my 3rd hollow form and my biggest yet...

[Russell Eaton]

A friend gave me this piece of black walnut and it was very rough. It had 2" of rot all the way around it. I got the outside roughed and started with the hollowing. It was brutal. The bottom 1/3 was the worst, anyhow this is the result. I sanded to 400 grit and filled the knot holes with crushed turquoise. I like the final shape, but I revisited the base 3 times to get it close to the right size. I was wondering if it is the right proportion for the piece? I was afraid to go too much smaller with the base and it become too top heavy. Comments are welcome. Russell

[John Keeton]

Russell, the "vase shape" is a tough one for me - so hard to get the shoulder located correctly and the proper curve on the piece. I think you did well here, though for me, I would have brought the shoulder down a bit. I am not in the "tuck the bottom" group, as I feel the bottom should be a true catenary curve (which would appear tucked if the curve is truncated low enough on the curve). I suspect you will get as many opinions as there are replies to this one!

In any event, I think you did a nice job with it, and the wood is beautiful. What are the final dimensions?

[Andrew Kertesz]

I know it must be an optical illusion but the second picture looks like the vessel is smaller. I like the shape but you don't give any dimensions for the size.

[Russell Eaton]

It is 9"tall tall and 5-6" at the widest point.

[David E Keller]

I'm in the 'tuck your bottom' group, but I think that's a matter of personal taste. Shoulder location is sometimes difficult as JK mentioned, and I agree with his thoughts about moving it down slightly although 'high' is better than 'low' in my view. The other portion of the vase form that you might consider is the opening... Some type of detailing or a raised lip often add a bit of interest near the top. You've done well with a difficult piece of wood, and I like the turquoise fill... Nicely done!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Russell - congrats on your 3rd HF! Looks pretty good to me!

Variations in design come with doing... at least they did to me. Dropping the shoulder a bit, creating a slightly raised lip and tucking the foot under just a bit are all areas that you can play with the next time. One thing that I think you did really well with is the outside curve. It is very hard to get a nice smooth curve without any flat spots and you nailed this one.

Just out of curiosity - how thin did you turn the walls? Asking as that would give me a good idea of overall weight of the piece.

Looking forward to seeing HF #4!

[Bill Bolen]

Bring on #4! You did a fine job with the hardest part.....getting that smooth curve top to bottom with no flat spots . Sounds easy but it is far from that. ALL of the rest is just a matter of personal taste. A bit of enhancement at the mouth, tucking in the foot, size of the foot, location of the shoulder ect ect. You can't make everyone happy with your work but if you can make yourself happy with it then you have won the battle!! Pretty piece and I like the subtle use of the crushed turquoise.

[Baxter Smith]

Congrats on number 3! Pretty wood and shape. I think there are a lot of variations in good looking vases. The more you do, the more likely you are to end up with a style you like.

[David Reed]

Nice piece Russell, especially the uniform long curve with no flat spots. I am firmly in the camp of the high shoulder. I have a piece very much like this which had an even higher shoulder. I trimmed it down and don't like it as well. Tuck no tuck - take it or leave it but some subtle rim treatments add a lot. Having said that, I also love the elegant simplicity here.

[Russell Eaton]

Steve the upper portion of this piece is about 1/8/", it gets a little thicker at the bottom 3/16"-1/4". The friend that gave this piece of wood to me gave me a second one yesterday when he helped me assemble the black beast. I need a different hollowing system, the Hollow-Fast that I have is only good to about 5". It beat me up pretty bad, the swelling in my wrist has just gone down. I may be in the market for a Monster in the future.

[robert baccus]

Look up pueblo bowls and shapes from the SW. they are the real artists and show a variety of shapes as well as some tribal biases. the navaho and asazi tribes shapes especially appeal to me. i have a very small collection of their originals and visited with many of their artists. great people and very willing to share their culture and techniques. i have met people from all over the world studing and admiring their work.------------old forester