Today Judy, Whitney and I experimented with bending wood. We noticed that thin sheets of wood gain strength and stiffness as they are bent. We also wanted to use found materials, waste as little material as possible, and use the wood itself as a fastener, instead of using other hardware.
We started by cutting a piece of plywood into thin strips 2-4" wide. We then soaked them in water for a couple hours. We then bent them into tear drop shapes, using notches cut at each end of each strip to hold them together. We quickly learned that we needed a form to create the bends, so we used buckets. They were the perfect radius for the length of wood strips we had.
Our first few attempts failed. This was because tried to bend them by putting pressure on the ends. We realized that the bending should starting in the middle, and slowly move out towards the ends.
The final dried strips of wood. We're not sure what we're going to do next, but this stack of wood is strong enough to sit on! This leaves potential for a wide range of furniture or structure options.
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