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Bark Rim Deep Bowl

Bark Rim Deep Bowl

Feb 18, 2010

Piece #102 – Oak – 10″ dia by 6″ – Sold

This beautiful oak bowl shows off the natural rim as well as highlights of turquoise mold growing on the bark. mold

The bowl is 10 inches in diameter and 6 inches deep. The opening on top is not round because of the natural flow of the bark. The bottom was set in from a different piece of oak to give it contrast. The piece was turned green which resulted in several checks. These checks were filled in with ebony saw dust and turquoise lace making them seem natural with relationship to the mold growing on the bark. This oak natural rim bowl is quite stunning.

checks

Beech Cabinet

Oak Bed Side Tables

Jan 31, 2010

This pair of bedside cabinets were made for my Uncle Richard. They are made from quartersawn red oak and are 26.5 inches tall and the top is 18×15. They are solid oak; no veneers over MDF. The finish is about five coats of amber shellac with three coats of furniture paste wax. There is about $150.00 worth of material in each piece. I lost track of the hours I put into these two tables.bedside tables2

If you would like me to make you this pair of tables they are $275.00 each.

Camphor Vase

Dec 24, 2009

SOLD

This Camphor vase came from a huge tree that was in Sheri and Doug’s front yard. They cut it down this fall and I got my pick of the wood. Wow! You should see what I have on my curing shelves. There will be a lot of pieces coming from this grand old camphor tree. Already this vase and the prayer box have been turned. My son Mitch has also turned a Chinese vase from this lot of camphor.

Anyone want to do some wood trading?

Oak Bowl with Bark Side

Dec 23, 2009

Piece #118 – Spalted Oak – 8.5″ dia x 4″ – Sold

This oak bowl is made from an Oak tree that was removed because of a worm infestation. Evidence is seen in the bottom of this piece. I also left part of the bark visible on the outside of this bowl. It all works together to make this a very interesting conversation piece. It would look great on your coffee table up at the cabin.

This bowl was a gift to our dear friends Barbra and Luther. It sets on an end table in their NC mountain top home.

Prayer Box

Prayer Box

Dec 23, 2009

Given as a Christmas present to a very dear friend.

This prayer box is made from camphor. It is about five inches in diameter and twelve inches tall. The lid separates just below the second gold ring. It took me four hours to turn the box and lid and about six times that to put on the finish.

I started with green wood. The camphor was cut into a blank and allowed to dry about two weeks. After the prayer box was turned I dried it using the microwave method. http://mgorrow.tripod.com/microwave.html After the microwave treatment I let it set for about a week.

To finish the prayer box I first applied Min Wax sanding sealer and let it dry. crackelThe next step was a coat of latex gloss black paint which I let dry overnight. The next day I brushed on a liberal amount of Behr Premium Crackle solution to the box and lid but not the spiral handle. I let this cure for about two hours. It dries clear. I then applied a very heavy coat of tan satin latex paint. Within minutes the tan paint started to crack and slide around on the gloss black paint. When it dries it looks like very old paint – cracking and peeling. A day later I covered the whole piece with Min Wax Spar polyurethane and let it dry another day.

spiralThe next step was to gild the spiral handle with fake gold making sure about 20% of the black paint went uncovered. I also gilded the four flat beads on the piece making sure to completely cover the black paint. The fake gold gild was left to dry overnight. The next day a liberal solution of warm water, Cupric Nitrate and Ammonium Chloride was applied to the fake gold leaf on the spiral handle only, not the four flat beads, through a thin layer of cheese cloth and tissue paper. The solution soaked tissue and cheese cloth was left on the fake gold leaf  for about 15 minutes to induce a chemical reaction and turn the fake gold leaf to an aged bronze patina. After gently removing the soggy tissue paper and cheese cloth I let the piece dry over night. Go to https://woodpops.com/gallery/greek-urn/ to see more details.

Now things really got crazy. On the lid and box I randomly brushed on gilders size making sure not to get it on the gold flat beads. I also did not cover about 50% of the tan and black  crackeled latex paint. When the gilders size tacked up I applied copper leaf foil and burnished it on with wax paper for a solid stick. When I was satisfied with the “look” of it all I set it aside to dry overnight. The next day I did that chemical patina thing again on the copper leaf using a solution of warm water and sodium sulfide applied to the copper leaf through the tissue and cheese cloth. I was careful not to get any chemical on the gold flat beads. After about five minutes I removed the chemical sodden tissue and cheese cloth. I let the piece dry overnight and the next day covered the whole prayer box with Min Wax Spar polyurethane.

The next step was very slight random burning with my wood burning iron: to give it more age and the look of hard use. I repeated the copper leaf foil and sodium sulfide treatment on the lid and box two more times varying the amount of time I let the chemical reaction work. This made the layers of copper leaf at different degrees of tarnishing. After each treatment I covered the piece with Min Wax Spar Polyuretehne. When I was satisfied with the completed finish I coverd it all one last time with Min Wax Satin Polyurethene.closeup

PS. After each coat of Min Wax Polyurethene dreid I lightly sanded the piece with 320 grit sandpaper.

I learned this finishing technique from David Marks at a class I took at Woodcraft.