Collared Hedge

[Scott Hackler]

Here is a little something different. I really didn't think this one out, but rather designed the entire thing on the fly. I don't know where I was going with this design but this is the end result.

Some call it Osage Orange, but here in Kansas its just plain ole Hedge. So I put a collar on it and dressed it up a bit. Still has a bit of the yellow hue and I await the lovey brown that it will become.

4 3/4" tall x 2 3/4" wide. Osage Orange (Hedge!) and African Blackwood. Finished with deluted shellac and lacquer.

Comments and critiques are always welcome. Thanks!

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[Roger Chandler]

Quite a form there Scott..............all the embellishments work together..........I like the cut away front. Do you call that a finial in a basket? Nice replication of the larger form on the smaller one.........."artistic" comes to mind when I see this.......I have never seen a form like this one..........unique at least to my eye.

[David E Keller]

That's pretty cool, Scott! Like Roger, I don't think I've ever seen anything quite like it. I'd love to see how you handled the pedestal in the bottom of the piece if you have a shot of it.

I keep looking at that big flare, and it reminds me of something, but I can't figure out what.... Hmmm, I'm gonna have to think about if for a while.

Thanks for sharing!

[Jon Prouty]

Scott... No more planning or thinking in the future! This is really cool... If this comes out with no planning then you are really onto something here. I don't even know where to begin. The form reminds me of an Elizabethian period collar first and the deep cut works perfectly! The inner design with replication just works for this piece. This looks like it belongs on a magazine cover. The piercing adds a lace look that I really find stunning.

I'm going to stop posting and go back to the pics now.

Jon

[Jim Burr]

It's a Dracula cape!!! Lot of vision Scott! Any more pic's of the the implant? What was your inspiration or thought process in the "cape" design..just wondering.

[Michael James]

I keep looking at that big flare, and it reminds me of something, but I can't figure out what.... !
I got it..... old 50's and 60's sci fi movies - all the space aliens had collars like that on their capes! :cool:

That's unique and interesting as has been mentioned Scott. Very nice piece.
mj

[John Spitters]

This is something really different and I like it a lot. Well done!

Just a thought though, perhaps the larger form could have been cut back similar to how you did the smaller inner form. Then the inner form could have sat / risen up from a recessed lid ?

John

[Scott Hackler]

Thanks fellas. Honestly the collar design was actually modeled after Elizabethian period collars! I knew someone would see it! I hadn't planned it out exactly like this. The 1/2 collar is something I have done twice now (with the piercing) and I like the result so I will be doing this or a similar treatment to future pieces. I hadn't planned on the inserted piece, but it looked empty without something, so there you go. This piece fought me tooth and nail and I learned A LOT from the problems I had to overcome.

[Jeff Fagen]

Very nice work,reminds me of the "Jack in the Pulpit" plant.

[Baxter Smith]

Looks very royal Scott! Like Jon, my first thought was the collar of a queen! I really like it!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Really cool design Scott! My first thoughts were of an Elizabethan collar but I seem to remember a lot of the bad guys in the 50s & 60s space movies wore something similar!

Nice flow to the design and I like how you followed the growth ring when creating the open neck area. The pierced area looks very clean and adds an almost tapestry effect to the collar area!

Very nice work! Looking forward to seeing where this experiment takes you!

[Tim Thiebaut]

Wow talk about stepping outside the box and going for something unique! You keep poping out these pieces of artwork that are just incredible, I think we are going to be seeing a lot more articles writing about you in the near future.

[Michelle Rich]

You ought to get together with Bill Beck and do a collaboration..he's done pieces like this...

[John Keeton]

Scott, my favorite part of this piece is the cutaway that follows the growth rings on the osage! Great movement, there. I like the piercing and the overall "cape" thing, as well. This form would stand on its own quite well, and the osage is the perfect canvas.

I hesitate to say anything that could be construed as negative, as you are really pushing the bounds of expression lately. As I said previously, there are no mistakes in artistic impression. But, I also know that you sincerely want input, so let me offer my thoughts - and, they are just that - my thoughts.

Although you have done a great job with it, the replication of the form doesn't add much for me - for a couple of reasons. The piercing overlaid on the piercing seems busy to me and detracts from the very nice piercing work you have done on the main form. And, the "weight" of the replica on the delicate finial/pedestal seems awkward and disrupts the beautiful flow of the main form. Something one might consider would be a similarly shaped and open inner form, beginning on the floor, no piercing, and topping out near the beginning of the piercing. Then have a tall, delicate finial inside that form.

Please take all of this simply as the way I view this piece - which may be totally worthless and not indicative of public acceptance! Lord knows, I get it wrong most of the time!

[charlie knighton]

very nice, thanks for sharing

Elizabethian period collars--- A Ruff

[Toney Robertson]

Scott, my favorite part of this piece is the cutaway that follows the growth rings on the osage! Great movement, there. I like the piercing and the overall "cape" thing, as well. This form would stand on its own quite well, and the osage is the perfect canvas.

I hesitate to say anything that could be construed as negative, as you are really pushing the bounds of expression lately. As I said previously, there are no mistakes in artistic impression. But, I also know that you sincerely want input, so let me offer my thoughts - and, they are just that - my thoughts.

Although you have done a great job with it, the replication of the form doesn't add much for me - for a couple of reasons. The piercing overlaid on the piercing seems busy to me and detracts from the very nice piercing work you have done on the main form. And, the "weight" of the replica on the delicate finial/pedestal seems awkward and disrupts the beautiful flow of the main form. Something one might consider would be a similarly shaped and open inner form, beginning on the floor, no piercing, and topping out near the beginning of the piercing. Then have a tall, delicate finial inside that form.

Please take all of this simply as the way I view this piece - which may be totally worthless and not indicative of public acceptance! Lord knows, I get it wrong most of the time!

+1, Well said.

[James Combs]

Beautiful but most definitely outside the box.

[Scott Hackler]

Scott, my favorite part of this piece is the cutaway that follows the growth rings on the osage! Great movement, there. I like the piercing and the overall "cape" thing, as well. This form would stand on its own quite well, and the osage is the perfect canvas.

I hesitate to say anything that could be construed as negative, as you are really pushing the bounds of expression lately. As I said previously, there are no mistakes in artistic impression. But, I also know that you sincerely want input, so let me offer my thoughts - and, they are just that - my thoughts.

Although you have done a great job with it, the replication of the form doesn't add much for me - for a couple of reasons. The piercing overlaid on the piercing seems busy to me and detracts from the very nice piercing work you have done on the main form. And, the "weight" of the replica on the delicate finial/pedestal seems awkward and disrupts the beautiful flow of the main form. Something one might consider would be a similarly shaped and open inner form, beginning on the floor, no piercing, and topping out near the beginning of the piercing. Then have a tall, delicate finial inside that form.

Please take all of this simply as the way I view this piece - which may be totally worthless and not indicative of public acceptance! Lord knows, I get it wrong most of the time!

John, I appreciate the critique. Every once in a while I try to come up with something "out there", post it and see what sticks to the wall! I do see what your saying about the inside treatment and I really strugled with "what to do" for the interior treatment. I even went back and forth on whether or not to include anything else along with the main form. Heck I even thought about firing up the Burnmaster! There was a little different "vision" for this one, but the initial "vision" proved to be too difficult.... so there you go. I am using this one as a study piece, for future work.

Thanks

[Don Alexander]

really cool and unique piece !! might be some things that could be done differently , might even improve it some(might not either) but personally i think it would just be different
the creativity in this piece is just outstanding , guys like John are infinitely more qualified than i to comment on design so i will just say that i like it as is :)

[Paul Williams]

Great piece Scott. I like what you have been doing with piercing. The inside cape doesn't do a lot for me, but that might be just me. If I were to "steal your design" I think I would try either just the "finial," if you can call it that, or dropping the inside cape down into the main body of the form, perhaps centered in the opening.

[Tim Rinehart]

Wow talk about stepping outside the box and going for something unique! You keep poping out these pieces of artwork that are just incredible, I think we are going to be seeing a lot more articles writing about you in the near future.

I too think you've got some great creative juices going on with the stuff you've shown, this piece included. It's very cool, I like it, perhaps on the uniqueness and details...hard to say. I agree with JK on the issue of competing elements...perhaps a simpler element coming out of center would be easier to swallow. I don't know squat about Elizabethan collars...but it did make me think of some of those space aliens.

[Ed Morgano]

Scott,
This is a great piece, unique and beautiful. You really put it all together with this piece. I love it.

[Bill Bolen]

Wonderful piece...outstanding imagination! The collar on an Elizabethian period dress was my first thought when I opened your post.

[Scott Hackler]

Thanks for the additional comments, everyone.

[Allan Ferguson]

Nice work an eye catching design.

[Chris Burgess]

Just awesome. Great job. The peircings are great. I could see mine being just a big empty void after all of my lines crossed w/ my eyes trying to keep it straight.

[Harry Robinette]

Keep up with your no plans and see what else you come up with. Allot of the most beautiful turnings I've see came from a thought and just turning to that thought.
Keep it up their looking better all the time.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Scott that is a very unique and interesting piece. Well done.

[David DeCristoforo]

I have looked at this on several different sites now but I have yet to comment on it. That's because I am not at all sure how I feel about it. I think John K's comment comes closest to what I would say. Mostly the inner collar is what bothers me. It just grabs too much of my attention. I think I would like it better if either the inner collar was not there at all or if the outer one was not pierced but left solid as a "backdrop" for the piercing on the inner one in essence making it the focal point with more certainty. I don't know if this makes any sense at all!

[Scott Hackler]

Completely understand, David. I am only about 80% satisfied with it and I made the darn thing!!! To me its ...ok.. but no "masterpiece" for sure! I looked at it forever trying to decide what to include for the interior feature and yeah, I could have gone a different way but I wanted to try the double piercing and see what folks thought!

If I hadn't glued the stem in.... I might redo it with just a very tall finial, in the flame style that I have used before. This piece fought me so much that I probably wont redo it but rather just learn from other's observations and formulate a improved plan for the next "wierd" turning!!!

[Eric Holmquist]

I love both the hooded finial and the main form. I had not really noticed any problem with the combination until reading some of the other posts. I think something on the inside framed by the pierced collar is a real plus, but don't have any brilliant insight on what would be better than what you did.

[jwjerry w kowalski]

Scott,
That is really outstanding, I thought I had seen every form made, great creativity and of course your finishing is flawless, great job.

[Kathy Marshall]

I really like this one Scott! Very original and I wish I had your imagination!