Please help me refine my form--vase pics--

[Curtis O. Seebeck]

I just completed this vase and LOVE the wood but I feel the form is just not quite right. Please give me your opinion on what I could have done differently to make it really good. It is lightly spalted pecan with a little bit of the inside back left on. It measures 4 1/2" tall and is 3 1/4" at the widest point. It is completely hollowed and has a lacquer finish. In a week or so, I will buff the lacquer to get a really nice gloss.

So tell me, what do you like and not like about it? I am not very artistically inclined so I need critique from my fellow turners who might have a better eye for these things.

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/MesquiteMan/SPPecan0106-3.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/MesquiteMan/SPPecan0106-2.jpg

http://i14.photobucket.com/albums/a340/MesquiteMan/SPPecan0106-1.jpg

Please don't just say nice things, I really want to hear the brutal, honest truth!!

Thanks

[John Nicholas]

Curtis,

What a nice piece of wood. I like the color and the grain and the knot.

You need to work with the abrupt change in direction in the middle of the neck. A curve of some type would improve things.

This might (probably ?) means that the bottom part of the vase will end up smaller. Smaller could be shorter or even narrower as well.

It looks like you were trying for something based on an idea or something in the wood.

Good Luck on this one! Let us know how it goes.

John :)

[John Hart]

Hey Curtis! What a great chunk of wood! That stuff is awesome. I like the form you were going for and have to agree that the neck needs a smoother transistion...maybe an elegant slope. We were talking about maintaining some symetry a few weeks ago....ala Dennis Peacock. In that discussion, it was decided that the foot should be the same size as the top....but in this case, I'd venture to suggest that the foot should be the same size as the neck. I've been struggling with this myself. Press on!!;) :)

[Travis Stinson]

Curtis, I just played around with a couple different profiles. See what you think.

[Dick Strauss]

Curtis,
It might be the distortion from a close camera at the low angle but it looks a little chunky through the midsection and bottom. The wood and technique look first-rate to me. As a general rule of thumb try a bottom foot diameter about 1/3 the size of the widest part of the piece. In your case, the foot is larger than the opening which makes the piece feel heavy IMHO. Imagine a woman's legs leading to her hips (widest part) leading to her waist (the narrow neck below the flair) and you'll be closer. That's what I think of when I think of a pleasing shape.

I don't mean to sound like a sexist pig. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my description.

OT-I'll be contacting you soon about some mesquite. I wish you the best of luck with your admirable goal of adopting some very lucky kids.

[Cecil Arnold]

Curtis, I think Travis and Dick nailed it. My first impression was chunky, and when I look at the lines Travis drew the one on the right side appeals to me, even though it might not be as stable as the alternative, left line. I shouldn't''t say anything as I've had a piece of hackberry on the chuck for two days now trying to figure out what to do with it.

[Carole Valentine]

Curtis,
It might be the distortion from a close camera at the low angle but it looks a little chunky through the midsection and bottom. The wood and technique look first-rate to me. As a general rule of thumb try a bottom foot diameter about 1/3 the size of the widest part of the piece. In your case, the foot is larger than the opening which makes the piece feel heavy IMHO. Imagine a woman's legs leading to her hips (widest part) leading to her waist (the narrow neck below the flair) and you'll be closer. That's what I think of when I think of a pleasing shape.

I don't mean to sound like a sexist pig. I'm sorry if I offended anyone with my description.

OT-I'll be contacting you soon about some mesquite. I wish you the best of luck with your admirable goal of adopting some very lucky kids.

Guess that's why the shoulders are usually high on my pieces...more of a male profile.:D

[Chris Barton]

Curtis, your piece looks good and it all depends on what you want to have come out of the chuck. In my beginning days (last week) I realized that many of the things I turned didn't look exactly the way I wanted them to but, I wasn't sure why. Then Andy H suggested to me that I consider replicating the looks of classic art forms like the ancient greek vase so I started looking at pictures of the pieces and began planning what I was turning much the way I attempt to plan my flat work. Prior to that I usually only had a vague idea what a finished piece would look like and was simply removing wood. This has greatly helped me. I now either try to draw a full sized model on graph paper or copy a form that I have a picture of or someting of the like.