Last Turnings for 2012

[Greg Ketell]

I had a few hours between prepping for the family gathering and leaving for the family gathering and I decided to play with shapes and colors so did a couple of quick turnings:

The first was a piece of "curly" maple pen blank that I wanted to play with shapes. It originally had a collar on it that was the same shape and slight smaller than the foot but my thumbnail caught it while sanding and it broke so I went simpler. Then after it was turned I saw that the "curl" had mostly vanished so I decided to play with some dyes: Black sanded off followed by yellow, green, blue, purple, and black. CA finish rubbed out to 0000 steel wool. Hollowed with a sharpened nail and a modified dentist's pick.

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I learned that if you want even dying you really need to seal the wood and airbrush your colors on. Letting it soak in makes for very uneven coloring.


Then I still had some time and a piece of "scrap" Honduran Rosewood Burl was calling my name so I made a small "micro platter". I was going for that nice ogee shape; I think I got it on the outside but failed miserably on the inside. This is "unfinished"; just sanded to 400 and then rubbed out with 0000 steel wool. 3.75" diameter, 1/2" height, 1/8" thick.

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For scale...
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All comments and especially critiques greatly appreciated so I can grow my skills.

Happy New Year, everyone!

[Leo Van Der Loo]

Greg,
When I saw the year-lines in the second picture I figured it was small, then saw the small plate/platter, and boy is it ever some beautiful wood, looked and some more, then when I got to the last picture I realized that was not a knob on a lid as I had thought at the first quick glance, but the small vase from the first two pictures, yup that IS small, and a nice form on it, these real small turnings are hard to shape well, and you did a marvellous job on it :D :cool:

And yes a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and all :)

[David E Keller]

Fun!

On a side note, it looks like your 'green thumb' is coming along quite nicely!

[Jim Burr]

Ha!! Those are cool!! I like the platter. I never try to match the in/out surface, kinda cool to have them different.

[paul vechart]

Happy New Year Greg:)...I noticed your thread was recorded right at 12:00 am last night! Your pieces look really interesting being so small...I might have to play with some small items now. Why did you use steel wool to "rub out" the platter after using 400 grit paper? How does that change the look...I have never used steel wool on a project before.

Paul

[Steve Schlumpf]

They both look great!

It's been my experience that allowing the dye to soak into the wood helps to highlight any curl. I would think that if the dye was air-brushed on it would have a flat look to it because it would be super thin and only on the surface. Don't know that for sure as I have not air-brushed anything... yet. Plan on giving that a try real soon!

[Greg Ketell]

Happy New Year Greg:)...I noticed your thread was recorded right at 12:00 am last night! Your pieces look really interesting being so small...I might have to play with some small items now. Why did you use steel wool to "rub out" the platter after using 400 grit paper? How does that change the look...I have never used steel wool on a project before.

Paul

Hi Paul,

Small items are fun because they let you play with things quickly and with little use of wood. The collar breaking off would have been heart-breaking if this was 14" tall and 8" around but at 1" it was "oh well, how can I make it look decent now?". Skills that may come in handy when I DO turn the big ones.

Steel wool is just another sanding device. 0000 steel wool is somewhere between 1800 and 2400 micromesh in courseness but (to me) cuts faster and better so I can skip several grits of sandpaper. The soft-satin finish on both pieces is just from the 0000 steel wool. The "vase" is on CA finish, the "platter" is just the natural look of the polished wood. When I was doing pens I would use a CA finish, sand to 400 grit, use 0000 steel wool, follow that with 2400 and 4000 micromesh, then buff. Looked like glass.

If you are interested, a while ago I made a spreadsheet with all the different grits of sandpaper, steel wool, rubbing compounds, etc I could find showing how they compare based on the micron-size of their media. You can find it on my Google Drive here: Sanding Grit Spreadsheet (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgMwcL6ygHRqdG1pai1uOTBaRzhFdlZYOVd4YmN4Q 0E)

[paul vechart]

Thanks Greg...I'll have to try the steel wool on my next bowl. The sanding spreadsheet will come in handy too! I wish I was there in California today to watch the Bagers in the Rose bowl...it -10°F here in Wisconsin this morning!!! Although it was probably colder by Steve in the UP.

Paul

[Grant Wilkinson]

For my taste, the vase would look better without the foot. However, that is just one individual's taste and no one every said that I had any. :-) I tend to like to follow the line of the vase all the way to the bottom, rather than have it open up again.
At any rate, it's an excellent piece of artistry, Greg.

Happy New Year!

[Greg Ketell]

Greg,
When I saw the year-lines in the second picture I figured it was small, then saw the small plate/platter, and boy is it ever some beautiful wood, looked and some more, then when I got to the last picture I realized that was not a knob on a lid as I had thought at the first quick glance, but the small vase from the first two pictures, yup that IS small, and a nice form on it, these real small turnings are hard to shape well, and you did a marvellous job on it :D :cool:

And yes a HAPPY NEW YEAR to you and all :)

Thank you, Leo! A complement like that from a person who does work as incredible as yours means a lot to me!


Fun!

On a side note, it looks like your 'green thumb' is coming along quite nicely!

The down side of applying dye with your finger and only wearing one glove! :)


Ha!! Those are cool!! I like the platter. I never try to match the in/out surface, kinda cool to have them different.

that is true too. But when you Are trying to match them and fail... Guess I need more turning practice. Maybe this afternoon....


They both look great!

It's been my experience that allowing the dye to soak into the wood helps to highlight any curl. I would think that if the dye was air-brushed on it would have a flat look to it because it would be super thin and only on the surface. Don't know that for sure as I have not air-brushed anything... yet. Plan on giving that a try real soon!

you are very right that the curl highlights wouldn't pop as much as soaked-in/sanded-back dye. But you would get much more even coverage and better "fades" between colors. With transparent paints and alternating color, clear, color, clear your depth of color would be unmatched.


For my taste, the vase would look better without the foot. However, that is just one individual's taste and no one every said that I had any. :-) I tend to like to follow the line of the vase all the way to the bottom, rather than have it open up again.
At any rate, it's an excellent piece of artistry, Greg.

Happy New Year!

Grant, I think that once I lost the collar you are very right: I should have turned off the foot too. It would look balanced with collar+foot or no-collar, no-foot. The way it is now I think it looks unbalanced.

Thanks, everyone for the feedback. The next one will hopefully be nicer.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Cool pieces Greg. I was fooled until I saw the last pic's.

[Lee Koepke]

Impressive.
My first thought was you have HUGE thumbs!!!

I love the die on the maple, so much depth!