Whenever I need something to turn and no particular plan, I go to my go-to project – a lidded jar.
This one is made from a chunk of cherry. The lid was some gnarly walnut a friend gave me and the lid was some spalted Sycamore which was actually some pallet wood. I couldn’t believe there was Sycamore in a pallet — it is some beautiful wood. I wish more of it had been spalted though. It stands about 8″ tall.
It would be wrong to do a post called Sisters and not do a Brothers post. I tend to work in multiples since it help solidify any new skills you pick up so I did 2 (almost 3) of these little vessels. They are both mahogany with hints of dye and are done as 3 operations with the bases and finials added on. I did try one out of walnut (my wood of choice) but it was a bit suspicious to say the least and blew apart on me after an hour into the project. Immediately would have been the best time since I was making it for a friend I was going to visit in a few hours. Now I know exactly how long it takes to make one from start to finish since I had to quickly change gears and start another one. I did get there on time and they loved the vessel! So did I.
I had just watched the White Christmas movie (Bing and Danny) and the Haynes sisters song reminded me of these pots I made this week for Christmas gifts. I had been saving a big blank of walnut just for an occasion like this. I was able to get these 2 bowls and a bit of drop out of it. One has a Quilted Maple top (which doesn’t show up that good in the photo) and the other has a Padauk lid. Both are gifts for special people — and they’d have to be since I hate to part with them!
I have friend raises bees and wanted to give away honey for Christmas gifts and ordered some honey dippers to go with them. These are fun to make and take hardly any wood. These were made from an old maple counter top. I did make one from cedar just to see how it would look but I’m afraid the scent of the cedar will contaminate the honey. I think maple is the perfect choice for these.
I wanted to try a pot with square corners at the top. I guess cedar was not the best choice for this because it is way to soft to try to maintain the crisp edges that make that sort of pot. I went ahead and cut the corners off an experimented with a new shape. The pot was kind of cool and the walnut lid was mighty nice but they just don’t seem to mesh well together. But I needed more shelf fodder because I just don’t generate enough!More Views and comments
I had picked up some of these translucent shells from the shell shop with the intention of using them in a piece and finally got around to doing so. I’m not sure I like the look but the technique worked out fine. I used sapele for the box since I had a big chunk of it sitting around. I will try to add a bit more visual appeal to the next one but for an experiment it turned out fine.More Views and comments
These acorns were a fun little project — a skill-builder as Capt. Eddie would say. I had gone out under my Oak tree (which was actually a cutting from the Wye Oak if you are familiar with that) to pick up a real acorn but as I suspected, the squirrels have been busy and all I found were empty caps.
It is hard to see the texture on the caps in the photo but I had picked up a texturing tool and this was the perfect venue for it. One is walnut and sycamore and the other is cherry and maple. Both have little hidden cavities perfect for giving maybe a diamond ring at Christmas.
This was my last piece of that spalted maple I had and wanted to do something different with it. It was one of those days where nothing was going right and I would have been better off letting it go but each time I made a mistake I just took a different tack. What I ended up with had no relation at all to what I had originally envisioned. Most mistakes I make with the lathe pertain to “holding” the piece. Plus every time you flip the orientation you have a chance of getting off center. A couple of millimeters off doubles on the first flip, then doubles again and you get my drift. This one ended up going end for end about 6 times after the mistakes I made. But I did end up with a usable candle holder with the nice little flickering LED candle in it. More Views and comments
This piece was made as a memorial piece for my mother-in-law since I didn’t feel confident enough yet to do the actual cremation urn. It was tuned out of sapele and actually has a seam going in both directions. I laminated two 8/4 pieces to get the thickness I needed. The vase is tall and the easiest way to hollow it was to cut it in half, hollow each half and then glue back together. I had intended to use some decorative banding to mask the horizontal seam but it so effectively disappeared that I could really find it without looking “real hard”. This is my tallest vessel yet standing in at 11″. It could easily be the quarter pounder (without cheese of course). I did use a bit of dye on the base and top spindle. The lid is walnut.
A friend brought me some maple and a mystery log that neither one of us could identify. I wanted to make him something for all the wood he has been bringing so I thought I would use the mystery log. Well it just happened to be some ugly wood — it made salt treated wood look good! Plus it was HARD and at this point I’m guessing locust. My work around was to dye it and I was pleased with the effect. Of course I left it it sitting on the bench (as I always do) waiting for the inspiration that only multiple Mooseheads can bring and I decided to add this little top. The top is a repurpose from an old piece of ash furniture I had build years ago and the spindle was some dyed poplar. If you click on the picture and enlarge it you can see a little ghost face in the grain! I think it is ready for the hand-off now.More Views and comments