African Mahogany and plywood Christmas bell ornament

[Curt Fuller]

I know I'm really pushing the season for ornaments, but I've been trying some different ideas, at least for me, and wanted to see what you folks think about them. This one is a piece of 1/8" 3-ply birch plywood laminated between to pieces of African Mahogany, then cut into 6 segments and turned into a bell shape. It's about 6" x 1.75" with gloss rattle can deft lacquer

*edit* I finished another bell today from some type of very hard red wood and the birch plywood. Same glue up but different shape on the bell changed the design quite a bit.

[George Gyulatyan]

Curt, that is beautiful!

[John Keeton]

Curt, you have discovered a very attractive way to do these ornaments!! I love the plywood/segmented thing you are doing, and the ogee curve on this bell is beautiful! I would love to see one done with a "handle" that picked up on the ogee, perhaps with some soft rounded lines - just to see if the contrasting lines you show are more appealing. If you are "in production" on these, what about doing two handles and showing a pic of the bell with both and run a poll?

Don't you just love it when folks come up with ideas to make things difficult for you???!!

Nice work! The mahogany is a beautiful color.

I might give this glue up thing a try on something if you don't mind my "borrowing" the idea. I don't have any birch plywood, but I have lots of scraps of stuff that might work. This is about as close to segmentation as I would attempt!

[Bernie Weishapl]

That is a beauty Curt. That plywood really makes it stand out. I like it.

[Doug W Swanson]

Another winner here, Curt....

[Bill Bolen]

Now who (other than you) would have thought plywood could make such an attractive addition to an ornament! Outstanding "new" look.

[jeff vanek]

very nice!!

[Jim Burr]

What a great use of plywood Curt! Really makes this one stand out!

[Ron Bontz]

Nice idea and great results. Thanks for posting.

[Tom Winship]

Curt, these are beautiful. Are the segments solid (no inside to the bell) when you start? I assume you are hollowing them?

[Curt Fuller]

Are the segments solid (no inside to the bell) when you start? I assume you are hollowing them?
Yes Tom, the initial glue up is solid. These are so easy that even I can do them. I took some pics of the process, I'll try to put them together is some fashion that makes sense.

[Michelle Rich]

very nice segmentation. I like them both...( in a small piece like this I doubt the ply will crack, but in larger ones, the ply does not move, but the wood does..ooppss! ) Very attractive decorations

[Steve Schlumpf]

Love the effect Curt! Still impressed with how well you turn these bell forms! I'll have to try it one of these days!