Red, White (sort of), and Blue...

[Steve Vaughan]

Didn't quite get it finished for the 4th, but close enough I guess. This was a lousy looking piece maple, really plain and dull looking, so I decided to do something about that. I turned the lip to become the handles, once turned, I turned it upside-down and bandsawed the lip from the sides leaving the handles.
The finish is with regular old craft store acrylics - sealed with shellac and sanded smooth, blue base, a coat of that clear crackle stuff followed by the off-white/buttermilk color. For the stars, I took flat-pressed sponge and cut my starts out, dipped them in paint and pressed onto the locations. All the stars were pressed in by eye, nothing measured or marked out. Once the paint was dry, I lightly buffed it with #0000 steel wool and then several coats of spray lacquer. Enjoy!

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[Bernie Weishapl]

Steve I like it. It has that antique look to it. My grandmother had a bowl like that. Well done.

[Jeff Hamilton Jr.]

I'm with Bernie . . . looks cool.

[Kathy Marshall]

Well it sure isn't a plain piece of maple anymore!
Nice job on that! I like the handles and the color treatment and stars make it look like something you'd find in a country house. Very nice.

[Eric Holmquist]

Nice job all around. I've been tempted to play with crackle effects but have not got around to it. This is a nice reminder to keep that on the to-do list.

[Donny Lawson]

Great work and its a nice country piece that would be a great centerpiece for a table.

[David Gilbert]

I like this bowl very much. From the photos it looks very old and could qualify as folk art.


I turned the lip to become the handles, once turned, I turned it upside-down and bandsawed the lip from the sides leaving the handles.

I have a question about your process for cutting away the lip on the bandsaw. Other than very carefully, how did you do it? And then what was the process for sanding the edge down so it looked like it was turned?

Thanks for sharing this.

Cheers,
David

[Steve Schlumpf]

Now that's cool! Love the aged effect you have created! Quite the showpiece! Thanks for sharing!

[Chip Sutherland]

I like it. I like the rustic effect. I have been wanting to play with crackle paint but followed thru. I too have some meager soft maple that I have been turning HFs then dying/painting 'cuz it is not pretty wood. I'm assuming the crackle occurred with the grain on your piece. Intriguing. Thanks for the reminder.

[Steve Vaughan]

Thanks everyone! I was wanting that "country folk-artsy" type of thing. One thing I left off (on purpose) was stain. With acrylics, used on some carvings, and I thought about it on this piece, I will sand slightly to barely expose some corners/edges down to bare wood, then stain with walnut stain. You have to wipe it off pretty quick cause it'll soften the paint...but will be fully hard when dry. I didn't use the stain on this piece because I was afraid it might hide the blue undercoat too much.

David - The lip was turned all the way around the bowl. Once it was sanded and the bottom finished, I turned it upside down to bandsaw most of the lip off. I positioned it to the blade, cutting into the lip and toward the outside wall, then just basically followed the shape of the bowl, cutting about where I thought the outside wall would be about straight to the top edge. I think I actually took a pencil and guessed about where I should mark it, and then kept the pencil in the same position in my hand, using a finger to keep the distance even all the way around. Then marked out how wide the handles should be and used a quarter to get the small curve at each end of the handle. For final sanding on that edge, I put it back on the lathe and used the hand drill with a sanding disc, turned the bowl back and forth by hand and used the drill braced against my body to keep it steady. Final sanding and clean up by hand.

Chip - The crackle effect comes from applying the base color coat of paint, letting it dry completely. Then, in the craft paint section, there is some clear stuff they sale to make the next coat do the crackling. You put it on and only let it dry to "tacky" and then apply your top color. It starts to crackle within a minute and continues to crackle for a short while. It crackles along the direction of the brush stroke, and not the grain of the wood. Let all that dry completely and the clearcoat it.

Hope that helps!

[Michelle Rich]

adore the handles..great 4th of July bowl!!