China berry and another spalted wormy elm

[Ernie Nyvall]

Stuff is finally drying out. One is from the same elm as an earlier post and the other is from the root ball of a china berry tree.

Does anyone have suggestions on a good photo setup? I bet I snapped 40 of them before I got the color right, but then the board under it is sort of trashy looking.

Ernie

[Jerry Clark]

Great looking bowls-- You may try a white background such as a sheet-- the dark board and cluttered background takes away from the beauty.:cool:

[Charlie Stein]

Hi Ernie,
Real nice job on the bowls, just wish I could master the inside as well as I do out side.
Just got a swan neck tool and having a heck of a time learning how to use it.
Just Charlie

[Ernie Nyvall]

Yea Charlie, I got one too and I keep thinking... man there has got to be something wrong with this tool. lol

Ernie

[Don Henthorn Smithville, TX]

Looks like you are really having fun and making nice bowls as well. I have found that a clean window blind makes a good background. Make a frame about 18" tall to hold the blind. It needs a good base so it won't fall over. Then you can put the frame on a table, pull out the blind, set up your lights and bounce cards, take the picture, remove the lights and bounce cards, and roll the blind back up and put it away until the next time. Make inprovements as needed.

[Mark Singer]

Very nice! Great work and wood!

[Steve Knowlton]

Great Looking Bowls. I Love The Spalted Look. I Have Some Myrtlewood That Is Very Spalted, Just Need To Turn. Great Job.

[Kurt Aebi]

Ernie,

Looks like you are having just TOO MUCH FUN!

Results ain't bad either!

Keep on cranking these out - they are nothing short of fantastic!

[Jeff Sudmeier]

These are two more great bowls! I really like the cherry. The figure and form really come together!

[Brad Schmid]

Ernie,
Nice lookin' bowls!

If you want to learn a little bit more about photographing your turnings, there's a great opportunity coming up in our area.

On May 21-22 is the GCWA (Gulf Coast Woodturners Association) Annual Spring Retreat at the Montgomery County Fairgrounds in Conroe, TX. Marty Kaminsky is doing a 3 hour session both days on "Photographing Your Turnings". I sat through it last year and it was quite good. He covers many things including building a simple booth, backgrounds, lighting, light diffusion, editing with Photoshop, camera settings, etc.

It's a great weekend all around with lot's going on and good friends, good food, and great prizes. If you're already a member of GCWA, then you probably just got the latest monthly newsletter which has all the info, if not and you're interested, let me know and I'll forward info to you.

Brad

[Ernie Nyvall]

Thanks all for youe kind responses. I am having fun.

Ernie

[Glenn Hodges]

Keep on producing beautiful stuff like this. So many people around here burn Chinaberry because they think of it as a trash tree, but woodturners know it can produce products like yours. The people that are in the know call it, "Southern Mahogany". I believe it is in the mahogany family.

[Kevin Beck]

My grandmother had a very large chinaberry tree in her front yard in Northwest Florida. The birds (mostly our annoying state bird the Mocking bird) would eat the chinaberries when they fermented just a bit and would be "under the influence" for a while. My dad said that as a child chinaberries were his favorite slingshot ammo.

I never realized how poisonous the berries are. They smell so bad I really never thought about eating one. A few years ago, a Disney World visitor from Kentucky liked them so much he took a bag home with him to eat :confused: . His family sued Disney for his death. I didn't think anything smarter than a Mocking bird would eat one!

Kevin

[Glenn Hodges]

A lot of the plantations around here use the branches of Chinaberry with lots of green leaves on them to put in their dog kennels. It keeps the fleas off the dogs. My younger sister used to sell cockelburrs to unsuspecting people returning from Disney World, she called them porcupine eggs. Some people will buy and eat anything, now if I can just get more of them to buy my bowls.....

[Ernie Nyvall]

You are right kevin, nothing smarter than a bird did eat a a china berry. lol

Ernie

[Ernie Nyvall]

Glenn, it is in the mahogany family. Known as Southern or American Mahogany and sometimes Soapberry tree and brought from China for it's clusters of flowers. I grew up around them in northeast Texas where they were considered trash trees and didn't know any different until I had to push one over last year for a water line. I broke a limb on it, saw the wood and decided to save it. Not having time to do anything with it, I place it in a low spot that stays wet. It stayed green until this year when I bought my lathe. Hope I didn't bore you.

Ernie