Pedestal #3 Olive Burl Cup thingy

[Kathy Marshall]

This is what I started on last night. I put a little 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" x 2 1/2" block of walnut between centers intending to turn a little cup for the top of the pedestal, to hold the olive cup. Just as I was starting to rough it to a cylinder I thought, hmmm... what if I leave the corners on and hollow it down like a square bowl.
I had already taken a pass across the ends so the corners were knocked down a little. So I hollowed it out enough for the cup to sit in and realized the block didn't start out as a perfect square, so it wasn't symmetrical (the base on 1st pic).
So I got another block of walnut and cut out a true square blank and turned another top of pedestal cup holder thing (top of pedestal in pic1). This one turned out much better, wings were a little thinner and the points were actually points.

Next I turned a pedestal so I could put the holder on the cup together to see how it looked and I thought "ah ha" what if I use the first holder as the base. So put them all together and that is pic 1.
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But the holder was a little too big and flaired away from the cup a little too much, so I turned a 3rd holder thing using a little bit smaller block then put it together with the pedestal and base, but I wasn't happy with the base because of the rounded corners and asymmetricality (is that a word?).
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So I switched out the base with the 2nd holder thing and that was an improvement. The 3rd holder thing is sized much better and forms to the base of the cup better. The wings are very thin! and the bottom is thinner also so it follows the curve of the cup better.
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Unfortunately, I think a leaf cutter bee must have gotten to my flower and took a bite when I wasn't looking :eek: cause there's a chunk missing! Ok, so it was really just another one of those "just 1 more cut" episodes.
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I like how they turned out so far, just not quite sure if it fits with the cup, but it's kinda growing on me. Quite a challenge to get the wings so thin without sending pieces flying, but I may try to turn another holder thing next week after I pick up another chunk of walnut.
Something I think might be cool, would be to turn one using an octagon instead of a square (cube), then it would end up with 8 points. The toughest part would probably be to cut a perfect octagon blank, but something to think about.

[John Hart]

Kathy...I really like what you've done with the cup!!! Great trial and error to great things. Not so sure I'm warming up to the base though. But this is a cool idea for sure.:)

Oh...and "asymmetricality" is a word.

All "ity" suffixes work.

Like fabricate.....fabricatity

See?:D

[David E Keller]

I think this is really cool, Kathy. I really like the way the 'square bowls' work at the top and bottom of the stem. On the octagon idea, you could also layer two four-sided forms rotating them 45 degrees to one another.

[Steve Schlumpf]

I like the cup holder portion and can see it working well with 6 or 8 pedals. The base I am not so sure of at the moment. Maybe - instead of having straight points to the surface - turn them such that they appear to be curling up at the ends. More flower-ity like!

Have fun!

[Michael James]

I hate it when those leaf cutter bees do that stuff!:cool:
I like it, but I can't help with the pedestal thing..... I will say you seem to be developing quite a few techniques with all the different pieces you have made. You will never regret that. Keep turnin, and keep postin em....bees or no!
mj

[Dan Forman]

I'm not too sure about the square (very creative though), but I bet a hexagon would look just right. Time to get out the geometry textbook to re-learn how to construct a hexagon. You could always do that part as a separate piece, with a recess in the bottom to accept the stem, which would probably make it easier to turn the stem/base.

I agree with Michael, all of this practice and exploration will serve you well.

Dan

[John Keeton]

...and asymmetricality (is that a word?)...


All "ity" suffixes work.

Like fabricate.....fabricatity

See?:D


...More flower-ity like!...Now here is just one example of the influence and world wide impact of SMC. In just a few keystrokes, our entire thought processes on communication have evolved!! Great work folks!!:D:D;)

Kathy, great experimentation! I am with the others on the base, but kinda like the idea for the "receptacle" - I think that is the proper term, but now I guess the process is called "receptacleity"?:confused:;)

On the bug issue, what about spreading a little CA inside the cup prior to forming the outside? Might hold the endgrain wood a little better and prevent the breakout.

[bob svoboda]

A very nice piece. I like where you have gone with your ideas.

[Michelle Rich]

I think you are thinking outside the box & very well..new things take time (like my 18 mos for neg space) I think any time spent on this will be well worth the effort. the raised ? base gives this great lift & a sense of reaching for the sky,,Please continue in this vein. I think something just grand will be the end result. We may have to name it the KM Special.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Kathy that is a nice piece and I like where you are going. Experimenting is where all the fun is.

[Dan Forman]

Kathy ---If you do the hexagon as a separate piece, I think you could just cut four of the six sides with a sharp handsaw.

Dan

[Wes Henson]

Kathy,
One caution with an octogon - I've done a few square bowls and then I tried a pentagon and a hexagon. As you add more sides you get closer to a circle so your wings stick out less. One way to look at it is to inscribe a circle inside your form and see how big of a wing you have left. A square leaves nice triangles, a hexgon has little bits, an octogon - not so much.
I was dissapointed by what I got when I did my pentagon bowl, so have a test peice out of scrap wood before you try something nice.

I did like one of the other ideas with layered squares, you could have one curve up and one down. That would give it a more organic feel and having them off set might get closer to what you are looking for.

I like your current form, especially the shape on the cup.