How This Craftsman Weaves Huge Wooden Sculptures

My name's Charlie Baker.

I'm an artist and builder,

and I create mostly by weaving materials found in nature.

A lot of what I create, I strive to make it look

as though it could have grown that way,

combining natural materials

in the most organic way possible.

[inspiring music]

She's out of frame there, she's in the frame.

[Interviewer] There she is, let's see where she goes.

[Crew Member] There she goes.

She's gone under the wood rack,

you won't see her for awhile.

Where were we again?

[Interviewer] Your favorite aspect of the process.

Oh yeah, at first I just really enjoyed

the process of foraging, taking beach walks

or walking through the woods

and recognizing certain shapes that spoke to me.

And it wasn't

until I started playing with some of these materials

that I realized I was good at it

and it was something I wanted to keep doing.

With some projects, you start with the drawing

and you find the materials later.

Sometimes the design process

just starts with playing with the material

you know you want to use and seeing how it fits together.

and the overall form takes shape

just from a little experimenting.

Sometimes the materials selection

has to serve various purposes, both an aesthetic purpose

if it's a piece that's gonna be outside

and needs to be rot resistant,

there are certain species that are gonna last longer.

And sometimes you have the freedom to just pick a material

based on the aesthetic, based on what shapes or colors

or textures are appealing to you.

I tend to gravitate towards twistier, more curvy shapes,

I feel like when they're put together

they create a sense of motion in the final piece.

There are certainly days where things are falling into place

and you find that rhythm.

And it's very enjoyable when you cut a piece

or bend a piece just right and it fits right in there,

it can be very easy and enjoyable and exciting,

but there are certainly days

where you feel like you're fighting a little bit.

Sometimes you just need to take a break

and take a break from the material or the project

because it can be a very tedious process

and if you're not enjoying it,

sometimes it can translate into the final project, so.

[horn blowing]

[laughs] Okay.

I would say my favorite, most exciting part of the process

is when I reach that tipping point

where you can just see

that your original vision is coming to life.

It's hard not to just stop and admire it

even though it's not quite done.

My largest piece I've created

was a series of human-sized bird nests

that were roughly 10 to 12 feet diameter

and there were three of them, total, connected with bridges.

My favorite work memory would be working on the nests

and feeling like I was part of a community of nesters

because I was surrounded by just a deafening chorus of birds

doing their work while I was working in this grove of trees.

One of the pieces I'm most proud of

was a eight foot diameter globe

I made out of mountain laurel twigs.

It's a series I wanna create over time

of geometric shapes done with natural materials,

I'm currently working on a pyramid version,

slightly smaller.

The eight foot diameter ball was very ambitious,

this time I'm gonna go a little smaller

with the pyramid shape.

[footsteps crunching]

So I use laurel, a lot, when I'm selecting branch material,

it's not a branch, it's a shrub that grows in the understory

but it has a very twiggy appearance to it.

Laurel is typically found in specific places

where it likes the acidity of the soil

and it likes the species of trees

and it's hard to find those spots that it's likes

and is growing abundantly.

Of course, my exact spots I keep top secret,

but this batch came from out in Eastern Long Island.

So here we are in a spot that I found a few years ago

in an area of Long Island

where mountain laurel happens to grow quite abundantly.

Mountain laurel has a natural resistance to rot and bugs.

I've always been drawn to this look of the bark

and the way it grows, it grows very twisty, wavy,

seeking out the light in the dense wooded areas

where it generally grows,

but it's the best rot resistance that I know of

in a branchy looking material,

which makes it great for this project.

Generally look for ones that are mostly dead.

As you can see, this one has hardly any greenery on it

but we know it's not quite dead and starting to rot

because it has just a little greenery left.

And that's one that'll probably eventually die

but I'm gonna get some good use out of it

instead of letting it rot here in the woods.

On that side.

So, when I head out into the woods,

I don't really generally need much in the way of tools,

have my loppers,

these will allow me to cut pretty big material,

quickly and easily.

They also function as a spiderweb stopper,

I hold them a few inches in front of my face

because nobody likes a solid mouthful of spiderweb.

I have my smaller hand pruners to trim off greenery,

or smaller diameter branches,

and for bigger diameter material,

or if it's hard to reach inside with the loppers,

I have an arborist handsaw that I bring.

[Interviewer] Why is it that shape?

I don't know why it would be that shape, to be honest,

but every tree saw I've ever seen has got a curve to it.

As a general rule, I almost never take things

that are a thriving, healthy species,

I like to take things that are abundant

and not in any way gonna harm

the area where I took them from.

So, you have a lot of criteria that needs to be filled

when you're selecting a material.

Luna, come on.

[wooden slapping] There you go.

This is my helpful assistant, Luna.

Before a piece is done

she needs to do one last quality check

and make sure everything's well screwed in and tip top.

Sometimes helpful, sometimes not so helpful.

[everybody laughing]

This is, so far, about two to three days,

including the frame.

With the globe shape,

the mountain laurel that I was weaving together,

just kept going as a continuous circle,

almost a repeat of many circles and different diameters.

The challenge now is to try it

where you have to actually turn a corner,

it'll be an experiment

on how the material will come together

when we turn the sharp edge.

The bottom, I'm trying to make it look

as natural as possible, almost like root flare of a tree

when the tree meets the ground.

And at the top

it's gonna be another challenge of the puzzle piecing,

of all three sides coming together

and trying to make it as a perfect spire as possible.

Really, only the first layer of branches

are actually attached to the frame

and then most of them are either just tucked into each other

or screwed from one piece to another.

As I'm assembling it, I'm using very curvy pieces

but I like the way they naturally move around each other,

almost is like a braided rope or a basket,

and I try to picture

how they want to be married to one another.

So, it's been sort of a experiment and learn as you go

to see how the form is taking its own shape.

As my experience as a woodworker,

there's definitely some engineering that comes into play

with some of the pieces I create,

they can't just look pretty they have to be sturdy,

for example, the walls of the nest

have to serve as a safety barrier

because the nests are raised.

So most of the puzzle pieced twig creations

are fastened with thousands of screws.

Also always keeping in mind

that where the screw isn't gonna exit

in a place where it's gonna be visible,

which is sometimes tricky.

[drill whirring]

And when you're holding the piece in with one hand

and having to start the screw, it's always fun.

[drill whirring]

Sometimes it'd be nice to have three hands.

I would say my most used tool,

when I'm doing the puzzle piecing of twigs, is the bandsaw,

just allows for intricate, curvy cuts,

or shaving little bits to get that fit just right.

Sometimes it just slots its way in

and you know that's where it's going,

even if it wasn't where you originally wanted to fill,

it just found a home and you knew it wanted to be there.

The hardest part of finishing it off

and filling the last bit of voids

can sometimes be the most time consuming

because you're finding

you have one destination for it to go

and you want to find that perfect piece to fit in that spot.

Whereas, when you still have multiple holes,

then you can shop around

for where it seems to be wanting to go.

I would like to think that when people see my pieces

it gives them

that feeling that you get when you're out in nature.

And combining that with craftsmanship,

that I hope inspires people

by the care and the work that went into it,

that's recognized, but also has a look to it

that maybe nature could have created it

and it could have grown that way.

A combination of craftsmanship

and what you'd naturally find out in nature.

I obviously have an intense appreciation

for the already sculptural pieces

that nature creates on its own.

And in a way, I just feel like I'm borrowing

and combining things that are already there

because I think nobody can create these shapes

better than Mother Nature.