Just a couple pieces from this week

[Kathy Marshall]

I haven't done much turning this week, but I did manage to get 2 pieces turned.

The 1st one is from a small scrap of rainbow poplar. I just wanted something small to try out a new burning tip on, but before I turned it I cut some square holes on each side using my benchtop mortiser just for kicks. The mortiser was set up for another project I'm doing and I didn't want to have to reset it, so the holes were close to the edge of each side.
After I turned the form I branded it with my burner. Just played around with the pattern and then I ebonized it with black gesso. I like this brand, with the horizontal position it gives the impression of water, but I can see lots of other possibilites.
It's 2 3/4" x 2 1/2", just a practice piece so no other finish.
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The 2nd piece is from a branch of palo verde that I got from my nephew. I could see that the branch had alot of worm holes, so I thought it might be interesting. Apparently, the holes were made by some really big worms :eek:, luckily they had all vacated before I turned the piece or there would have been some really big splats. After hollowing I cleaned out the worm tracks and used my burner to define the edges a little. The wood also had lots of cracks but instead of trying to fill and hide them, I decided to celebrate them by using my burner with the skew tip to highlite them.
It's 6" x 5" with just a light coat of antique oil.
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Thanks for looking!
Comments and critiques are welcome.

[Marc Himes]

Nice work, Kathy. I like the use of the benchtop mortiser before you turned the piece. I seldom think of doing anything to the blank before turning. The Gesso also work well as does your pyrography. Burning the edges of the holes is a nice touch.

Marc

[charlie knighton]

i like the form on both pieces, the black popular reminds me of Mark Gardner stuff, the palo verde , while i ususally like holes, voids, cracks, well i thing you did outstanding form on both pieces but the wood is just sorta not sure of the right word......bland maybe

[Doug W Swanson]

While I like them both I love the wormy one. Glad it held together for you!

[David C. Roseman]

Kathy, you definitely have the creative gene! Never occurred to me to use the hollow mortiser on a turning! Did you cut the mortises before rounding the blank? After rounding, but before hollowing? I'm inspired to try this soon. Love both pieces, BTW.

David

[Roger Chandler]

Nice work on both Kathy! Looks like the palo verde might have had a little pucker factor associated with it! did you have to wrap it when hollowing?

[Harry Robinette]

Kathy
Outstanding work. The only thing I can say is I'd like the mate black one to be more the size of the wormy one. So I hope you do another that's NOT a practice piece.

[Kathy Marshall]

Thanks everyone! Always looking for something new, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.
And yes Harry, I will try a bigger one like the black one.

Kathy, you definitely have the creative gene! Never occurred to me to use the hollow mortiser on a turning! Did you cut the mortises before rounding the blank? After rounding, but before hollowing? I'm inspired to try this soon. Love both pieces, BTW.

David
David, I cut the mortises before rounding the blank which is why the shapes are all different. Cutting them after rounding would let you place them more precisely and would give them all a uniform shape.

Nice work on both Kathy! Looks like the palo verde might have had a little pucker factor associated with it! did you have to wrap it when hollowing?
Roger, I didn't wrap it when hollowing but it would have given me a better interior surface if I had (there was alot of flex near the voids). I was carefull not to get agressive when nearing final thickness and I never went back to a section once I had finished with it.

[Baxter Smith]

Very nice Kathy. I like both of them a lot!

[David Reed]

Since I'm always in the mood for a celebration and always love voids in my and other's works, the wormy wood really caught my eye. You brought out the best in this material, and bland is not a word I would use in references to this piece. As always it seems, very nice work.

[Cheryl A. Prince]

Kathy, I like both pieces really well! Especially the black piece. Your forms are dead on and I must admit that you're a lot braver than I am. I would have looked at that wormy branch and said too far gone for me. Great turnings!

[Steve Mawson]

Believe you are on to a technique with the pyro on the cracks. Doubt if I would have thought of that.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Both are great pieces. I do like the wormy one a lot.