Some turning

[alex grams]

This is the my 4th bowl I have ever turned. I enjoy carving too, though I would say my carving skills are very rudimentary.

The quote is from a John Lennon song, and one I always like to remind myself when things don't seem to fall into place as I wish they would.

The bowl is Honduran Mahogany. About an 11" diameter 1.75" depth. This was a test piece before I make another similar bowl for the wife (though the next will be about 2.5-3" in depth). Instead of having a carved phrase, I am going to do some simple Plumeria flowers on the rim. Those are a special type of flower from Hawaii that the wife loved when we went there, so i figured it would be a fun, challenging project she would enjoy.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=224220&d=1329640001

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=224221&d=1329640005

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=224222&d=1329640007

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=224223&d=1329640009

[John Keeton]

Alex, the bowl turned out very nice! The carving looks good enough to have been machine done - did you use a power carver of some sort? I suspect the next one with the flowers will be a hit with your wife, for sure.

[Tom Winship]

Very good, Alex. I thought the carving was machine done also.
Gig 'em.

[Steve Vaughan]

Yup, I'm in too - excellent and was wondering about your carving. Machine-assisted or freehand, it's all good for sure!

[Steve Schlumpf]

Very nice bowl Alex! Wish I could carve that cleanly! Heck, I have a hard time just printing my name legibly! I like your photos as well! Looking forward to seeing the flowered bowl! Nice work!

[Harvey Ghesser]

Thanks for sharing your work, Alex. Really nice bowl with some wonderful words of wisdom!

[Robert McGowen]

Very nice, Alex. I like where you kind of separated the bowl from the rim with the little cove or design around the inside of the rim.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice bowl Alex. Like the quote on the rim.

[Doug W Swanson]

Nice work. You did a great job on the carving!

[Bill Wyko]

I think you'll have a future in turning with carving. The sky's the limit. Nice job.

[alex grams]

Thanks guys. The carving was all done by hand. I used sketchup and a plugin (Shape bender) where you can draw text, and define a radius/perimeter by which to bend the text around. Then I just printed to scale on some paper and used that as a template for letter spacing and size, and carved away.

Robert, I didn't like the just simple right angle from the rim to the bowl, so i cut down the rim in thickness some and left a protruding bead between it and the bowl. It is hard to see, and honestly didn't think anyone would be able to discern it in the pictures.

[Reed Gray]

Alex, did you make the table/desk as well? Don't often see spline joints like that on store bought furniture. Both look nice.

robo hippy

[Billy Tallant]

A very nice looking bowl Alex. For free hand, that carving is amazing. I really like the quote also.

[Baxter Smith]

Very nice bowl and the carving is a nice touch, or maybe its the other way around!