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| Pump up your business card with caffeine! Published On 05-06-2008 , 3:36 PM  Warning to all you other woodworkers out there... this design is copyrighted. Do not steal the design from me or I'll have to introduce you to Mr. Chainsaw. KThnxbai  I owe my thanks to my son and his wicked sense of humor (that he got from me, BTW  ). He jokingly said that I should make a giant coffee bean cause I love my coffee so much.I borrowed my husband's math brain and we worked out the design on a prototype. You'd be amazed at how math phobic I am, really, it is embarrassing! Even more embarrassing is that I aced 6 semesters of Calculus! These first runs are made from Walnut (Thanks Don!) It is kinda impossible to make something half round on a lathe so these are made in pairs. After turning they are carved and textured, hand sanded, finished and buffed. I was really impressed by how closely I came to matching real coffee beans with these. Hop over to the gallery to check out all the shots. I have 2 in stock right now. As soon as I locate some more Walnut I'll be cranking out more. This actually encouraged me to get business cards printed. They are racing along in that happy brown UPS truck as I write this. I'll try to sneak this into my entries to the AAW Symposium as my card holder, don't know if it will fly or not. Comments | ||
| Mulberry is such a happy wood! Published On 05-06-2008 , 1:02 PM  My little Mulberry bowl sold so fast I had to replace it with some more. I love love love working with this wood. If any of you locals have a Mulberry tree you want removed, please notify me before you let your landscaper grind it up! I will cart away as much as I can move! (It is also a sure bet that you'll get one or two pieces out of the deal )This sweet little pot is 4" wide, 3.75" tall and a mere 1/16" thick. Please jump over to the Gallery (click on picture @ left) to see the rest of the images. Light easily shines through this baby. I turned this wet log in one session all the way down to 1/16", sanded and left it a bag of saw dust for 2 days. It is sanded all the way up to 12,000 micro grit. The finish is 3 coats of hand rubbed shellac and buffed with carnuba wax. She is light as a feather and the color is so buttery. Comments | ||
| I have returned! Published On 04-30-2008 , 1:44 PM UPDATE Wow, that was fast. My little Mulberry bowl has already sold and is, in fact, on its way to its new owner as I blog this. Fear not, I do have more of this wood and plan on making some more Mulberry pieces soon. But, you knew I would, right? I mean, how far could I really go? I have FIVE new pieces up in the Gallery so please do head over and take a look.  This first piece is an end grain vase from a large Mulberry branch. It is paper thin and a flashlight easily shines through it.I left the rim natural and turned it very wet hoping the rim would warp and give a flower-like ruffle to the edges.  The next piece is what was left on the chuck after I parted off the vase. It was far too pretty to waste so I turned it into a bowl. I really like how branch wood keeps the pith from the center of the branch. The way branches grow, the bottom of the branch has larger rings and less tension. The top of the branch has much smaller grown rings and very high tension. After all, it has to hold that branch in place all the time! Think of the bottom of the branch as the saggy part under your arm. OK, so under MY arm. I know you all have very firm upper arms!  Next we have a return visit of the Box Elder vase I blogged about before. Now it is finished and ready for its debut. I have lots more of this wood. Not sure if Box Elder or spalted Crabapple will be my next piece, still debating about it. This has a uniform thickness of 1/8" and is quite light. Not quite as airy as the mulberry pieces above, but still light for its size. These next two pieces will be on display at the American Association of Woodturners Symposium in Richmond, VA this June.  If this wood looks familiar then you've no doubt seen my Dogwood Bowl and Bow Wow. I call this piece "On the Brink" because the wood was almost too far gone to use. But, it was just too pretty to let Mother Nature reclaim it. Brink is also quite thin, somewhere between 1/16 - 1/8" depending on where you measure. As with the mulberry above, a flashlight easily shines through the thin walls. The nooks and crannies were filled with a turquoise holographic powder. You can't appreciated the subtle sparkle in the images, but it really adds to the piece. I love how the piece warped into an oval shape. I'm supposed to tell you that you need a very specialized lathe to turn ovals.  Actually, I knew it would warp as the wood was wet and the way I situated the bowl in the trunk I new it would go oval, just not how much or if it would survive.Finally, I believe this next piece is my finest yet.  You can read the story of how I acquired this piece in the gallery. That will explain why I call this "Neighbors". Needless to say, when I cut the cap off this large Maple burl both my husband and I just stood there admiring the amazing grain and color. The blue areas have small streaks in them that look like blue pen ink. If I didn't know this was Maple, I would have guessed at Cherry or Apple because of the pinkish hues. So, there you have it. See, I really wasn't being stagnant. I had all these projects in one stage or another. The ornaments can be finished and photographed on the same day. These latest pieces though require a great deal of hand sanding, finishing and buffing, all requiring patience and time to cure in between processes. I have one more piece to make for the Symposium, but I'm not sure what that will be. Time in the shop will tell. Comments | ||
| Back in Action Published On 03-30-2008 , 9:36 PM I have two items that I completed this weekend. One is a gift, but the other is available in the gallery.  Here is another Briar Root Ring Pot. This one has a neat void in the side and a natural edge opening.I got to use my new toy; my pneumatic Powercrafter carver. This puppy would make a dentist drool, it rotates at 400,000rpm. I used it to clean up the edges of the void and the natural edge along the top. I can see that this tool will be used a lot! It works very well and does not have any of the torque issues that a Dremel style rotary tool has. My next finished project is not quite finished yet, but I was determined to show 2 new items today so here goes. If you jump over to this piece you'll get a feel for how in love I am with crabapple.  I had a big crabapple tree in my front yard and we had it removed many years ago. Ever since it was taken down, I've been kicking myself for not saving the wood. I only had a few small pieces, and as you can see from the vessel, it is gorgeous wood.It turns out that my brother (a very talented woodworker and cabinet maker) did have the forethought to save some of the wood. He gave me two slabs of it last weekend Need I say that I was over joyed!I have always wanted to try a square edge bowl and decided that I would make one and give it to my brother as a thank you for saving the wood and giving it to me. The bowl didn't take that long to turn, but I spent easily 6 hours or more sanding it. The wood is quite dry and it took an unbelievable amount of elbow grease to get this smooth. Turning a "winged" bowl is not easy, when you are working on the edge you are dealing with more air than wood and getting a smooth surface is difficult. You can see the flip side here. The piece has had its initial finish of Bush Oil. Tomorrow night I should be able to apply the wax and buff it. It is about 6" square, stands 1.75" tall and the bowl rim is 3.5" wide. This one won't be in the gallery as it is going to my brother. But, I joyfully have more crabapple so keep your eyes on the gallery for more pieces. Comments | ||
| Reports that I fell off the planet were not correct! Published On 03-23-2008 , 12:58 PM  After I did the cup for my boss' 60th, it got too cold to work in the shop, then I got the flu. Since then I haven't felt up to playing in the cold. This is, until yesterday.I did a 10 hour marathon. It feels good to be back in action! Jump over to my portfolio to see my latest item. It isn't available for sale in the gallery just yet as it is not finished and may not survive the drying process. You can read more about the piece and see more photos in the portfolio. One thing I forgot to mention there was that wet Box Elder smells like wet gym socks! I feel like I'm locked in a teenage-boys room! I have several chunks of this still out in the driveway so look for more items from it soon. Comments |
