Every one of them is a learning experience!

[John Keeton]

Prior to doing the "Seduction" piece, I wanted to practice a bit of simple carving. I had a small, and rather plain, piece of dry BLM and felt it might make a good palette. When I bandsawed the piece round, there was a crack in the side. I did not plan for this one to be gallery quality and so I continued with the turning after applying a liberal dose of CA - first sealing the crack and surrounding area with shellac. It was a very visible repair, but it would still work for what I intended. This piece is about 4.5" x 2.5", and is turned very thin - less than 1/8". Kind of an interesting form, I thought.

The carving went well, and at least one side of the BLM was fairly interesting. The lesson learned here is this - when you use black gesso on the interior of a piece (or any water based paint) consider the amount of movement to the wood from the added moisture. All was well until the gesso. When I applied the gesso, I started hearing little noises - then all of a sudden - POW!!! The crack opened up at least 1/8" wide!! It closed up some as it dried, but not fully.

Anyway, this is offered not as a finished piece, but as a learning experience. The next time, I will wash the interior with shellac before applying the gesso!!!

[Mike Cruz]

John, I could have gessoed that that was going to happen...:D Sorry, I couldn't resist.

I'm experiencing a bunch of "learning" pieces my self lately. :o Frustrating to go through all the work to not have the end result up to standards...even if my standards aren't the same as yours. ;) (Yours likely being WAY higher!)

Neat turning, though. Would like to see the second version of it.

[Bernie Weishapl]

John that is a neat piece. To bad about the crack. I do the same thing using less than desireable pieces to practice with. Some surprise me and some well good thing the neighbor has a firewood pile.

[Bill Wyko]

Well John, from disaster comes a thing of beauty and a new skill. You got a triple bonus. A lesson on the gesso, a lesson on carving and an absolutely beautiful turning. Sounds like a win, win, win. Another beautiful piece sir.

[Dan Forman]

Ouch! Too bad about the crack. I too am a believer in practice pieces for new techniques. What do you use for the carving?

Dan

[John Keeton]

Thanks for the comments!

Dan, I use some Pfeil carving chisels. At one time, I had about 36 of them, but I suffer from a bit of carpal tunnel and didn't feel I could ever carve enough to justify owning them. I retained 5-6 of the basic ones. Simple carving doesn't bother me too much, but I need to take breaks frequently.

[David E Keller]

John, I could have gessoed that that was going to happen...

That made me laugh!

I wouldn't have thought about the effects of the moisture in the gesso, so thanks for letting me learn at your expense, John.

[Cory Norgart]

Yes,, that is a very interesting form John,,, Beautiful piece once again,,, Every piece is a learning experience for me too,,

[Rick Markham]

John, it's really a beauty, shame about the lesson. It's something I hadn't considered, but it makes sense. I'm a firm believer in the shellac coat, it really does make finishing easier, and seems to do an excellent job of sealing the wood. Most of my partially wet maple burl blanks get a coat of shellac when I receive them. It's minimized cracking for me, and the pieces still seem to dry nice and slowly. It's just plain good stuff!

I need to pick your brain soon on interiors. I've been considering some interesting ideas for coating the interior of vessels, (none of which I have tried yet.)

I learned from a Master Chef an important lesson about cooking, and it applies to life too. He told me "You will learn more the one time you break a buerre blanc (a hot emulsion) than the 10,000 correct times you made it and it didn't break" and he was right. I broke a buerre blanc once in my 13 year career, after that I knew exactly what not to do. ;)
At this point all of my turnings are all experiments, and every single one perplexes me in some way.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Pretty wood for sure and I think the carving looks pretty good! I have the same problem when using DNA to dye some of the thin forms. Any crack or void will expand until the DNA evaporates. Makes you wonder sometimes if the piece will survive!!

[Harvey Ghesser]

"Every one of them is a learning experience!"
I don't think this concept ever changes...no matter how skilled we become.

Excellent John.