Sundial

This month I have taken on one of my largest projects to date and I’m excited to bring you the fabulously detailed Sundial project which has been crafted using the latest and greatest new features of version 11.5. As the third part of the project, I’ll show you how to make a special Sundial using a rich design heritage of early shadow clocks with a flavor of travel and exploration to bring you a multi-material extravaganza of decorative wood art. The Sundial gives you the flexibility to create a perfect stand-alone project or combine it with Part 1 Adventure Map and Part 2 Explorer Frame to create a magnificent 3-part stackable gift or conversation piece.

This third project is the ‘pièce de résistance’ with contrasting multi-materials including a beech dial and triangle ‘gnomon’ made from oak with carved brass to draw together a fantastic detailed family heirloom using all the latest functionality available in Aspire. I'll show you how to start your Sundial design by finding a sundial style image from a website and using it to base his vectors, then turning on the Sundial layer in the software to show the vectors. From the component tree I'll build up the project choosing stars, sun and a wave, and using the shape editor and preserve internal corners features. I'll rebuild and add sharp definition to the big star, then I'll flip to the wave, stars and moon sheets and copy them to the Sundial sheet, then finally scale and sculpt each model to make them fit.

This FREE project comes with the files for you to download from your V&CO account along with a PDF and video for you to watch highlighting some of the key important steps to help you get through your project. For those of you yet to try our software packages, why not download our FREE trial software and give it a go!

We would love to see your own Sundial inspirations, so go ahead and try one of the projects then share your creative inspiration on the Vectric Forum or tag us on our socials.

Happy Making!