Box Elder Through the Woods, Round the Block Entry

[Ken Vonk]

Got a notice from the AAW about a juried contest to benifit the Lubeznik Center for the Arts. The challenge was to take two 6 x 6 x 3" blocks of the same wood. Leave one untouched / unfinished as a stand and an example of what the other was made from. The second block was then to be turned. The finished piece was to fit in a 6x6x3" volume without paint, dye or embellishments that would obstruct the view of the wood. The wood also had to be native to the area of the turner. The attached photo shows my entry. I call it "Perpetual". It is made from Box Elder. The stamin of the flower is hollowed to ~1/16" thick. The pedals were turned to just under .025" thick. The base / leaves are 1/8" thick. Your comments and critique are greatly welcomed.

TIA, Ken Vonk

[David E Keller]

It's a beautiful piece of wood, and the form is very whimsical and fun. Best of luck on the contest.

[Roger Chandler]

Wow, that is nice!

[Bill Bolen]

Dang Ken, tha's a real eye-popper! Good luck with the competition...Bill...

[Bernie Weishapl]

Wow now that is a beauty. Really cool looking piece. Should do well.

[Baxter Smith]

That is a neat turning! Good luck!

[David Reed]

I love how you incorporated the grain pattern into the flower design. Not sure how much was planned but it worked out great. If like me, I rely a lot on the seat of the pants plan when it comes too using what is concealed inside.
Very impressive piece of art.

David

[Jim Burr]

Wow Ken, that's really outside the box! It's got my vote!!

[Michael James]

Best of luck, that's surely a contender. Very creative and the work is impeccable! That wood is relatively new to me (since I got here) and it just grows and grows on me....................:)

[Ron Bontz]

Excellent creativity. That's a keeper to me:)

[Thomas Canfield]

Exceptional piece and workmanship. The bottom picture really helps understand the complexity of the piece and the great original wood block.

[James Combs]

Now that is some real eye candy. It should do extremely well in the contest.

[brian watts]

very nice........

[John Keeton]

Ken, that is impressive, for sure, and to have hollowed that middle "stamen" to 1/16" (or to hollow it at all!!) is doubly impressive.

Best of luck in the contest - I think you have a wonderful entry.

[Tony De Masi]

That is a very impressive and beautiful piece of turned art. Extremely well done. Very hard to think that it won't do well. Good luck with it.

[Randy Gazda]

Nice work. Can you send me the other block of wood so I can take a closer look at it! LOL! :D Box elder can me amazing stuff, my father always considered it a 'trash' tree due to the bugs and the way it was always dropping branches in his farm fields. So I don't have access to much of it.:mad:

[Mike Spanbauer]

Well done Ken! I really like that and the elder is a beautiful wood to! You mean 1/4" thick petals right? (.025" would be wicked, but likely wouldn't support the piece :)).

mike

[bob svoboda]

Most Excellent!

[David DeCristoforo]

I love this! Gotta run... no time to elaborate but it's really sweet!

[Ken Vonk]

I made this piece from a 6x6x3" block that I first cut in two. Approximately 1 3/4" for the bottom and 1 1/4" for the pedals. I glued a waste block onto the bottom (thicker) piece and cut a tenon while on centers. I chucked it up and turned a "square" bowl. I made the shape for the top of the leaves that I imagined. By the way, I had also drawn this out on paper first, too. After sanding, I reversed the square bowl against a piece of wood with some neoprene on it, using the tail stock to hold it in place, and turned the bottom side. I used a dremmel to clean up the little nubbin left after turning the bottom. I then used carbon paper to trace the shape of the leaves on the wood. I cut out the basic outline on my band saw. I again used the dremmel to clean up the shape of the leaves. I followed pretty much the same procedure for the pedals that you see above for the leaves. I turned this piece round first and then turned a bowl. I shined a small LED flashlight on one side of the pedals and kept cutting the other side until the light shined through the wood. And Yes Mike, the pedals (not the leaves) are less than 1/32" thick. I used a cut off wheel on my dremmel to cut out the shape of the pedals, using very light cuts. Sanding the pedals was very nerve wracking too...lol:eek:. I had some tool steel that I used to make a special tool for hollowing the stamin. I use a scrap corner from the pedal block to turn the stamin. Finally, after applying many coats of WOP and carefully sanding, I glued the three pieces together.

Thanks for all the kind words.

Ken Vonk

[Mike Spanbauer]

the pedals (not the leaves) are less than 1/32" thick.

Wow, that's wicked. When I looked at first I didn't see that - but those are incredible. Beautiful :)

mike

[Ron Bontz]

Ok. Now that I have looked at this numerous times.... Did you cut the design first then turn or turn first then cut?? Sorry if it is a silly question.

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

If the vote is given to the Creekers, you will be a hands down winner.
Great art!
faust

[Rick Robbins]

you did a Great job very nice wood. Rick:)

[Ken Vonk]

Ron,

Didn't know if you saw the "how to". I turned a bowl for the leaves and then when completely finished, I cut out the leaf shape. The same for the pedals except they were much more nerve racking because the bowl was less than 1/32" thick when I cut out the pedals. I thought for sure I would blow them up and ruin the whole thing...........:eek:..........:p

Ken