Tag Archives: trellis

Trellis–Construction

shoji-inspired trellis

36 lap joints later, the trellis is finished. Its paired boards echo the fence lattice.

The hardest part about completing the trellis was managing the slope of the patio. I began construction by laying out the notches for the joinery on 5/4 x 4 cedar boards, then began cutting the notches–36 in all. I took that effort in stages, beginning with the horizontal boards. I began by defining each edge of the notch with my dozuki, then making a couple of additional cuts across the notch, then popping the waste free with a chisel and paring the joint relatively even. Cedar is easy to work by hand, so this went fairly quickly, but I was ready to try the router when it came time to notch the vertical members. Continue reading

Trellis–Design

Trellis sketch

Sketch for a trellis to complement the porch.

I am, perhaps, too enamored of shoji, but I find the potential for the arrangement of kumiko intriguing. So I immediately thought of shoji when tasked with building a trellis for the climbing hydrangea growing at one corner of our porch. I’d originally planned to reproduce the design of my fence lattice, but the 1″ width seemed a little insubstantial for the space. I changed the width to 1.5″ and echoed the double strips separated by a strip width in the fence lattice. Then it was a matter of playing with the arrangement until I found a silhouette I liked.