Great things seem to happen when you put a video camera in the hands of somebody with fabrication knowledge. We’ve seen this numerous times before with Frank Howarth’s creative woodworking videos—not to mention a slew of other creative types.
More recently, engineer Brett Foxwell, who also happens to work as an armature builder on such films as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Boxtrolls, created a mesmerizing piece of stop-motion work that follows various pieces of raw wood through a milling machine. The result is a breathtaking look at the complexities of wood growth over dozens of years—complexities that we’ve never quite seen like this before.
“WoodSwimmer is based on a concept I developed while designing a new stop-motion universe where wood is the primary element, explains Foxwell. “The sequences are cross-sectional photographic scans of pieces of hardwood, burls, and branches. It is a straightforward technique but one which is brutally tedious to complete.”
For those looking to liven up their workshop, Foxwell is selling stills from the stop-motion film over at his website.
