Is this better?

Based on the feedback from my post 'Second Birdseye on Pedestal' I turned a different finial. It is thinner and about 1 inch longer than the first version and is an attempt to mirror the pedestal. It is also out of cherry and stained with Varathane 'Expresso'. Hopefully this helps to limit the top-heavy feel of the first version and is more of a balanced piece.



Your comments are encouraged!

Thanks for looking!

Wow, that looks quite fragile, Steve. I didn't really see anything wrong with the previous, but I like this. The thin leg and finial give it an elegant look.

While the first one was also beautiful I do think this one looks more balanced.
You do amazingly beautiful work, Steve!

I have to agree that the second version looks more balanced. That's a beautiful piece, Steve. I bow to your talent .

Nancy

Steve,

It looks great. I'm not really qualified to comment, as I know enough to know what it takes to do something like that, but can't myself do it. If I could do something like that, I'd be thrilled... might even put down my tools and walk away, having mastered a form. The idea that you're trying to make it even better leaves me stunned in awe...

Having said that... this seems like a classical (or neo-classical) form. If that's the case, the standard guide for proportion in such a piece is the golden ratio. Way too much math for my tired little brain, but you can read the details here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_ratio

It's a pretty interesting subject as one digs deep into it. A few choice snippets:

Beginning in the Renaissance, a body of literature on the aesthetics of the golden ratio has developed. As a result, architects, artists, book designers, and others have been encouraged to use the golden ratio in the dimensional relationships of their works. (...)

Studies by psychologists, starting with Fechner, have been devised to test the idea that the golden ratio plays a role in human perception of beauty.(...)

Adolf Zeising, whose main interests were mathematics and philosophy, found the golden ratio expressed in the arrangement of branches along the stems of plants and of veins in leaves. He extended his research to the skeletons of animals and the branchings of their veins and nerves, to the proportions of chemical compounds and the geometry of crystals, even to the use of proportion in artistic endeavors. In these phenomena he saw the golden ratio operating as a universal law.

The article was clearly written by an academic, so that every assertion has a qualifier, and there are copious notes and references. One could drown in the subject.

It would be interesting, although perhaps bootless, to see if viewers preferred a finial on your piece which approximates the ratio. All I can say is it looks awfully good to me!

Thanks,

Bill

Simply beautiful Steve, not that the first one was ugly, not at all, but I think this one is more refined, and balanced.

You sir, do nice work!

Beautiful Steve. You hit the nail on the head. Well done.

I also think the new finial is a better match. Awesome work, Steve.

Hi Steve ,
You have made some interesting changes. I like the lengthening of the finial and the slight downsize of the diameter. Very nice!
Shaz
And what are your thoughts about your changes?

Thank you everyone for all your kind words! I do appreciate it!

Shaz - I feel the new finial changes the look of the piece. I no longer feel it has a top-heavy look to it and that is due to the finial being thinner overall and about an inch longer. I wanted to take the first finial and just stretch it a little to raise the overall height of the piece. If you look at the 2 finials - you may be able to see that the second finial does look like a stretched out first finial. Anyway - that was the thought behind it.

Thanks again everyone for all your input! I've learned a lot!