Jun 25, 2009
SOLD
This piece is about nine inches in diamater, five inches tall with a two inch opening. It was cut from North Carolina Oak and turned while green. The wood was pretty wet and my wife said the wood shavings smelled like vomit. I disagreed. This was my first attempt at a hollow form with a small opening. I read one of David Elsworth’s books on hollow forms for instruction and inspiration. This piece was a lot of fun.
The finish is ZINSSER BULLS EYE Clear Shellac Sealer & Finish. I just love the yellow glow shellac gives to oak. I used three coats. As expected, the sides have moved slightly making the piece oval looking from the top. It’s really cool.
$50.00
Jun 18, 2009
Piece #120 – Oak & Copper Patina Pedestal Bowl – 8″ diam by 5″ tall – Sold
My sister-in-law gave me some really hard white wood with very little grain. It was pretty dry, but when I cut the blank it developed small checks over night. I had been wanting to try something different and thought this piece would be a good candidate. It took me about two hours to shape and hollow it out. After I sanded it down to 400 grit sand paper I sealed it with S.W. sanding sealer. Next I put on two coats of red acrylic paint, sanding with 220 between coats. I then randomly applied streaks of black acrylic paint after the red dried. Two coats of spar poly followed. I let all this cure for about a week.
Now the fun part. I sized the top half with gilding size. When it set up, I applied copper leaf and Dutch Metal leaf (fool’s gold) in random spots covering about 90% of the acrylic paint. In random spots under parts of the metal leaf, I laid down small swaths of sewing tulle and nylon string. After the sizing dried, I pulled off the sewing tulle and nylon strings exposing more of the red and black acrylic paint in some really cool patterns. I repeated the process on the bottom half of the piece and let the whole thing set a couple of days.
To make the piece look old and weathered I followed a process I learned from David Marks. Using two different chemicals, chemical proof rubber gloves, tissue paper, cheese cloth, a spray water bottle and two small disposable paint brushes, I subjected the metal leaf to a chemical reaction. By the way, I hated chemistry class in school. But this was really cool. After the chemicals did their thing I very, very carefully dabbed the piece dry and set it aside for about a week. The final step was three coats of wipe on poly, sanding between coats with 320 grit paper.
This whole process was really, really time consuming. Was it worth it? Some of my critics love it and some hate it. No one seems to be neutral. What do you think? I love it! In the end, that’s all that matters. I will definitely be doing it again.
I sold this piece on June 4th at the Lenoir City Arts and Crafts Festival.
Jun 18, 2009
Piece #155 – Maple – 5.5″ dia x 5″ – SOLD
This lidded vessel was my first attempt at combining turning and carving. The wood type is maple; a hard, white, plain figured, wood of no character. I turned the outside shape relativly quickly and separated the lid from the bottom. Once the bottom and lid were hollowed I laid out the “petals” around the top using the stops on my lathe to space them properly.
Using my Dremel Jig Saw, I carefully cut along the outside of the petals. This was pretty hairy as the piece is round and my jig saw table is flat. It took a little finessing. Once the basic design was cut I used my carving tools, hand held Dremel, and a lot of hand sanding to refine the petals. I finished it with a coat of S.W. sanding sealer.
The copper leaf gilding and patina finish I used is described elsewhere on my site.
Jun 18, 2009
Sold
This wood bowl is made from two pieces of wood. The top is Steamed European Beech; the bottom is exotic wood from India. The band around the middle is 75% Lindsey Inlace mixed with 25% silver glitter.
I used Loctite® Professional Epoxy 5 MIN to secure the two pieces. I let them dry over night. I shaped and hollowed the bowl to completion. Using my diamond parting tool I cut a dovetail groove where the two pieces were joined. I mixed a sufficient amount of Inlace and filled the dovetail groove making sure it over flowed the groove. I wrapped the filled groove with Scotch-Blue™ Painter’s Tape so it would stay packed in the groove. I let it dry 24 hours. I put the bowl back on the lathe and removed the hardened extruding Inlace with a round nose scraper. I sanded the whole piece through 1500 grit sandpaper and put on three coats of Minwax® Helmsman® Spar Urethane and a top coat of Minwax® Wipe-On Poly high gloss.
Jun 18, 2009
Piece #122 – Spalted Maple Lidded Jar – 6″ dia by 10″ tall – sold
This is one of my most favorite pieces. It’s about 10 inches tall. The walls are about 5/8 inch thick with the base being about an inch. This picture does not do it justice. This side of the raw wood had a branch growing out. You can see the pith and the growth rings, while the opposite side of the jar has no evidence of pith or growth rings. It is quite striking. To add to the character there are tiny worm holes on various sides of the jar.
I sanded this piece through 400 grit sandpaper then applied Woodcraft 100% Pure Tung Oil to bring out the color in the wood. I let this dry about a week. I applied three coats of Minwax® Helmsman® Spar Urethane and a top coat of Minwax® Wipe-On Poly high gloss, sanding between coats with 320 grit paper.
Jun 18, 2009
Piece #151 – Oak Natural Rim Vessel – 10″ diam by 10″ tall – SOLD
This Oak vessel is 10 inches tall and 10 inches in diameter. It is cut from my neighbor’s Live Oak tree. As soon as it was cut I blocked it to size and wrapped it very tightly with about 5 layers of that plastic stretch wrap to seal in the moister. After curing about 9 months, I removed the stretch wrap. The wood had a black looking mold or fungus on it. I sprayed it with Clorox bleach then washed it with a hose. After it dried I put it on the lathe and turned it.
The top rim, all the way around, is the natural bark. I was very careful to respect the bark. After hollowing down about two inches, leaving the wall ½ inch thick, I secured the bark with thin Cyanoacrylate glue (CA – super glue, crazy glue). I finished turning the piece maintaining about a ½ inch wall thickness down to the base which is about one inch thick. I sanded through 600 grit sand paper.
I applied Minwax® Wood Finish™ Early American oil stain and let it dry for a couple of days. To finish the piece I applied 4 coats of Minwax® Wipe-On Poly high gloss, sanding with 320 grit between coats.
I sold this piece at the Pellisippii Ballon Festival in the fall of 2010.
Jun 12, 2009
NFS
I made this cigar ashtray from white oak that I received from an arborist in the Tampa area. It is about seven inches in diamater and three inches deep. This wood is pretty plain, very little character. I left the bark in the small inclusion on the side and filled a small crack with a little topaz lace mixed with a silver glitter.
The center of the piece is also topax lace. The finish is spar poly – about four coats. This is one of my favorite pieces because it is so functional. When I sit down after a hard day at the lathe I want a dry martini and a cuban cigar. This ashtray reminds me of what my life should be about. Indulgance and instant, self gratification. If only.
Jun 12, 2009
SOLD
We had a Red Spanish Oak in our back yard. It was about 14 inches in diameter at the base and not to tall or bushy. It was obviously diseased and had to come down before it infected my other oaks. I had a new chain saw and two strapping sons so I figured we could take that baby down. Well, to make a long, sad story short we felled that tree right down the backyard fence line. Our precision was almost perfect. However, I didn’t take into account one major branch. That branch obliterated my neighbors six ft. high stockade fence. The good news was, it only took out one six ft. long panel, which we replaced from Home Depot in record time. My neighbor was very understanding, thank goodness.
When I cut the trunk into blanks I was astounded at the worm damage. I was also struck by the discoloration of the wood around the worm holes. The grain was also corrupted and had little pattern. This tree produced some of the most characterized wood that I have ever encountered. I turned some of the blanks when they were still green. These are two of the first pieces that I turned from that tree. In all, that tree produced over two dozen bowls and vessels. I thought of it as my “Worm Hole Collection”. I gave most of them away to family and friends.
