Desert Sun Hollow Form

[Steve Schlumpf]

Another piece of maple that was severely cracked but had enough character in the wood to justify at least making an effort.

Maple, 6 ½” diameter x 5 ¼” high, largest crack filled with bronze powder and CA, sanded to 400 and finished with several coats of gloss poly.

132004 132005 132006 132007 132008

As always, your comments, opinions and critiques are welcomed!

Thanks for looking!

[Brett Baldwin]

The form has a very nice flow to it. I like that color too. What was the process there? The cracks detract a little for me but not excessively. That's the first bronze treatment I've seen and it looks good. Nice work Steve.

[alex carey]

Definitely glad you kept going, this piece was totally worth it.

[steven carter]

Steve,

Glad you saved this piece of wood! I like the bronze, it looks a lot like the brass filling I have used in the past. Great color treatment, form and finish.

Steve

[George Morris]

Very nice HF like the color and form is very pleasing,Great work as usual! G

[David E Keller]

Beautiful grain and color... I like the cracks. The finish is fantastic.

[charlie knighton]

very nice piece, Steve

what type of poly do you use, is it water based?

do you sand after letting it cure for about a month?? 1200 grit

[Bill Bolen]

Dang Steve, that is pretty. Great form and I love how the grain works its way through the dye. The color really makes me smile. Just love it and thanks for sharing...Bill..

[Tony De Masi]

Very nicely done Steve. Sometimes that effort to save something really works out well and this one certainly did. I see you are now naming your turnings and not asking for suggestion, another good move:rolleyes:

Tony

[Roger Wilson]

Another piece of maple...


The color is striking. The red is nicely bright. I've used rit dye and it tends to come out rather dark (scarlet). What did you use/do to end up with a bright red ?

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Another nice one Steve. I like the color, form, and finish. Keep up all the great work and thanks for all you do on this board.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Thanks for all the comments everyone - I do appreciate it!

Tony - you're funny! This particular piece is not going to a show - so the name was totally up to me. Plus - when you post as much work as I have - you gots to come up with some catchy titles or folks won't even bother checking out what you turned!

Roger - didn't do anything different to bring out the reds. Just applied 2 coats of red - then 2 coats of yellow - sanded and coated with poly.

Charlie - the poly I use is Minwax Gloss Wipe On Poly - it is an oil based poly which I have come to like because of the way it soaks into the wood and helps bring out the grain.

[Kenneth Whiting]

Great piece Steve.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful piece Steve. Really nice form and finish. I do like the color.

[Richard Madison]

Steve, The shape and the color go together perfectly. The big bronze crack looks good. Too bad about the others, but definitely a successful exercise.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

Steve
I like the fact that your starting to ad a little color to some of your pieces.
I agree that every piece needs color however there are times that they do.
I love the color on this one.
Great piece!

[Jeff Nicol]

Steve, The color of this one just jumps out and grabs you!! I am doing some colors on the bird house ornaments I am working on right now just to change things up. I think I will try and duplicate the color on one of them! Great shape and God put the cracks in there for a reason, for you to make a beautiful HF with them!

Jeff

[gary Zimmel]

Another fine example of what comes out of your shop Steve...

Thanks for the look see.

[Scott Gibbons]

Beautiful!

[Harvey Ghesser]

Another spectacular piece, Steve! A real beauty!

[Ken Glass]

Steve,
Another great dyed piece. You have a good eye for what colors accentuate your turnings. This is an eye catcher for sure. The name is well suited. Can you elaborate on the dye to DNA mixture you use. I tried a teal and green one, but thought it turned almost to dark to pull out the grain well. I must have mixed it too strong. Do you use more DNA to dye to tone down the color when applying? Not to bore you with questions, but I would like to know the formula if you are willing to share it.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Ken - hate to disappoint you but there is no formula. I just shake some powder into a plastic container and add around 1/3 cup of DNA. The dye doesn't dissolve real well - so I mix it up as much as possible before applying to the turning. I usually saturate the piece 2 or 3 times to deepen the color as much as possible. Big thing I may do different is once the piece is dry I sand it down to get rid of any raised areas. As an example, when applying more than one color - after the first color I will sand it down with 220 grit, after 2nd color sand with 280 grit and after the last color (I've only done a max of 3 at a time) sand everything down with 320 grit.

I use poly as a finish coat and it will darken the overall color. If you have some grain areas that you are trying to highlight - nothing says you can't sand them back a little more than the other areas - just to bring the grain to the surface. You got to figure that every time you apply a dye to wood you are running an experiment as you just never know how it will turn out. If it's to light - add more dye. To dark - sand it down a little.

Hope that helps a little.

[Dave Carey]

Wow! (Actually wow was all I wanted to say and thought that perfectly captured my reaction, but I'm not allowed to post something that short.) So after that explanation - Wow!

[Mike Golka]

Fantastic save Steve!!! Nicely done

[Lionel Mercier]

effort entirely justified !
very nice shape, gorgeous colour, love the gloss.
Lionel

[Mike Minto]

steve, very nice form, great color. glad you are using wood with defects in it - aside from the 'natural' aspect it adds to a piece, it is a way to use wood that otherwise would be consigned to the 'dust to dust' kinda thing. what tools did you use here - blind, or the articulated system? mike

[Roland Falk]

Steve-
love your work especially the dyed turnings.
Have just started to try out dyeing some of my pieces. In the 2 that I have done there has been bleed through of the color inside. Do you get any color bleed through? I'm using trans-tints in alcohol.
thanks

[Steve Schlumpf]

Roland - when I dye my forms I totally saturate the wood - inside and out - with the dye. That way any bleed through does not matter. If I use more than one color, I let everything dry and then sand it down a little before applying the next color.

[Ken Hensley]

Steve,

Really great looking form and love the color.

Ken

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

[Rob Cunningham]

Steve,
Don't know how I missed seeing this one before, but nice work. I really like the dye coloration you have been experimenting with.