WHAT TO DO WITH A 2x4?

The next part of our final project was to familiarize ourselves with the wood shop. We were given a 18 inch long 2x4 piece of wood and were told to cut it at least 5 times in the shop and then reattach the pieces without glue or nails. This caused us to think about joinery and how we'd connect our pieces. After finishing this project, I feel like I could build something way more important. Watch out world, Anna Hambly knows how to use a table saw.

This was my first attempt...a puzzle-like, linear system. The pieces could be rearranged in different ways to make the piece look different.

The different heights and lengths were really interesting to me.

I liked the fact that one could rearrange the entire piece...but it was my first attempt and I really wanted to get the craft right. 

So I made the wood thinner and cleaner-looking. 

The new piece can be tilted in different directions but the pieces aren't able to be rearranged like the first one...mostly due to the different widths that resulted from cutting. I kind of like it better that way, though. Different widths contribute to the different sizes, heights, and arrangements of all the pieces and they really come together to make up one big piece.

Originally I arranged the piece to look this way but I liked the fact that it was able to stand up on its own as well. It's more attention-grabbing that way. I think I plan to put it on a wall somewhere...