formed to a desired shape. They are usually added to cheaper woods to make them look more expensive / give colour choice i.e. IKEA use this for most of their furniture ranges.

Rotary cut

Quarter cut

Imagine a toilet roll rolling off a strip of tissue paper! Rolling or turning a wooden log on the edge of a blade will also produce a strip of veneer.

Lesson Task 1

Create a design poster to explain and show the difference between softwoods and hardwoods. You can also write about veneer and what you understand to be the difference between Hardwood timber and veneer.

Then, take some photos of the different types of woods and veneer available for your project and write some information about the material.

You may not know exactly the type of timber it is but you can describe the properties (apperance, colour, smell, texture, durability) of the material and also write your opinion (do you like it or not?).

Add your poster to your digital portfolio with evidence of the layers you used in pro create to make it.

High level

Nice clean graphics, basic bullet pointed text that is relevant. Text is student generated (NOT COPIED FROM THE INTERNET!)

EBI: The OAK (hardwood) section was finished. The imaged showed a flowerpot example like the one you will make instead of a chair.

A unique and interesting layout but the information is limited.

EBI: The quality of the information included matches the presentation quality.

Student Example #1

Student Example #2

Student Example #3

Student Example #4

Student Example #5

Student Example #6

Student Example #7

Student Example #8

Procreate Examples. 3 Steps. Add images - Add a title - Add text

A new modern style of title that uses the opacity settings and layering to make it stand out.

Text settings have been edited to change spacing, opacity and size.

Only photos with white backgrounds have been used. if white background corners overlap other images, then these are erased. Notice the layer menu and the corners that have been erased.

Images and white backgrounds have been erased to allow each image to touch. A small eraser size was used for this to keep it neat.

Extension task

If you complete your poster about woods then you can now start to research construction specifically about Laminating and compression moulding and Resin Pouring.

Construction - Laminating and forming

1.

To manufacture your flower pot project, You will combine three strips of veneer with PVA Wood glue, face to face. This process is called Laminating.

2.

To form the veneers, they need to be bent around a pair of ‘moulds’ that will be clamped together.

3.

We call this process compression moulding. Moulds are used to produce multiple copies of the same shape.

Veneer example 1

Veneer example 2

Veneer example 3

There are several different types of veneer that are available for this project and you will get the chance to choose pieces that you like for the decorative design part of your flowerpot.

Resin Pouring

Resin is liquid plastic that when combined (part A and part B) causes a catalytic reaction. This means that when the two liquids mix, a chemical reaction happens that makes the state of the material change from a liquid to a solid.

The reaction takes several hours after the resins have been mixed. When the resin is still a liquid, pigments or powders can by added to give decorative colour.

Lesson task 2

Write about Laminating and Forming and Resin pouring on your website. Include pictures to show your understanding.

Vacuum forming

Vacuum forming is one of the oldest and most common methods of forming plastic materials.

The process involves heating a plastic sheet until soft and then draping it over a mould. A vacuum is applied sucking the sheet into the mould. The sheet is then ejected from the mould.

3D printing

3D printing is a method of creating a 3D object layer-by-layer using a computer created design.

3D printing is an additive process whereby layers of material are built up to create a 3D part. As a result, 3D printing creates less material wastage and you can build very complex parts.