Monstrosity

[Kathy Marshall]

You might remember a piece I started working on after my lathe quit http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?196801-A-non-turning-on-the-lathe-WIP&highlight=
I carved on it for about a week, but then got to a point that I couldn't go any farther until my lathe was running again. So tonight when I got home, after the remote for the DVR going (stealth gloat :eek:), I turned a tenon on the bottom, chucked it up and started hollowing. Hollowing was very easy since the wood is so soft. Because the piece is so out of balance, all the turning and hollowing was done at about 450 rpms. The holes in all of the little branches go all the way through to the center.
After I finished hollowing and finished the bottom, I took it outside and had at it with my little torch. I wanted to char it just enough to accent the carving lines and give it somewhat of a bark look. I think I may give it a little more torch work on the outside and I want to do some on the inside after I rig up something to hold it (when directing the flame to the inside, it tends to come out through the branch holes, gets a little warm if you're holding it in the wrong place :eek:).

Not a great piece of art, but I managed to take a narly branch and turn it into a smaller hollow narly branch ;). And it had the benefit of keeping me busy for a while when the lathe was down.

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Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Brian Kent]

I love it Kathy. Great job in being creative when you couldn't do what you usually do.

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks Brian!
When given lemons, make lemonade :eek:.
I also ventured into some non round woodworking and made a few bandsaw boxes. This piece and the boxes were a big help in keeping me sane!

[mike ash]

Wow Kathy!! This is really neat. It absolutely is a piece of art!!!!

[John Kent]

That turned out really cool Kathy. How big is it? That 3rd picture is what I looked like
a couple of times in the morning, back when I was in my early 20's.:o I think the burning really makes it stand out.

[Michelle Rich]

EEK you are now entering the art world..beware!! :-) it becomes addictive. therapuetic branch burning & taming! EEK

[Doug W Swanson]

Very unique piece. I love the different combinations of art you have going there!

[Justin Stephen]

I'm sure many will not get this reference, but it reminds me of the big knotty wooden thing with the creature inside from the movie Flash Gordon. :)

[charlie knighton]

Kathy, sell your art work to Hollywood, Brad is doing a zoombie movie, that looks like the home of zoombies

[Dennis Ford]

With a stand and a creative name, this could be worth a lot of money.

[Jeremy Hamaker]

I'm sure many will not get this reference, but it reminds me of the big knotty wooden thing with the creature inside from the movie Flash Gordon. :)

Actually, that is EXACTLY the thing that popped into my head!!!

[Justin Stephen]

Actually, that is EXACTLY the thing that popped into my head!!!

I'm very happy that I was able to connect with at least one person with that reference. :)

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks everyone!

John, it's about 7 1/2" tall and about 7" at the widest point.

[Rick Markham]

I think it's an Amazing piece of art Kathy! Definitely cool. It's something completely different from your norm, sometimes having to step away from the lathe isn't always a bad thing. :)

[Dale Gillaspy]

Sorry, she can't sell it. Jason has talked her into donating it to our auction at the Desert Woodturner's Roundup later this month. I'm sure it will bring a
few pennies!!!

[allen long]

Two people, Justin . . . . Just don't poke your fingers into it!

Kathy,

Did you tyrn the main form and then hand carve out the material between the branches? You mentioned it was soft wood,. Was it green or seasoned?

Very imaginative (I mean that in the ner best way!) One thing to think about playing with is to have some fun by turning or caving some smooth contrasting wood tendrils or spikes coming out of some or all of the holes. I am thinking along the lines of a very light wood, bone or antler. The smooth contrasting tendrils would be a fun juxtaposition with the gnarly branch texture. The best part is if you dont like the effect after a couple of tendrils, you dont have to make them permanent. You could even use modeling clay or flour dough clay to make a few mock-ups of tendrils to see if it is even worth the time of carving or turning the spikes. A fun idea going with Justin's reference, could be to make the tendrils removable and move them from hole to hole at random times without telling people you are doing it (if you put the piece in a place that gets a lot of "eye" traffic)

Come to think of it, if you don't try it I just may have to steal your great branch pice idea and try it myself!

[Kathy Marshall]

Sorry, she can't sell it. Jason has talked her into donating it to our auction at the Desert Woodturner's Roundup later this month. I'm sure it will bring a
few pennies!!!
Hopefully more than a few pennies, maybe even a buck or two :eek:.
It will be interesting to see how it is received.


Allen,
There was no turning on the outside, it's all carved, The log was green, in fact it the tree was only cut down a day or two before I started.
If you scroll down to my original post, there is a link to a post that shows what I started with and a little bit of the progress.
Neat idea for the tendrils, I might just try it and you're certainly welcome to steal the branch idea. It would be interesting to see someone else's take on it.