Olive Burl? Design Advice Needed

[Kathy Marshall]

Included in the load of olive I got awhile ago, was half of the stump with what looks like may be some burls (could just be a gnarly stump). It developed an almost through and through vertical crack, so this afternoon I got out the chainsaw and finished the job.
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This is the blank I cut from the smaller section.
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The outside shape is basically done, I'll refine the bottom when I reverse it after hollowing. The pic doesn't show many of them, but there are alot of cracks.
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In the chuck and starting to hollow.
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Hollowing is complete and you can see the cracks a little better now :eek:
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Turning is complete and it has a coat of BLO. This one won't have a lid, I hollowed too deep before remembering I'd need a ledge.
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Normally, I drill a hole in the bottom and turn a tenon on the pedestal. On this one the jam chuck wasn't secure enough to allow drilling so I turned a tenon on the bottom and will drill a hole in the pedestal.
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Size is about 4 1/2" tall x 5 1/2" tall. I need some suggestions for the pedestal. The piece is fairly large, so I'm thinking I don't want a pedestal that's too delicate, right? Shape? Maybe a reversed, elongated tear drop tapering to the narrowest point about 1/3 down, then tapering back out with some other detail at the base? For the height? Taller than the cup or shorter? Dyed black? Any other suggestions appreciated.

Thanks!

As always, comments and critiques are welcome.

[John Hart]

If it were me (so don't take this too seriously ;)) Since the flower has so much figure and natural edge, the pedestal stem should be simple and flowing....and I actually think delicate would work well.

I would bring the stem up with a graceful curve, then into a flare that compliments the flower on top.

Beautiful piece. :)

[John Keeton]

Kathy, you have a real eye for proportion and design, so I am sure this one will be a winner. I would suggest you pull out the grid paper and do some work on paper first. Much easier to erase and redo than it is with wood!!

The one area I think you might want to think about is the transition. You have "tucked" the bottom of the flower quite a bit. You may want to have the top of the pedestal a little larger to flow into that area, and that will mean a little larger base. I think scaling the form on paper and going from there would be a big help with this one.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kathy that turned out really nice. I do like the form. I agree a little larger base might work well so that the flower flows into the base.

[Cathy Schaewe]

Wow, that's really beautiful. I don't feel like I could add anything to the advice already given - I just can't wait to see the finished piece!

[David DeCristoforo]

I have, as you you are probably aware, been "playing" with this form for a while now. I cannot, by any means, call myself an "expert", but I can offer you my observations. One thing I have concluded is that the stems with a reversed "onion" shape where the wide portion of the bulb is at the top of the stem seem to work better with more "refined" cup shapes. The natural edge "flower" type of forms look better to me with a stem that tapers from bottom to top and then flairs at the top with some sort of embellishment to support the cup. BTW, FWIW, I always make my cups with the tenon at the bottom as you have done here. Also, this is a very appealing shape and the wood has a lot going for it. With the "right" stem, this could be a "humdinger"!

[John Hart]

You just said something there, David that made my little pointy head light up.

I'll thank you later if I find out it wasn't just a stroke or something.

[Dan Forman]

I agree with John that this would be a good candidate for drawing on graph paper. Try several different options until you are happy. I haven't tried one of these yet, so can't offer much much help beyond that. You are off to a really good start with the basic form, looking forward to see what you come up with. Maybe you can add your thought process to the "Design 101" thread when you are done.

Dan

Dan

[David E Keller]

What a neat looking piece of wood and a cool form! FWIW, I do pedestal forms like you have there with a tenon on the bottom of the 'cup'... Keeps me from having to get rid of the nub left over after reversing the piece.

I'm not much of a graph paper guy, so I tend to use blocks of wood of varying heights to get a feel for the length of the pedestal that I think looks right. I do the same thing with finials. I'd probably start with something around 4" on this piece and then fudge in either direction until I found a height I liked. I'd vote for something simple since the wood has so much going for it.

Lots of ways to skin that chicken(Be sure an save the schmaltz if you do skin a chicken)...

[David Reed]

I like what you have done with this form a lot but am in no position to make suggestions re the pedestal. You have received some great advise which I will file away for future use myself. Anxiously awaiting the finished product.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Wow - this is nice! Pretty wood - great form!

Just my suggestion for a pedestal - but I would have the onion at the bottom 1/3 of the pedestal and then taper until almost to the cup. At that point I would flair the area where the cup and pedestal meet. Then undercut the flair and carve into 3 or 5 pedals for the cup to sit upon. Maybe a simple relief carving on the pedestal also - just to carry the theme. Seeing as how the cup portion has all sorts of grain, color and voids - I would have the pedestal either a dark monochromatic wood or dyed a solid dark color. Just an idea...

Looking forward to seeing what you come up with!

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks for all of the suggestions! I didn't see all of them until after I was done tonight (as is obvious by the test pedestal :eek: )
So I started off putting something on paper and thought it was ok and it was a starting point. Grabbed a piece of arborvitae and started in (free wood is the best for experimenting!)
It's 5 1/2" tall and the base is 4 1/2". The design needs alot of improvement. These are the changes that I think would improve it, please let me know if you agree or have a better fix.

For the height, I think it could be just a tad taller.
The stem could stand to be a little narrower as could the base.
The flair should be a little bigger (wider).
The onion at the top needs to go bye-bye (the flair needs to be big enough to accomodate the tenon on the cup).
For the onion on the bottom, I need DD to come over here and turn me one with the graceful taper he's known for, I'm sure I can come up with some chicken schmaltz in return :D ) . This is something I really struggle with, getting a nice shape and taper on an onion. Any other suggestions for a detail at the base of the stem?
Just below the onion is a step to the base, I know it's "off" but I can't envision the correction.
Also, when I turn the real pedestal, I will probably do it in 2 pieces, the stem and the base, that way I can get away with smaller spindle blanks and be easier on the budget.

I like Steve's suggestion for carving the flair and maybe the base so I may just give that a try.
I'm going to pick up a few spindle blanks tomorrow, keeping the budget in mind, I'm thinking maple might be a good choice (but I'm open to other choices depending on what they have) nice closed grain and turns nice and hopefully will take dye well.

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[Dan Forman]

I like what your'e thinking so far, elongating the lower onion a lot more will give you a smoother taper. I'm not sure if this is what Steve was saying, but it might be interesting to keep small downward flair, above which would be a larger one that flairs up, not down, so that it literally cups the base of the form, then carving that to make it appear like the calyx of a flower. I think I will try something like that when I do one of these forms.

Dan