How to Design Curved Wooden Legs

Designing curved legs must support style of bodywork

Designing curved wooden legs is not difficult, but it is essential to consider the design style of the main bodywork of a piece of furniture as a whole. It would be a pointless exercise to design a curved wooden leg in isolation, even if designing legs to refurbish an existing piece of furniture. If designing from scratch, there is the scope to experiment with new design solutions. But if designing legs for an existing piece of furniture, there is less creative freedom as the leg design needs to support the established furniture design.

Things You'll Need

• Sketchbook A3
• Pencil #2
• Eraser
• Pencil sharpener or craft knife
• Ruler
• Images
• Glue-stick
• Scissors
• Art marker pens, colored pencils or watercolors
• Black drawing pen
• Optional
• White card A3
• Jar of water
• Watercolor brushes

Instructions

1. Gather images of different types of furniture with curved wooden legs. Include images of contemporary and period furniture. Find images in home shopping or furniture magazines, or via an Internet search. Notice the different styles of curves in the legs, as well as observing the leg proportions in relation to height and width.

2. Create a mood sheet. Cut out images with a pair of scissors. Arrange your cut out images on to a piece of paper or card. Stick down images using a glue-stick. A mood sheet provides a visual reference resource to help you during the design process.

3. Draw a quick design sketch in pencil of the furniture body. Position the sketch in a rough box at the side of the page to help visually establish the design style for the leg design.

4. Decide on the leg proportion in relation to the function and style of the furniture body. Ask yourself whether the wooden chair or table leg has a series of symmetrical curves down the leg shaft. Or does the leg bow in a single asymmetrical curve. Refer to your mood sheet to spark some ideas.

5. Design a wooden leg with a single asymmetrical curve. Draw two straight vertical pencil lines down the paper with a ruler to establish the height and width of the leg. Draw a symmetrical base shape at the top of the leg to attach to the furniture body. Draw a single curve under the base at a chosen point to a desired finishing point. The curve can be at either side of the leg shaft. Draw the leg foot to complete the design sketch. Erase unwanted pencil guidelines.

6. Design a wooden leg with symmetrical curves. Take a piece of paper. Fold it over. Draw a single curve from the center fold. Cut out the curved shape to create a symmetrical curve template. Draw two vertical pencil lines on the paper to establish the height and width of the leg shaft. Design a support base to attach to the main body. Take your curved template and place it over the two vertical lines where you want to create symmetrical curves. Hold your template in place. Ensure the curves are at an equal distance from the width lines on each side. Draw around the template. Repeat to create more curves, if desired. Draw the leg foot to finish. Erase unwanted guidelines.

7. Add color to your curved wooden leg design using art marker pens, colored pencils or watercolor. Try to create a wood-grain effect when applying color. Outline your design with a black fine art pen to make it stand out. Indicate what type of wood is to be used -- pine, oak, mahogany, walnut or cherry.

8. Complete the curved wooden leg design on a new page by drawing a set of curved legs on to the design of the furniture body. Add color. Mount on a sheet of colored card to display your design at its best, so that you can place it into a portfolio of designs.

Tips & Warnings

• Be creative and experiment with various curved wooden leg designs.

References

• Google Images:Curved Wooden Legs
• Fine Furniture Maker:Furniture Design School