Osage Orange and resin vessel

[Alan Trout]

I started this piece a couple of month's ago as a casting demonstration for the Hill Country Wood Turners in Kerrville TX. It is a piece of Osage Orange that has a little bit of mistletoe burl. It was cast in a blue and lavender resin. I had been so busy with some other pieces I just got a chance to hollow and finish this piece about a week ago. Again this is a fairly small piece. It is 4 1/2" high by 3 5/8" diameter and is a little under an 1/8" thick. The finish is CA on the exterior withe the General Finishes WTF on the interior of the piece.

Overall I am happy with the form on this piece. I think it is pleasing to the eye. The color combination is good between the wood and the colors of the resin. The patterns between the wood and the resin have a nice amount of visual interest. The wood color is much more what I expect from Osage Orange This piece oxidized quickly. My other piece "Fuego" that I did about the same time just stayed very yellow which I liked with the red resin I used with it. That piece was much more heavily mistletoe burled than this piece and suspect that may have had something to do with it holding on to the yellow color.

As always cheers and jeers welcome.

Thanks for looking

Alan

[James Combs]

Alan, another exceptional work. It appears that the blue will go well with most any color wood. Your work has inspired me to try another Ant Pool. I have one more piece of ant sculpted walnut but this time I think I will go for something more southwestern in shape if the wood allows it. It's a little thin but something small and SW might be made from it.

[Doug W Swanson]

Beautiful! But then again all of your pieces are, Alan. I like the colors on this one. The blues really go well with the Osage Orange....

[Alan Trout]

James,

Just to give you a little hint. Do not form you pieces to tight. If it is to tight it will not allow the resin to flow properly. I know it seems like a waste but I would rather deal with some wasted resin than voids in the piece.

Thanks for the compliments.

Alan

[Billy Tallant]

Alan, that is a fantastic looking piece. The grain pattern & that blue just seem to blend together.

[Dwight McNutt]

Alan, if you ever make a how to DVD put me first on the list to buy it. Simply outstanding.

[John Keeton]

Alan, I like this one, but then, I like all that you do! However, I think the more burly pieces of wood, with a few more interspersed voids tend to look better with what you do.

[Michelle Rich]

luv the color of this resin! eye-popping!

[Nate Davey]

Great piece Alan, next time you give a demo I'm going to take leave and come out to learn from the master.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Great form and the color combination once again has that old world map kinda feel to it! Very nice work Alan!

[Larry Pickering]

Great piece of casting

[allen thunem]

mesmerizing piece
can you elaborate abit on what product you used to dye the resin?
I made my first resin h.f yesterday and am disappointed with the color. too blah. noticed yours has some swirls and irridesence. help?

[Faust M. Ruggiero]

Alan,
As always, this is a visual treat. I actually like the pieces with so much resin that the wood becomes the accent to the resin. The swirling colors are memorizing.
faust

[David E Keller]

Another beauty, Alan! I always enjoy staring at your creations. I hope to see you again in Waco this summer at SWAT.

[James Combs]

James,
Just to give you a little hint. Do not form you pieces to tight. If it is to tight it will not allow the resin to flow properly. I know it seems like a waste but I would rather deal with some wasted resin than voids in the piece.
Thanks for the compliments.
Alan

Alan thanks for the hint. For my first one, the Ant Pool, I left about an 1/8" and yes I did have a few spots with no resin even though I pressurized it to about 45lbs. Should it be more? I also had the problem of not enough resin in my first pour and had to do a second one. Of course in the second one there were even more areas of voided resin. How do you estimate the proper amount of resin?

[Alan Trout]

Alan thanks for the hint. For my first one, the Ant Pool, I left about an 1/8" and yes I did have a few spots with no resin even though I pressurized it to about 45lbs. Should it be more? I also had the problem of not enough resin in my first pour and had to do a second one. Of course in the second one there were even more areas of voided resin. How do you estimate the proper amount of resin?

James,

Far as figuring volume if more a less an educated guess. I have done it so much that I am rarely more than 4 or 5 oz. off. I use to mathematically figure the volume of the form and the piece as close as possible. Now I have extra resin and pigments ready to mix just in case I do not have enough to fill the form.

Pressure is a sensitive subject and the pressures I use are not for the faint of heart. I never suggest that anyone uses my methods and I will just say the pressures I use are significantly higher than what you are using or that any pots are rated for.

Good Luck

Alan

[Alan Trout]

Everyone,

Thanks, for the compliments. I really appreciate it. The piece of wood and the orientation of the wood is always the determining factor how these pieces turns out. That is the reason that on my burl pieces I hate the term "worthless wood" as there are very few pieces that I find that will fit the criteria that I set to make a piece. I have always said that a big part of the artistry of these pieces is just picking and orienting the piece of wood.

Allen,

I use powdered mica pigments. There are many brands and I have used many different brands. This piece I used Jacquard brand of pigments.

Good Luck

Alan

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful piece Alan. Really nice form and color.

[Jerry Marcantel]

Alan, you did it again. Another beautiful piece.

Got a question. A little explanation first. When I was casting jewlry, I used this stuff called "investment", kind of like cement or plaster. According to instructions, mix it proprtionally with investment to water and stir for two minutes, vaccum for 2 minutes, pour it into flask with objects to be cast, then vaccum again for 2 minutes... Total working time or pot life till hardened was 9-10 minutes depending on invironmental/altitude conditions. I never had any bubbles in any of my castings as the vaccum removed all air from the investment.
Now the question. Could the Allumalite be vaccumed to remove the bubbles generated while mixing, then pour it into the mold, vaccum it to remove air from all the voids you have, release the vaccum, which would cause the allumalite to flow into the voids, then pressurize your pot to cause the resin to find all those voids that the released vaccum didn't fill?... ..... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Alan Trout]

Alan, you did it again. Another beautiful piece.

Got a question. A little explanation first. When I was casting jewlry, I used this stuff called "investment", kind of like cement or plaster. According to instructions, mix it proprtionally with investment to water and stir for two minutes, vaccum for 2 minutes, pour it into flask with objects to be cast, then vaccum again for 2 minutes... Total working time or pot life till hardened was 9-10 minutes depending on invironmental/altitude conditions. I never had any bubbles in any of my castings as the vaccum removed all air from the investment.
Now the question. Could the Allumalite be vaccumed to remove the bubbles generated while mixing, then pour it into the mold, vaccum it to remove air from all the voids you have, release the vaccum, which would cause the allumalite to flow into the voids, then pressurize your pot to cause the resin to find all those voids that the released vaccum didn't fill?... ..... Jerry (in Tucson)

Jerry,

It would probably work with vacuum if you had a pump with a high CFM rating that it could pull it down fast enough. I have a little familiarity with investment and it is thinner than the clear resins that I use. Pressure just allows much faster way to deal with the bubbles in the resin.

Alan

[Scott Hackler]

Yep, another very nice piece! I like the combo and it will be interesting to see how it looks after the Osage Orange ages to brown.

[James Combs]

Alan, you did it again. Another beautiful piece.
Got a question. A little explanation first. When I was casting jewlry, I used this stuff called "investment", kind of like cement or plaster. According to instructions, mix it proprtionally with investment to water and stir for two minutes, vaccum for 2 minutes, pour it into flask with objects to be cast, then vaccum again for 2 minutes... Total working time or pot life till hardened was 9-10 minutes depending on invironmental/altitude conditions. I never had any bubbles in any of my castings as the vaccum removed all air from the investment.
Now the question. Could the Allumalite be vaccumed to remove the bubbles generated while mixing, then pour it into the mold, vaccum it to remove air from all the voids you have, release the vaccum, which would cause the allumalite to flow into the voids, then pressurize your pot to cause the resin to find all those voids that the released vaccum didn't fill?... ..... Jerry (in Tucson)


Jerry, It would probably work with vacuum if you had a pump with a high CFM rating that it could pull it down fast enough. I have a little familiarity with investment and it is thinner than the clear resins that I use. Pressure just allows much faster way to deal with the bubbles in the resin.
Alan

Jerry, I agree with Alan it does work because I have used both vacuum and pressure for small items such as pen blanks. However, the problem I would have with doing something like this using both is timing. The pot life for the resin I use is only a few minutes, there just is not enough time(for me) to mix, pour, vacuum, then pressurize. By the time I got the vacuum going good it would already be setting up then the pressure would not be very effective especially since I am limited to 50psi. A person that could do things faster might be able to do it effectively but everything would have to fall into place without a glitch.

[Roger Chandler]

Major eye candy, Alan!

[Alan Trout]

Again,

Thanks to everyone. I really appreciate all the compliments.

Alan