Yet another goblet

[Thom Sturgill]

I bought a piece of burl ( 3" x 3" x 12" ) and was looking for projects to make the most of it. So far three box lids and this goblet I turned for my wife. Maple burl and ebony, with a lacquer finish. Inclusions are NOT filled as I wanted the rougher look. I turned this just before Christmas and buffed it yesterday. the burl has moved some on one side, but that fits with what I wanted.

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I bought myself a better camera (Nikon D3100 off the bay), these are my first pictures from it. I downloaded a copy of UFRaw and processed the NEF raw files before importing into the GIMP to crop. GIMP seems to do a better job of setting white balance.

C & C welcome as always, on both the turning and the photos :D

[Stan Smith]

Beautiful work, Thom. I want to turn a goblet sometime. I admire you in spending time on getting good photos, too. I think that many of us are lazy in taking pictures of our projects. I've always just used my little panasonic with 12X optical zoom. Of course I'm not selling any of my work so it's not a big deal. If I were selling, I would want the best pics that I could do. Just saying....

[Thom Sturgill]

I don't sell either, but the LOML likes to show my turnings off and likes me to carry a 'portfolio' on my tablet and on the web that she can show off.:D:D

Also, I grew up with dad having a sign posted on his shop wall, "IF A JOB IS WORTH DOING, ITS WORTH DOING WELL". So I do strive to present the work well.

[Brian Kent]

Thom, this one is really beautiful. Congratulations!

[Roger Chandler]

Pretty goblet, Thom. I like the stem design and of course the burl wood has nice figure.........also nice that your wife is proud of your work..........a winner all the way around!

[Scott Hackler]

Very nicely balanced goblet. The proportions look good together. Nice work.

The photo shows improvement too. I would suggest a couple small changes. First set the camera angle so that the back edge of the opening is just visible. This gives a better profile shot and still shows the opening. Also there looks to be a tad too much light, so I would try one light source and play with a longer exposure.

[Dick Mahany]

That is a beautiful piece. I like everything about it and the combination of woods is excellent. I have never turned ebony, but I have a few special sticks of it for use someday. I have heard that ebony is quite brittle. Can you share your experiences with it on this piece?

[Thom Sturgill]

Dick, I love turning ebony. It is hard and can be brittle, so sharp tools are a must. Cleans up and polishes without need for finish.

[Geoff Gaudet]

Very nice piece!

I think photos are important--my main regrets regarding the work I did before I stopped turning some years ago are that I don't have enough, or at least enough good, photos. I like your photos; while I agree with Scott about the light (I think a single source might be better), I like your camera angle, but I think more light inside the opening would help.

[Dennis Ford]

The goblet is great, the photo looks good to me but I am not a good judge of photos.

[Thom Sturgill]

The picture angle was kind of affected by the light box which has a lip where the opening is. I had to raise the camera to see over it. The two lights are fairly common ~3000K lights. I want to get to a local photo shop and pick up some higher temp lights. I might try mounting at least one of the lights higher to shine into the top more.

[Michael Poorman]

Great form and the pictures are nice too!