Oct 3, 2016
Piece #559 – Ambrosia Maple – 14″ by 2″ – Gift
This platter was made at a class I took from Andy Gunning at John C. Campbell Folk Art School in September 2016. It was made possible by my dear friends Barbara and Luther Fowler. Thanks.
Oct 3, 2016
Assorted Domestic wood – 4″ by 4″ – $25 each
The apple gives you a sense of scale.
Oct 3, 2016
An assortment of Domestic and Exotic Woods – 8″ by 8″ – $40 each
Aug 30, 2016
Piece #545 – Sycamore, Copper, Calcite – 5.5″ by 9.5″
This vase is made from sycamore, copper leaf and calcite crystals. The vase was turned on the lathe with a wall thickness of 3/8″. The ivy leaves and stems were cut about 1/8″ deep into the wood using a high speed dental drill. Once all of the wood inside the stems and leaves was removed the calcite crystal was inlaid, sanded and polished thru 4000 grit sandpaper. Next I removed all of the wood from the vase all around the stems and ivy down 1/16″ deep. This left the stems and leaves inlay 1/16″ proud (above) the entire surface of the vase. I sanded the vase to 180 grit. Using my Dremel and a carbide Steel, ball shaped bit I cut in the dimples on the surface of the vase around the stems and ivy. This is called stippling.
I then sealed the entire surface of the vase with dewaxed shellac and let that cure for a couple of days. Next I painted the stippled wood around the stems and ivy with flat black spray paint and let that cure overnight. On top of that I put down a coat of hard table varnish and let that dry several days.
Following the proper procedures I gilded the stippled surface around the stems and ivy leaves using copper leaf. See my YouTube video on the gilding process. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKY2Rj1snJs
I let the copper leaf cure about a week. Next I caused the copper to tarnish using David Mark’s chemical technique leaving a colorful patina on the copper. After curing the copper leaf several days I applied 6 coats of Gloss Spray Lacquer covering the entire vase, stems, ivy and copper leaf all. Lastly I buffed the entire vase with tripoli and white diamond jewelers polish bringing it to a nice luster. Beeswax was then buffed on using a Beal polishing wheel on my lathe.
The separate base stand is a piece of oak burl. I carved it to look like tight, twisted, ivy vines. I then air brushed it with transparent latex paint. It also received the gloss spray on lacquer finish.
