Purple Haze

[Alan Trout]

This is my latest acorn cap piece. It is made with the smallest Live Oak acorn caps that I have ever seen. Some of the caps were smaller that a #2 pencil eraser and most ¼” or smaller and paper thin. I had to be careful, as they were very easy to crush. This is a small piece compared to my typical pieces. It is 4 ¾” tall by about 3 ½” in diameter. It is a little less than 1/8” thick and very translucent. I picked these small caps for this piece because of the size. My intent was to give the same visual impact as one of my larger pieces. The piece is finished in CA and buffed to a high gloss.

The resin is yellow and purple pigmented. This is the first time I used these colors but I liked the idea of the amount of contrast so I figured I would give it a try. As the purple resin flowed it stayed on top of the piece but also flowed behind which almost highlighted the caps at the bottom of the piece. If you look at the piece from the bottom it reminds me of honeycomb.

Overall I am happy with the form, colors, and the effect of how the caps and the colors complimented each other. I named the piece “Purple Haze”.

Of course cheers and jeers are always welcome.

Thanks for looking

Alan

[Curt Fuller]

Wow, what can I say but "excuse me while I kiss the sky!"

That's pretty amazing Alan.

[Jeff Fagen]

Very cool,I always love the caps.

[Baxter Smith]

Another great one Alan! I would not have ever thought of that color combo but it really works!

[Bob Bergstrom]

That is way too cool. The scale of it makes it all the better. The squirrels would have starved on acorns that
size. Your work is always a pleasure to see. Thanks for sharing.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful work Alan! Great 3D effect! Love the form!!

[Doug W Swanson]

Alan,
I love your acorn cap pieces. They are amazing! This one is no different and being a life long Minnesota Viking fan, the colors are AWESOME!

[Bill Boehme]

This is my latest acorn cap piece. It is made with the smallest Live Oak acorn caps that I have ever seen. Some of the caps were smaller that a #2 pencil eraser and most ¼” or smaller and paper thin. I had to be careful, as they were very easy to crush. This is a small piece compared to my typical pieces. It is 4 ¾” tall by about 3 ½” in diameter. It is a little less than 1/8” thick and very translucent. I picked these small caps for this piece because of the size. My intent was to give the same visual impact as one of my larger pieces. The piece is finished in CA and buffed to a high gloss.

The resin is yellow and purple pigmented. This is the first time I used these colors but I liked the idea of the amount of contrast so I figured I would give it a try. As the purple resin flowed it stayed on top of the piece but also flowed behind which almost highlighted the caps at the bottom of the piece. If you look at the piece from the bottom it reminds me of honeycomb.

Overall I am happy with the form, colors, and the effect of how the caps and the colors complimented each other. I named the piece “Purple Haze”.

Of course cheers and jeers are always welcome.

Thanks for looking

Alan


Cheers to you Alan. Are the caps attached to some sort of central form to hold them in place and what sort of container do you use when casting the resins.

I have plenty of bur oak acorns this year so I could do something similar except for the fact that each bur oak acorn is about the size of a golf ball not counting the cap. The cap gets it almost to about 3/4 tennis ball size. I did not see many acorns on my live oak tree or my post oak trees. My chinquapin oak had a few for the first time.

[John Keeton]

I love the effect on this one, Alan, and the collar treatment is extremely well done! The form, while very nice, is not a favorite, but that is simply my preference - it doesn't take away from the beautiful execution of very nice curves.

Another winner - no doubt!!

Wow, what can I say but "excuse me while I kiss the sky!"Curt, you are getting ready to start some controversy over the actual lyrics!!!;):D Besides, I didn't know you were that old!

[Jerry Marcantel]

That's beautiful, Alan.. Good work. looking forward to seeing more beautiful turnings........ Jerry (in Tucson)

[Steve Vaughan]

So very cool looking! Really great affect with the caps and colors.

[Tim Rinehart]

I like everything about it Alan. The color combo would have been difficult for me to envision liking...but I do. I like the form and collar detail as well, a similar treatment I also like adding to forms.
Something to consider, a piece like this has so much going on, really don't even need the collar detail if you wanted to keep it really clean and just show off the wonderful caps and resin work.

[Joe Meirhaeghe]

Cool concept, great contrast of colors.

[Alan Trout]

Everyone,

Thanks for all the kind comments. What I did discover in making this piece was that I had almost as much time in making a smaller one as I do a larger one as the prep and building of the blank was just about as time consuming because of the scale of the Acorn caps. I probably have 30+ hrs. in this piece. Now hollowing with my new hollowing rig is so easy. What use to take me 3 hrs. takes 30 min. It is amazing how aggressive of a cut I can take but yet still be in full control of how the tool is cutting. I modified and lengthened the Y axis on the rig and beefed it up a little. When I get it all finished I will start a thread on version 2.0 of my rig.

Originally I cast a piece of Live Oak burl for the collar but I just did not like it. The wood was to dark for the color's and the shape did not compliment the form well, It drove my wife nuts, she thought the first one was fine. I tend to get a little manic if I don't like something so yesterday I got in the shop and started making collars out of scrap wood until I found one that I liked. Then I took some scrap resin from the casting of the vessel and glued it to a waste block and reproduced the shape that I liked in the resin. After seen the new collar my wife agreed that it fit the vessel much better.

Again Thanks

Alan

[Harvey Ghesser]

No jeers, just cheers! Beautiful work...

[Scott Gibbons]

That is awesome, my wife wants one!

[Alan Trout]

Scott, Harvey,

Thanks for the compliments. One of these day's I will turn one for my wife. She would really like to keep one around the house. My acorn cap pieces are generally very good sellers the only problem is there is always a bunch of time invested. I am starting a couple of more in the next day or so maybe in the next two or 3 weeks I should have a couple more to show.

Again Thanks,

Alan

[Scott Gibbons]

I would be curious to understand how you did it. I am no where advance enough to even attempt something like that but if you are willing to share some trade secrets I would love to see how it was done. :)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful Alan. Love the color.

[Alan Trout]

Scott,

I have been working on a magazine article on The casting of my pieces. It has been slow going as other things in life keep getting in the way. Hopefully I will get it done pretty soon so it can get published. So the answer is in yes in due time.

Alan

[Scott Hackler]

Another great form Alan.