Beaded Hollowform

[Richard Madden]

A while back, Wally and Harvey showed some pics of theirs and it inspired me to try one myself. No secret weapon was used, I followed Harvey's illustrations for making the beading tool from a 1/4 x 1/4 HSS bit. Seems to work pretty good and I'm glad I tried it rather than buying a beading tool. Thanks Harvey. This is Argentine Osage Orange and the finial is Honduras Rosewood. No finish yet. Critique is welcome, and thanks for looking.


http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh17/RickM1_album/011-4.jpg


http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh17/RickM1_album/007-4.jpg

[Michelle Rich]

oooohhhh I've seen this done before, but I don't believe the beads were as deep (my memory is subject to fits and starts) ..interesting look..does grab one & keep them looking

[John Keeton]

Richard, that is really very nice!! What are the dimensions? It would appear to be small given the beads are from 1/4" stock. That would make the form about 5.5" or so.

Interesting wood combo, too!

[Mike Davis NC]

You got it just right Richard!

[Christopher K. Hartley]

Great Job Richard I really like the wood choices and overall form.:)

[Tim Rinehart]

Congrats on cracking the code of silence bore for so long by the great beaders on the creek.

It was amusing reading back thru that whole thread that had the air of mystery about the tool used.

Great job on your piece...anything learned from this to share to save us from similar perils along the way?

[David E Keller]

Nice work. I love the way the vertical bands of color dance over the beads. The rosewood picks up on some of the color in the main form which is nice.

Perhaps the only thing I would consider doing differently on the main form would be to continue the beading to the very top and bottom of the piece.

Very nicely done.

[Roger Chandler]

That is an outstanding piece of work. I like the beads on this particular form, but it might not look as good on a wider, shorter piece. It really does well on this one, and I like it a bunch!

[Harvey Meyer]

Richard -
This is a very good start. To my eye, and it could just be a shadow in the photos, the bead appear to be a bit too deep and there looks like there's a tiny bit of space between beads. There should be no space between beads - each bead forms a definite "v" with its adjacent bead. A space could be caused by the tool or how you are using it. The points on the tip of the tool must be extremely sharp and should have no thickness - by this I mean the 2 points must be points. If your tool has 2 very sharp points, then space between beads could be caused by wiggling the tool from side to side or by not aligning the tool to the a reference point for each successive bead. I generally use the 2 sharp points to score 2 thin lines to mark each bead. I use the right line to locate the left point when scoring the next bead (or the left line for the right point). As I cut each bead, I carefully locate the tool on the scored lines.

If the beads are too deep - you may have ground the tool a bit too deep - my tool is slightly less than a half circle.

You have an excellent start on beading. My only critique on the piece in general would be a smaller finial. Seems too big for this piece.

Harvey

PS - For me, it's an honor to have my name mentioned in the same sentence with Wally's name. I'm not worthy.

[Richard Madden]

Richard, that is really very nice!! What are the dimensions? It would appear to be small given the beads are from 1/4" stock. That would make the form about 5.5" or so.

Interesting wood combo, too!


John,
Thr form is 4-1/2" tall, 3" dia. Finial is 3-1/2" tall, 8" total hgt. Thanks for the comments.

[Richard Madden]

Richard -
This is a very good start. To my eye, and it could just be a shadow in the photos, the bead appear to be a bit too deep and there looks like there's a tiny bit of space between beads. There should be no space between beads - each bead forms a definite "v" with its adjacent bead. A space could be caused by the tool or how you are using it. The points on the tip of the tool must be extremely sharp and should have no thickness - by this I mean the 2 points must be points. If your tool has 2 very sharp points, then space between beads could be caused by wiggling the tool from side to side or by not aligning the tool to the a reference point for each successive bead. I generally use the 2 sharp points to score 2 thin lines to mark each bead. I use the right line to locate the left point when scoring the next bead (or the left line for the right point). As I cut each bead, I carefully locate the tool on the scored lines.

If the beads are too deep - you may have ground the tool a bit too deep - my tool is slightly less than a half circle.

You have an excellent start on beading. My only critique on the piece in general would be a smaller finial. Seems too big for this piece.

Harvey

PS - For me, it's an honor to have my name mentioned in the same sentence with Wally's name. I'm not worthy.


Harvey,
I appreciate your comments. You may be right that the beads are too deep, I ground the bit to pretty much a half circle. Something I did that might add to that look of being too deep is I burned each groove with a piece of formica which might accentuate the look of depth. I layed out the grooves the same way, using just the points. I thank you again for showing how you made your beading tool. With the finial, what do you mean by too big? Too tall, too fat, or both?

[Harvey Meyer]

Burned the groove between beads......hmmmm - never thought of that - interesting -

I would think a piece of formica would widen the vee between the beads. Did you sharpen it? Does it stay sharp? A thin wire might do a better job without widening the vee but if it deepens the vee, it would cause the beads to look too deep. I'll have to try a burn between beads - might be an interesting effect.

As to your finial - it's a nice finial, but for me, it's too tall and too fat for this piece. I'm a fan of delicate finials (think Cindy Drozda) and I like to keep my finials to about 1/3 of the height of the piece it's sitting on. In my book, your finial would sit on a 9-10" tall hollow form. Also, I don't like a finial that's just plugged into the form. I prefer a collar on the form that accepts the finial. But again, it's just my opinion and you shouldn't take this as if it's coming from any authority. You did a nice job.
harvey

[Ken Glass]

Richard,
I really like it. Great form and the beading sets off the whole thing. Well Done.

[Pete Jordan]

Very nice Richard!

I have tried to do that without success.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Richard that is just to cool. I really like the form and the finial looks great.

[James Roberts]

Very cool Richard, I love the look of the beading and have tried a couple but without much luck. This just makes me want to try again.

[Richard Madden]

Congrats on cracking the code of silence bore for so long by the great beaders on the creek.

It was amusing reading back thru that whole thread that had the air of mystery about the tool used.

Great job on your piece...anything learned from this to share to save us from similar perils along the way?


SHARE...you want me to SHARE?? Heck no, buddy, this is Top Secret stuff. Just kidding of course. All I did was to follow what Harvey showed to make the cutter. I practiced on a couple of reject pieces, I think one was birch and the other sweet gum. Both had cracks, but were ok for practicie. On those two, the beading went very well, the cutter did a good job of cutting and not scraping. On the one pictured, I honed the cutter at least a couple of times, but that osage orange is some hard stuff and it took a lot longer. There was no quick cutting to it, and the heat build up was so great I was afraid of case hardening the wood, but it seems ok. On future ones I'll probably use something not quite as hard. If you are thinking about trying this I would definately recommend making your own beading tool as opposed to buying. Like everything else we do, practice helps.

[Van Huskey]

That is way cool!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very interesting work Richard! I like the beading and the way you darkened the wood between each bead. It does add depth to the detail work!

I agree with Harvey that the finial is oversized for the size of hollow form. Nice design to it - just needs to be smaller - in my opinion.

Nice work! Looking forward to seeing the piece with finish on it!

[Larry Dubia]

The first thing i though of when I saw that was oh my gosh, it looks like a beehive.

Kidding aside, I love the look of this piece. I don't know anything (yet) about finials and such but everything comes together nicely. You did a fabulous job there.

Larry

Who is this Steve Schlumpf guy anyway. :D I live nowhere near him.

[charlie knighton]

bump......

[Richard Madden]

The more I look at this piece, the more I agree that the finial is too big, so I made a smaller one. Will take pictures tomorrow and ask for opinions. I thank all who commented.