Alchemy 101

[Steve Doerr]

This is one of my latest turning and kind of like the title indicates is an experiment. The original alchemists were trying to turn base metals into gold. Well, what I tried to do was turn a piece of wood into a base metal. The wood is a piece of tulip poplar that has been treated with some copper paint and then sprayed with a solution to create an aged patina on the copper. (I used the Modern Masters products from Craft Supply.) The line between the two surfaces was burned in. My thought on this was that to change the wood to metal would require a tremendous amount of heat and thus would burn the wood. The bowl is 8 7/8"W x 5 7/8"H. C&C Welcomed.
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[charlie knighton]

i like the idea .....when I go to museums out west I see old vessels usually in poor shape....not for sale......then they have the perfect piece which is modern for sale........sort of like antique hunting......I hope this will be a series.....like your form and simple embellishment.....its not overdone

[Bill Hensley]

I had read about the product and I like the results. Agree with Charlie, everything about this piece is just right.

[John Keeton]

Nice form and interesting technique. What about trying another and using a torch angled so the flame scorches the wood toward the wood side, leaving a somewhat wider and more varied demarcation line that isn't quite as abrupt as the woodburned line? Then, perhaps have the copper fade a little along that line, creating the illusion of transformation. Just a thought, though doing the inside in similar fashion may require a more shallow form.

[Steve Doerr]

Thanks for the comments and complements. This was a fun project to do. Last night at our local month art walk I had several people that really liked it and found it very interesting. However, no one purchased it :-(

John, your idea of using a torch to burn the raw wood a very interesting idea. As you said, it would have to be done with a much shallower bowl.

Steve