Japanese style candle stand

[Mike Minto]

saw a really nice candle stand in the movie "Kagemusha" - fantastic film, BTW - here's my version from - you guessed it - cherry. about 42" tall, the post is about 1 3/4". now that it's oiled, needs a little more sanding, more oil, & the 3-wheel buff. making it was fun - first i made the base, then rough turned the 'column', fit it into the base, then finish turned it; initially turned the top, then glied it in place & sanded the whole thing on the lathe. the bed extension on the 1624-44 has come in handy. comments/critiques welcome. mike

[Mark Burge]

Pretty cool, Mike. How tall is that? I like the design at the top quite a bit. Nice sharp features.

[alex carey]

ive been watching the top 250 on imdb. So far Kurosawa seems to be a little overrated for me, it might be the fact that im from the generation of cgi. BTW, cool candle stand, almost seems like a lamp.

[Steve Kubien]

Kurosawa, overrated? Them's fightin' words to a sword-slinger like me.

Ok, honestly I have onyl seen a few of his films but the Seven Samurai is one of my all-time faves (desert-island type stuff) and The Hidden Fortress is great two. Heck without it, there would be no Star Wars (my favourite movie series).

Oh right, this is a woodturning forum. Sorry about that.

Steve

[Mike Minto]

alex, now you'll have to fight me and steve - :p - while Kurosawa isn't the only japanese director worth watching, i live for his films. a bottle of sake, some sushi and one of his Samurai-era films, and i'm in heaven. coppola and spielberg were involved in bringing 'Kagemusha' to the US - it was the first 'samurai' film I ever saw. we're 'Japanese-ing' up a room, and i'm making the furniture for it. mike

[alex carey]

no doubt, without Kurosawa hundreds of movies would not have been made(technically speaking of course,having nothing to do with actual storytelling) but judging the movies by themselves ESPECIALLY shichinin no samurai there just never seemed to be that much depth, too long, too slow and much of the humor escapes me. Perhaps thats partially my fault and partially the fault of film makers today. Growing up with cgi whore directors like Michael bay and Spielberg(whom i give credit to for other stuff) the little technical aspect of movies elude me, which forces me to rely on very good story telling and most often humor is lost on me when watching subtitled movies. Kurosawa has a very tough job in pleasing me, not that he does not do so at all, I do enjoy watching his movies if atleast once, but once will do for a very long time. I feel no yearning to again which his movies, except for the ones unseen by me of course, im always willing to watch what I havent yet watched.

I do consider myself somewhat of a movie person, including classics, like i said, right now im working on the imdb top 250, such finished 48.

[Norm Zax]

Nice candle stand! Now can I get to "business"? Oh mighty Gods of cinema, please forgive my colleagues for mentioning Kurosawa without mentioning Toshiro Mifune. I will sacrifice a lamb to you tonight for forgiveness.
Norm

[alex carey]

not sure how to respond to that, i only remember him from kurosawa's movies, haven't seen him in much else, though I do know he is a famous Japanese actor.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Mike that is a great looking piece. Well done.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Interesting candle stand Mike! First time I have seen one like it. Nice work!

[Walt Caza]

Hi Mike,
Boy, you seem to be really cranking out the turnings!
I like that you took inspiration from an old movie to build your candlestand.

Now down to business...
Kurosawa made great Samurai films and more.

Ran was samurai but more introspective, and also has a candle stand.
Taken from Shakespeare's King Lear, a cool scene is where the
ambitious daughter-in-law wants her servant to bump off the next in line,
and then she receives a wrapped fox head, symbol of a sneaky schemer.

Throne of Blood was taken from MacBeth.
The death scene with the arrow through Toshiro Mifune's throat was cool
special effects for the time.

Rashomon was originally a book, and is one of the most lifted movie plots
of all time. The wooden temples are terrific.

Dreams had a cameo from Martin Scorcese, because he fronted money
to help get the film made.
One of my fav. moments is when the guy is falling asleep in the snowstorm,
and is visited by the ice demon chick trying to take his spirit.

Japanese decor tends to be spare and minimalist.
I'm not surprised it makes for an appealing woodworking project.
Sorta reminds me of the Arts & Crafts movement.

Thanks for sharing a peek Mike,
hope you get some shop time,
Walt

[Reed Gray]

I am surprised that no one mentioned the movie 'The Magnificent 7' one of the greatest westerns that was inspired by 'The 7 Samurai'. My favorite Japanese movie guy is Hideo Miazaki. Animation, at least as good as anything Disney has done, and some of it is better. Current movie 'Ponyo'. Wonderful for the kids, and I love them as well. My almost 14 year old daughter still takes out his older movies and wathces them. Wonderful role models for young girls especially.

Oh yes, nice stand.

robo hippy

[Skip Spaulding]

Great looking candle stand, but you do know that down the road it's going to get converted into a reading lamp and called "Early American"!;)

[alex carey]

Hayao Miyazaki is my favorite anime director also, Princess Mononoke is in my top 10 movies of all time no questions asked, absolutely love his imagination.

[Steve Kubien]

And for those that like Japan movies, particcular samurai-themed movies, be sure to check out Zatoichi and Lone Wolf and Cub. Sure, it is all choreographed but the speed and precision is outstanding.

[Mike Minto]

Alex, watch 'Samurai Fiction' sometime - it's a little different, you may like it. mike

[alex carey]

its on the list, next up is actually Rashomon.

[Mike Minto]

its on the list, next up is actually Rashomon.

cool. you know, much as i love Kurosawa films, i didn't really get Rashomon. RAN, now, I felt is one of the greatest films ever made. And again, Kagemusha - simply masterful. I was in my early 20's when i saw it, and it made a HUGE impression on me. mike

[alex carey]

yeah ive heard that over and over, everybody raves about ran. I haven't seen it yet but I will soon. I did see Rashomon about 3 weeks ago and loved it, especially compared to 7 samurai. I'm looking forward to Ran.