General Meeting : April 2022

Eugene Harms will present our April program, discussing the art of Kumiko, on April 20th.

"Beautiful Peace" Art of Kumiko

Eugene: "I credit of my interest in woodworking to my grandfather. I have fond memories of reglazing windows with him at a picnic table under the shade of a tree. I started making Kumiko after reading an article in Fine Woodworking issue #259–Jan/Feb 2017 by Mike Pekovich. I purchased The Art of Kumiko: Learn to Make Beautiful Panels by Hand (link to publisher) by Kenney Matt (Author) November 20, 2020. I then created my first Kumiko art in December 2020.

Kumiko is mostly used for shoji screens and dividers in Japan. Today Kumiko is used in furniture, boxes, coasters, and framed art. The technique was developed hundreds of years ago in Japan (600-700 AD). There are two design types of Kumiko – Koshi Kumiko (lattice) and Hishi Kumiko (diamond shape). Kumiko is made with numerous, thin pieces of wooden that are intersected and laid down individually to form decorative designs with no nails or metal used. There are several hundred variations of Kumiko patterns.

During the program I will:

• Present how to build the jigs and guide blocks used to size the thin pieces of wood
• Demonstrate how the wood is prepared and cut into thin strips and hand planed to accurate thickness
• Show how the wooden jigs are used to cut the various angles needed for the designs.
• Discuss both the Koshi and Hishi Kumiko designs
• Demonstrate the process used to size the individual wooden pieces for the patterns and how to put them together to create a design.
• Discuss making rice glue and illustrate how it is use to attach rice paper to the panels

My first framed Kumiko panel December 2020.

A lamp I built with Kumiko panels

Our venue, the Fred Maytag II Scout Center, is located at 6123 Scout Trail in Des Moines, off of SW 63rd just South of Park Ave and just West of the Des Moines Airport grounds. If you've been involved with the Des Moines Wood Turners (or the Boy Scouts recently) you may already be familiar with the location.

Enter through the main doors. Parking is somewhat limited near the doors, so if you have good mobility, please consider parking further from the entry to help others.

Doors open at 6:45pm for social time, and the meeting will begin at 7pm. Give yourself extra time to find your way in to our new meeting place if you haven't been over yet. 

Meeting Agenda: 

• 6:45pm - Doors open, both in person and on Zoom. Click on the Zoom link below to join the meeting.
• 7:00pm - Welcome!
• 7:05pm - Introduction of Tonight’s Presenter
• 7:10pm - Presentation
• 7:45pm - Q&A with Presenter
• 8:05pm - 5 MINUTE BREAK
• 8:10pm - Show and Tell
• 8:30pm - Meeting Adjourn

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