Early Christmas.... ornaments!

[Scott Hackler]

Here are the latest in the Christmas ornament collection. These are the most delicate things I have ever attempted. I previously used walnut for pendants and finials, mostly because that is what I had, but found this extremely heavy and dense wood in the drawer. This wood that has been ID'd as Cocobolo was a dream to turn thin. The bulbs turned from Amboyna. I bought a blank of Amboyna burl a while back to slice up for pen blanks and 1/3 of the blank didnt have any burl figure in it so its been sitting in the drawer as well. I think I might have enough for 1 more ornament. :)

The bulbs are hollowed out to a little more than 1/8", with the allen wrench hollowing tool I made just for the job. The sizes are about 1 3/4" dia bulb and about 6 1/4" total length. Finished with BLO and 3 coats of lacquer from the can.

C & C at will! Thanks for looking.


http://members.cox.net/cabletech/xmas3.jpg http://members.cox.net/cabletech/xmas4.jpg http://members.cox.net/cabletech/xmas6.jpg

I added the 3rd ornament in the set to this first post, to keep them together and to show the size difference.

For the third one I didn't have any more real hard wood blanks, so upon digging around I found a sack of Manzanita roots that my Mom brought me from an Arizona vacation. It is realy hard and kinda goofy to cut a pen blank out of, but I managed to cut a 3/4" blank. I might note that the Cocobolo seems a lot studier at the thinnest part, than this Manzanita root. Bulb is the last piece of Amboyna I had. Total height of the thrid one is about 4 1/2" and the bulb isn't quite 1 3/4" wide. The narrowest part of the third ornament's pendant is well below 3/16". BLO and 3 coats of lacquer.

...need to order some african blackwood.... :)

[Tony De Masi]

Very nicely done Scott. Those little delicate creatures can really be a challenge to turn but it looks as though you made it through the process just fine. Although I like both of these very much, I like the one on the left with the less embelled finial. But I'm pretty sure the one on the right was a bit tougher to turn.

Well done.

Tony

[John Hart]

Wow!! Beauties! The form and the wood are great...and those icicles are to die for. Nicely done!:)

[Marc Himes]

Very well done, Scott. The finials are very delicate. I have been trying a few of these myself and find them both fun and challenging. It is not too early to think of Christmas presents and those will be greatly appreciated.

Marc Himes

[David E Keller]

Beautifully done. I like them both. The steecks are purdy!:D

[John Keeton]

Scott, you did a wonderful job on these!! I agree with Tony, and prefer the icicle on the left because it seems more balanced. But, I would prefer the bulb to have the gentle continuous curve of the one on the right as it goes to the neck, and the cove under the onion is better on the right hand one.

The placement of the embellishment in the icicle on the right is approximately midway, and that tends to be a little disruptive to the balance - at least, IMO.

But, Scott, I think you have the tool control and the detailing down pat!! Very nice work on these, and I love the burls!!

[Scott Hackler]

John,

Where would you have placed the embellishment in the left one. Even though it is physically small, I felt that the embelishment might be a little too large and I had wondered about the actual orientation.

For those keeping score, the pendants and toppers were turned from 3/4" pen blanks and at the narrowest they are a hair under 3/16" diameter.

[Greg Bender]

Scott,
real nice work,I like them both. Definitely can't find fault in either of them.You guys that do the finials with all that detail just make me extremely envious.I guess I need to at least try one. Beautifull gifts for somebody.
Greg

[Tom Sherman]

Scott you have done a fine job on these ornaments.

[Dahl Troy Perry]

Scott very nice looking;) wish I was that good but working at right been making fire wood:rolleyes: How about a picture of the allen wrench that you made?

[John Keeton]

John,

Where would you have placed the embellishment in the left one. Even though it is physically small, I felt that the embelishment might be a little too large and I had wondered about the actual orientation.

For those keeping score, the pendants and toppers were turned from 3/4" pen blanks and at the narrowest they are a hair under 3/16" diameter.Scott, other than the slight embellishment to signify the tip, I don't know that I would try to place an embellishment in either.

Please understand that so much of this is what pleases one's own sense of balance - and, that will be different for everyone.

For me, I would have brought the tip embellishment back a ways, and made the tip a little longer.

With the one on the right, it just seems to my eye, that the middle embellishment disrupts the long taper than symbolizes a melting icicle. It would be difficult with the onion style icicle to bring the embellishment to the 1/3 mark, and I just don't know if that would work.

That is why I like the more simple one on the left, but with the flow and cove that you have accomplished on the right. Confusing?!?!?:confused:

[Greg Just]

very nice job Scott - I like both. Thanks for sharing.

[Curt Fuller]

Wow, both ornaments are absolutely beautiful! Great wood combinations and the spindle work is fantastic. I wouldn't be able to pick a favorite, they both have great features. Very well done!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Those are beauties Scott. Really like the wood combo.

[Larry Marley]

Very Nice Scott.
I guess Curt Fuller is not the only summer Christmas ornament turner.

[David DeCristoforo]

Those are great. It's funny because with some of these turnings being so small and jewel like, what would be considered "hair splitting" on a larger project becomes of much greater significance. Details, balance and finesse are the order of the day. I'm sure it would be possible to improve on these and I'm just as sure that you will. But these are nice and I love the "hanger downers".

PS Amboyna burl is "to die for". I have some very small pieces and would love to have more but it's so expensive!

[Scott Hackler]

moved this post of the third ornament to post #1.....

[Michael James]

Very nice, Scott! Excellent tool control for sure and I love those woods too! I think art starts by imitating, and goes from there; each to choose their own interpretation, dependant on abiltiy and vision.
Those would look great on anyone's tree!
michael

[gary Zimmel]

Beautiful work on the ornaments Scott.

[Tony Wheeler]

nice job Scott if you have some hedge around it makes great finials and with black india ink and a little lacquer almost as good as blackwood or if you balls are made from dark wood then just plain looks good I will see if my son is working in your town on tues since I will see him on monday you can pick some up a the fire station on tues if hes there and not andover

[Leo Van Der Loo]

nice ornaments Scott, I do like the left one much better than the right one, of course that's just me, but I find the top knobby thing a little heavy on the right, much better on the left, this is only size I'm talking about.
The icicle on the left ornament looks much more like an icicle and is sleek compared to the one on the right, the top bulb seems a bit heavy in relation to the globe and the end on the left one is much nicer looking to my eye.
The extra you added to the middle of the Icicle is just not needed IMO and distract rather than add to the whole.
Nice work and nice finish, well done and, have fun and take care !!

[brian watts]

WOW. really nice..

[Michelle Rich]

Both are exquisite & superbly crafted. And I go with the folks before me..the left is the one I'd choose as the right one , tho gorgeous, it seems broken up (the flow) because of the stop in the center of the icicle. But hecky -do, both are just wonderful and whoever gets the right one, will be pleased as punch.

[William Hutchinson]

Your icicles and bulbs are done well. They will look great on a tree or displayed. One jewel of this forum is the very talented individuals offering their perspectives and suggestions.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work Scott! You seem to have this ornament thing down pretty good! Have fun with it!

[David Woodruff]

The icicle on the left isextremely well balanced You have done very nice work. Beautiful finial work. Look out John Keeton

[Scott Hackler]

Thanks for all the comments and especially the critics. It is hard to do a self critic when your pleased... at the moment.... with the results. I call it artist bias. My wife isn't a good enough critic either as she loves everything. My current obsession is going thin and delicate and I consider these three a step closer to what I have pictured in my head. Now that I am somewhat comfortable with turning at this diameter, I can start refining the actual designs to flow better.

BTW, I blame this ornament obession on Curt Fuller! For the longest time I had a picture of one of his ornaments stapled to the wall, next to my lathe! :) Imitation is suppose to be flattery .....isn't it?

[bob svoboda]

Nicely done indeed!

[Pete Jordan]

Some of the nicest I've seen!

[steven carter]

Scott,

I would hang either one of them on my tree! I was thinking the other day that it is about time to start on the ornaments again, hopefully you have given me the impetus to get started.

Steve

[Curt Fuller]

As pretty as the first two are, the third one steals the show, IMHO. I really like the flatter shaped globe. But all three are just plain beautiful.

[Jon Lanier]

Those are sweet! I really need to learn to turn those kind of finials... errr Icicles

[Scott Hackler]

As pretty as the first two are, the third one steals the show, IMHO. I really like the flatter shaped globe. But all three are just plain beautiful.


Thanks for the remarks, Curt. Quite high praise from the person who's ornament pictures started this latest obssesion!

Thanks to everyone else as well. I placed an order last night with Woodcraft for some African Blackwood and a little cocobolo and claro walnut for some furture ornaments. It will be fun to see exactly how thin I can get the stems with some really dense wood! :)

[John Hart]

Curt does ornaments? :eek:

[Tim Rinehart]

I like them all Scott. Sure, there are some things to be learned to capture proper balance, but as said...if you like them...that's the first hurdle.

I suspect whoever gets these will enjoy them for many years.