Torah Scroll Case on Stand *LINK*

Re: Another wonderful piece Alan - thank you

Alan Young

Thanks Henry-Good idea- I just added a photo.

-Alan

Re: Torah Scroll Case on Stand

Alan Young

Hi Howard-

The provenance of the scroll is mid-19th century Romania.

-Alan

Wiley, Bill and others

Alan Young

Wiley and Bill and others,

Thanks for your comments and observations-

as to some questions.

Bill-

1.What went into the decision to include the sap wood in the front side?

As to the Sapwood and other visual impressions one might see in this piece. I have decided to let the viewer choose what he/she might see in it and develop their own interpretations. I do/did in fact have "artistic" reasons for certain elements of this piece but do not want to express any of my personal choices. Rather I'd be more pleased to know what others might see in my choices that I may have never intended. If someone observes an element that I intended to cause a certain response by a viewer-fine if not just as well. So as to the sapwood, yes there is a reason I put it there-but I won't force that impression on anyone-I'd rather let it speak for itself even or "especially" if it may not satisfy someone else's artistic design sense.

2. What are the steel? things poking out from the sides, functional, decorative?

The "Steel" pieces are actually Brass.

They are quasi functional and quasi artistic with an intentional "artistic" reference but as with the sapwood-I'll allow it to speak for itself even if if my intentions are not communicated accurately to the viewer.

This entire piece will be used in two locations. It will reside in a library for most of the time but will be moved to a classroom on occasion. The requirement of it being "movable" meant I had to accommodate the entire design to fit through a particular doorway and it's particular door handle height. That dimension drove a long series of design decisions totally out of practicality. The other element is the roller designs-They were chosen by the librarians. I should have taken pictures of the rollers when they first arrived as the were each in one long section.

Imagine the top and bottom pieces each joined together with and additional 6 inches or so.

I cut the middle section out of the two rollers to allow the scrolls to be in the aforementioned closed position or open position, Closed allows for approximately two columns of text to viewed-That is how one sees it with the case lid on..

Open allows for nearly four columns of text to be read-That is the function in a classroom setting with the case lid off.

One last photo- regarding the "scroll element." I was well into the process when I decided to carve scroll elements into sections of the base. I had hoped to "pop" the elements with gilding in the finish process. Needless to say they faded into the background and are only seen up close---I decided to let that be and not do anything that would bring out the detail....

Not sure if you saw the other "operational" photos

Alan Young

The top of the base is designed to allow the scroll to be viewed and rolled with the case on or off.



The scroll sits on rollers that are fastened to two movable plates.

Moveable plates are shown in the "closed" position before the scroll is placed on the rollers.



Here I am placing the scroll on the rollers.



In this photo the plates are pulled to the open position which allows four columns of text to be read.



The plates need to be in the closed position for the case top to be set in place. My good friend John Hilligonds helped me deliver the piece and is shown here as we place the case top over the scroll and the base.

Re: Masterful

Alan Young

Thanks Ellis, I was very fortunate to be able to work on this project. It came about right when I was leaving the day job for good. We'll see what woodworking looks like on "the other side."

Alan

Re: Torah history and usage

Alan Young

Wiley,

Thanks for that link! Very informative and helpful fur further understanding.

Alan