A Beastly Piece of Hackberry.

[Alan Trout]

Well this is my beastly contest entrant on another forum. I call it "Many Little Monsters"

It took many little monsters to create all the holes, and void's to give me the opportunity to create this piece so that is how I came up with the name. But there is a ghastly component to this piece. In September of 2008 I got my right hand caught in my 12" jointer. I was very lucky I only lost 1/2" off of my middle finger and severed the nerve in my index finger. Right before I had this accident I was prepping this blank to be my first cast vessel. Well that did not happen and has set on my shelf the last few years. When this opportunity came up I figured it would make an appropriate "Beast".

It is a piece of spalted, rotten, wormy, hackberry that I found on a brush collection day in my neighborhood. It was cast in a dark blue and red resin. The collar was intended to be blackwood but I did not have any and went to my Local Woodcraft to pick up a piece. I quickly changed my my as I did not feel like spending the $40 to make the collar. I figured that I had resin and I might as well cast a black piece to make the collar. The piece is finished in CA and buffed to a high gloss. It was very difficult to control the glare on this piece for the photo.

As always comments welcome.

Thanks,

Alan

[Ian Jeffcock]

I really like these. Ive been playing with color..... but WOW!!

[John Keeton]

Alan, the form on this one is great! I always love what you do with a scroungy piece of wood - one man's trash is certainly treasure in your shop. Great color, and the black pour for the collar is perfect - though, in the end, perhaps not as cheap as blackwood when one considers your time. But, in this case, I like the pure black. The subtle grain and color of the blackwood would have created some competition with the busy matrix of this piece.

Well done!! Again!!

[Marc Himes]

Another great piece, Alan! The contrast between what looks like very punky wood and the beauty of your finished piece just makes me smile in admiration.

[Nate Davey]

Wow Alan, great job on this one. Love the choice of colors

[Bill Blasic]

Alan,
The great mix of colors adds to the work of the critters. Super piece!
Bill

[David E Keller]

Having seen this piece at SWAT, the photos don't do it justice. Beautiful work, Alan!

[Doug W Swanson]

Now that's impressive! I don't want to know how many hours you have into it!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice work Alan!! Having seen your work while at St.Paul - I can very well envision just how vibrant this piece is in person! Pretty cool!

[Jim Burr]

High 5 Alan! Is there such a thing as a Master Caster...I think there is now!!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful piece Alan. Really love the colors and how they work with the wood.

[Norm Zax]

Great! Seems like what a nice piece would look after a few hallucinogenic mushrooms were consumed ! Alice, here I come … with my gouge…

[Alan Trout]

Everyone, thank you for the kind words and comments. This was fun to make The wood was very punky and really had to depend on the resin to pressure stabilize the fibers of the wood to make it turnable. I wanted the collar to add to the height of the piece but compliment in some way and figured black color would match the spalt lines. Thankfully it worked out well.

I am guessing I had about 30 hrs in the piece. I started it the Sunday before SWAT and finished it about 10:30PM Wednesday evening There were some late nights involved on Monday and Tuesday as I needed to leave for SWAT that Thursday morning. My day job has been killing off my turning time of late but my business affords me the ability to do this when I get the time. I am always happy when I am busy, it is just not as fun as turning. I had one close call with it. I was doing my final buffing and the wheel pulled it out of my hand hit a gouge I had laying on the ballast box of my lathe and the bounced on the floor. I was sure it would have gone into pieces as it is pretty thin but I picked it up and had a ding in the finish from hitting the gouge and a couple of other dings that were easy enough to repair. I have broken pieces before and it is never fun and always a heart stopper.

Again Thanks,

Alan

[Bob Bergstrom]

What you do with casting has really become an art form. Beautiful display of nature, enhanced by your creative mind. Great piece again and wish I could have seen this one in person, as the ones I saw in St. Paul.

[charlie knighton]

very nice, Alan

[Donny Lawson]

This is one of those "WOW" pieces.,and wonder how it was created. It is a beautiful work of art. You should be proud of this one. I know I would be.