Continuing with the Spalted Beech

Another two creations from the current stock of spalted Beech, all three are now in Shirley Norman's gallery in Little Haven, hopefully someone will feel they must be their's!

First is a small Bowl, about 7 inches or so across with a bead and cove arrangement around the rim, this has a very nice feel in the hand, as does the incurved and slightly undercut rim.
The finish is shellac, buffed to a high gloss with the Chestnut buffing wheel system, this time though I have the newly acquired large dome mops for the interior, the difference is striking in comparison to the smaller mops as the large mops have a greater overall contact and outer edge speed which in turn leads to an easier task of controlling the overall result, the finish in this bowl is as good inside as it is out, and though I have come close to this with past bowls, I have had to work with great care to get it, but with the larger mops I found it faster, easier and better.

This is a more "classical" shaped hollow form, again, like the first one I kept it a little more weighty than previous forms I have done, and I must admit, it does feel very nice in the hand.

A buffed Shellac finish again, the form is about 6 inches tall.

Small Bowl

This was certainly a tricky one, this months UK workshops monthly challenge was

"Smaller than a Matchbox"

What to turn was the first challenge, the subject is so broad!  I decided to go with something simple, at least as far as form was concerned, a natural edged bowl in Pearwood.

More Timber ID

Just a couple of pictures for wood ID, this time it's London Plane, this sample is from a tree brought down in the 1980's hurricane.

My policy has matured!

Actually, my Beech has spalted, but it's similar. Some logs I set aside have eventually spalted, quite nice patterns, but I could have wished for better, still, maybe some of the others will produce better variation, meanwhile this Hollow Form is reasonably pleasing, I made it with a wall thickness of about 8mm, this gives it a pleasing weight in the hand, the finish is shellac. The form stands about 210mm tall.

Of further interest, this is the log from which the little offcut I made the video with came from, it needs a final finishing on the flat surface, I will pop the pic up in a few days, so then they will be a sort of father and son pic!

Commission

A recent thread on the UK workshop forum led to a nice small commission to produce a cricket trophy based on the actual ashes trophy, complete with an inscription, this is the end result which I am happy to say has been received with delight by the customer!

The original has a square section pair of handles which would have been very difficult to incorporate into this small (6" in height) urn. Mo was a great Uncle of the customer.

A small debate.

An online discussion about wood ID has prompted me to upload some images to make the case for the wood in question to be clearly NOT Laburnum, and quite likely to be Yew.

The discussion can be found Here

Grass Trees

A friend gave me several pieces of exotic timber last summer (thanks again Ian!), among them were two lumps of Grass Tree root, odd looking things, and even stranger to turn, no shavings, dust from the off, or rather very very short fibres, but dust like enough to absolutely demand a breathing filter, I usually do anyway, but here it was vital.

All went well until the final stages of hollowing when I got a small catch and the thing flew into 5 separate pieces, I was not happy.  But once I recovered the bits I found that they knitted together prety well, so, much CA later, it was back in one piece, I finished hollowing it out and tidied up the outside to blend the small ridges where the joins were, and finished it with shellac.

It is about 7 inches wide and 4 inches or so tall.

What's it for?

The ubiquitous question whenever something decorative but practically useless is on display at a craft table, it's not an unreasonable question, but does betray  a slight lack of imagination.  The best response I have heard of late though is  Pete Moncrieff-Jury's "To enhance your living space".  Perfect!

With that in mind I wonder who would consider their living space enhanced by this next oddity?

This is a hollow sphere (I use the term somewhat loosely!) balanced upon a tall pedestal which has a metal leaf finish in the small support bowl. Both items are in Sycamore, the stand is ebonized with black lacquer.
The sphere is also lacquered.

A new experience

Woodturners Unlimited is a forum which has as among it's members, some exceptional craftsmen and women, I am frequently in awe of the quality and thoughtful designs that appear in the posts each day. One of the features of the site is a critique section, you can submit your work to be critiqued by a team of 3 experienced turners who will independently assess your work and offer advice on improvements as well as comment on how they feel about the piece in general. I am not shy of offering such comments on the work of newer turners as they often request it in their hunt for information, knowledge and technique, but like many things, you never stop learning and so I sent in my blue vase for the team to check over.  I was a bit concerned as colour work is not everyones cup of tea and I did wonder if this would be a problem. My concerns however were ill founded as all three found positive things to say as well as offering several very useful tips for future pieces, not least in the photography dept!

My thanks to Terry Scott, Keith Burns and Richard Kennedy for taking the time to look the vase over and offer their thoughts and tips, much appreciated! :)

you can read the critiques here.

Back up and running!

December 23rd mt PC got fritzed in a thunderstorm, most frustrating! Now however I have a new beast that is a joy to use so at least that is a positive result. Consequently I am able to process and post up some recent projects.

This one is a direct take on the designs of David Decristoforo from the USA, I am very impressed with his designs, fluid, graceful and very innovative. My spin of course is the addition of colour, in this instance everything except the interior of the "goblet" is coloured is some fashion, stain for the red, ebonizing lacquer for the stem and schlagg metal for the outer part of the cup. Made from a single piece of Sycamore, the top is natural edged, the whole thing is finished with satin lacquer buffed to a gloss finish.

Eau Natural

Coloured yes, by dyes? No, this is Purpleheart, a coloured timber from the Americas often used in construction. The finial lid is Ebony. The finish is spray lacquer for the finial and Shellac for the form.

.

More colour

Just a small vase in Sycamore, but it coloured up nicely. Shots give a view around the piece with the final one an oblique view.