Maple Hollow form with cocobolo, critique welcome

[Thom Sturgill]

Just got a photo tent and hadn't posted pictures in a while, so I thought I 'd show my latest efforts (turning and photos). The HF is about 6" dia and 4" tall and is long leaf maple. The ring is Cocobolo and holly. I intentionally let the cocobolo dust tint the holly as it just looked too white. Some small gaps filled with epoxy and coffee grounds as I just was not ready for voids.

The finish is about 12 coats of rattle can lacquer, then buffed after curing for a week or so. The finial is also Cocobolo with a silver and jasper inset in the bottom. Turned on a Jet 1220VS that I bought about 18 mos ago.

Comments and critiques are welcome, and thanks for looking.

PS. The background IS grey. Color on the form is about correct based on the yellowish spot on the fourth pic, bt the backgrounds all look a little too blue. I used auto correct on picture 1 (the gimp) and it made the background even more blue, but brought out the figure nicely.

[Harvey Ghesser]

Beautiful work, Thom!

[Richard Madison]

Great looking piece Thom. A couple of the photos need to be rotated CW a degree or two. Assuming you are using a white background, looks like your white balance is off a bit and the photos are slightly underexposed. Either or both of those can make the white background look blue. Happens to me too. Try to increase the exposure by 1/2 or even a full f-stop and see if that helps. Great thing about digital is we can experiment a lot and learn things at essentially no cost. Gotta love it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Thom that is a beauty. Well done.

[George Morris]

Wow this is great Thom! Very nice form ,love it!G

[alex carey]

Lovely piece and lovely finial, nice job. That wood is beautiful.

[Norm Zax]

Very impressive. Good job.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thom - you obviously put a lot of time and thought into this one - nice work! Beautiful woods and finish!

Not a critique, but an opinion - I like your hollow form better without the finial. The detail ring is nicely done and draws attention to the opening without subtracting from the main body of the form. In my opinion, the finial competes for attention because of color, overall size and detail work. It is a nice finial - I just feel it competes with the HF.

Richard already covered the photos - basically being underexposed. Depending on the graphics software you use - you should be able to adjust your color balance, rotate the subject and size the photo. Just like playing with taking digital photos - you have to play with the graphics software to find out how best to use all the options.

This is a very nice hollow form! Looking forward to seeing your next one!

[Jerry Rhoads]

Sweet peice Thom
Though like Steve I like it better without the wonderful finial on it.

Jerry

[David E Keller]

I really like this piece, and the detail around the opening is awesome. I agree with the finial comments. I might like the finial beter if it were smaller/more delicate. With or without the finial, it's beautiful

[Skip Spaulding]

Great piece, beautiful wood, nice contrast and very nice finial!

[Scott Lux]

I like the form and the finial, although the bottom of the finial could be thinner.

Your overall shape and finish are superb. The segmented work looks great too.

My one critique has more to do with the wood. Anything with that much figure/spalting doesn't need segmenting. Almost makes it too busy for me.

Overall, wonderful.

Lux

[Bill Wyko]

Absolutely georgous. AAAA+ in my book.

[Toney Robertson]

I like the form and the finial, although the bottom of the finial could be thinner.

Your overall shape and finish are superb. The segmented work looks great too.

My one critique has more to do with the wood. Anything with that much figure/spalting doesn't need segmenting. Almost makes it too busy for me.

Overall, wonderful.

Lux

+1 for me.

Toney

[Jeff Nicol]

Thom, The woods you chose to compliment the maple body are great! The combination of segmented collar and finial is a great way to add class to things! Wonderful finish and the picture taking will come with some trial and error. I take lots of pictures and sometimes never get it right, then come back later and get the correct combination for the piece.

Thanks for sharing and keep at it,

Jeff

[Thom Sturgill]

Thanks for the nice comments. This is the third finial for this project. I took it to a club meeting while it was still roughed out (exterior only). The original was w-a-y clunky, The second off-color and the current one matches the ring perfectly which also matches the color of the inclusions. I've uploaded a new picture using a white backdrop instead of the grey one.

[Ken Hensley]

Nice looking piece. I like it with the finial and without, it looks equally great either way. Super Job.

Ken
___________
"He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a
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