Whirlpool Sculptures and how to build them.

Stained Glass Tutorials

Crystalline tech.

Whirlpools

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Introduction
Multiple whirlpools turn in a rhythmic dance within a single vessel
to create natures display of random synchronicity.


You'll see it come to life like few others before. These water sculptures will relax and sooth you with sight and sound. As it's original conceiver and Artist, I'd like to gift this water craft to us all. All of the texts I present here are thus available for everyone to learn and apply as you see best.

The following pages will be texts, illustrations and video tutorials that will show in detail how this whirlpool art is made. I hope it serves to inspire your own sculptures and it's vitalized water to nourish your gardens, homes and good spirits alike. Enjoy, and good journey to all....

In a nut shell

Each whirlpool runs within it's own dish. All the dishes are identical in both size and it's shape profile. The profile of the dish is lathed around Z axis lines and the spacing between all dishes is consistent. Dishes are paired with a water inlet positioned accurately at centre of said pairs and a drain at centre of each dish. The intersected / shared volumes facilitate the dynamic interactions and are critical to the success of it's rhythmic dance.... Twin dishes are joined together to form quads, hex and octo-dishes. These groups (as seen above) can also be connected to form large matrix arrays.


Drawing

Drawing with CAD makes the task of visualization easier however a basic knowledge of tech. drawing with a set square and pencil is all that's strictly needed to draw up profile cutters. There are just two profiles required for the dish, and depending on the type of plinth desired, profiles for it maybe called for.

Plan and elevations drawings are all that is needed. The side view provides the dishes profile and the dish diameter. The top view shows us the overall width of the sculpture and the distance apart the dish centres occur.

Drawing the shapes we want on a computer is really easy on CAD drawing Applications. My personal knowledge / preference is to use NURBS however, you go with whatever you're confident on. The illustration above shows the core of it all in one snap-shot. Notice the red lines are the important profile curves we need to establish clearly.

The hardest part is choosing the dish shape and this is determined by the speed & power of the whirling you are looking to achieve.
Gentle, calming movements of the water currents comes with shallow and wide dish profiles. Fast movement happens when we tighten the vessel walls into taller towers. The whirlpools will become deep, fast moving and open throated. Open centres require deep towers to evolve in and have high volume / speed.
The whirlpools develop water vitality and this spun, fresh water becomes useful in many ways.


The profile cutter cuts a sand mold.



The second profile cutter shapes the cement casting..


These are simple lathing profiles that are guides / cutters for the green sand molds and the concrete impressions we cast into said molds. As you can see from photos above , these are swung around vertical posts which are secured accurately onto the sand pit floor.
I make the profiles usually with thin Perspex. Plastic or fiberglass sheeting will also do fine, as long as it's flexible but not too stiff. These profiles are attached to aluminium tubing that has a lengthwise slot cut into it. The profile is tied and glued into the tubes slot.


Link to Next tutorial. In the sand pit.

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Whirlpool
tutorials

The Drawing

The sand pit

The cement

The water entry

The plinth

link to facebook "whirlpool sculptures"

link to youtube karalnz

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