Making a hollow form

1. Design

Alby does a lot of research, drawing inspiration from books and the internet. Then he designs his own version, building in the patterns and shapes that he wants, such as diamonds and stars, and deciding on the overall height and shape. “You have to draw it out; you can’t just work out of your head: draw, plan, and work out the pieces you have to cut,” he says. The design process involves quite a bit of mathematics: “From the top I work out how many different rings there will be.

Then I work out the circumference and how many pieces there will be in each ring. You make the rings different sizes and work out the circumference of each ring going down the form.”

The number of rings depends on the thickness of the timber used.

2. Calculations

While there are calculators online, Alby makes just four calculations, which he does manually, and says he finds this