Cascading waterfall - an exercise in filling cracks

[Brice Rogers]

I had a crotch of Jacaranda that had some bark inclusions that were severe enough that I wanted to fill them before attempting to turn. I experimented with filling the cracks with turquoise colored epoxy with a subtle amount of turquoise glitter. It is 9-1/2 " in diameter and 3" high. I used shellac as a sanding sealer and finished it with rattle can satin finish lacquer. I thought that I would share this. Eventually I'm going to buy some turquoise in-lace. But this basically served the same purpose.

My wife calls this piece a "cascading waterfall".

342109342110

Comments and critiques welcome.

[Roger Chandler]

Nice job on the fill, Brice.....looks nice!

[Brian Kent]

Very beautiful. I really like the look of the Jacaranda and the fill. I also respect your wise choice to epoxy the crack before turning.

[bernard feinerman]

It is a beautiful bowl. Did you fill it with Epoxy while it was still 3" thick, or did you fill it with Epoxy in stages, i.e. fill the outside of the blank, then rough turn the shape and add more epoxy as the cracks appeared?
Bernie

[Brice Rogers]

Bernard,

I filled it in stages. IIRC, I drizzled some thin CA initially to get to the root of the cracks for strengthening. Then, I mixed the colored epoxy and applied it to all of the cracks and used some thin wire to encourage the epoxy to go deeper. Then after I turned I refilled the cracks a few times. Each application of the colored epoxy with a little fine glitter came out very slightly different but I found that I preferred that over a perfectly homogeneous color.

[Sid Matheny]

Great job turning and saving this one and the fill does look like a waterfall!

[Pat Scott]

What did you use to color the epoxy?

[David Delo]

I usually don't care all that much for fill-ins but I kind of like what you've done with this Brice. I notice it but not so that it takes over the focus of the entire piece. Well done.

[Brice Rogers]

Pat, I used some Testers brand enamel paint that I got at the local craft store. That was one of those tiny little rectangular bottles that kids use to paint model airplanes and such. It only takes a very small amount of the paint to color the epoxy. I first mixed part A and part B of the epoxy together and then dipped the tip of a Starbucks coffee stirrer into the paint and then remixed. So I used perhaps a drop or two of the enamel per silver-dollar sized blob of epoxy.

[Randy Red Bemont]

Very nice. I also like the shape of the bowl. Nicely done.

Red