Maple & epoxy segmented bowl

[mike calabrese]

First attempt at a resin & wood bowl.
Total boat deep pour resin and figured maple .
mike calabrese

[Sam Force]

Very nice!!!

[Tim Elett]

First attempt at a resin & wood bowl.
Total boat deep pour resin and figured maple .
mike calabrese
I like it how are the blue segments with the diamonds made?

[Frederick Skelly]

Love the colors and the design. Yes, tell us how you made the segments with the diamonds please!

[mike calabrese]

Thanks everyone for looking in.
The diamond segments and the base ring were cast in individual molds. The diamonds were cast in maple molds in a slightly oversized shape of each individual segment.
Then trimmed to finished segment size and assembled into the bowl ring. the base disc was built in the same way turned to finished diameter and fit to the base ring.
All were turned to blend with the balance of the bowl and all finished turned as normal.
This was my second set of molds for the diamond segments. On the first set of molds I sealed the bottom of the molds with vinyl tape and the resin mostly leaked out, see that please in one of the pics below.
This is my 3rd bowl hope the pics below tell the story ask any questions and thanks for looking in.
mike calabrese
479533479530479531479532479534

[Jim Hipp]

Very nice indeed. Does the bottom float?

[mike calabrese]

Hi Jim thanks for looking in.
No the bottom does not float. It is fit to a matching bore in the bowl base and fixed with 30 minute epoxy.
I am still on the fence to the value of having or the harm harm of no employing a floating bottom.
In my curiosity I have looked at many you tube videos as well as hundreds of posted pictures and quite honestly it looks like about 80% of the stuff I see is solid bottom built. So with that I guess I am still experimenting and balancing on the fence. I am on my 6th bowl at the moment all will have a fixed base. Additionally I have set up a test so to speak some weeks ago to measure the movement in one of the solid base discs I have made. To date so far the device has not shown any expansion only shrinkage . The picture here shows the rig as unscientific as it may be it serves to give me an idea of what may be going on with the bases I make.
mike calabrese

479551

[Jim Morgan]

Solid base concerns arise when the base is a single piece of wood that expands or contracts (doesn't matter which) along one dimension, in conflict with the segmented ring to which it is attached. In this case, the base itself is segmented, so that concern doesn't apply. However, the maple segments of the base will move with changes in the ambient humidity while the epoxy segments will not, so you may experience some cracking at the maple-epoxy joints. Can't tell how thick the base ended up - the thicker it is, the more likely it will crack.

[David Walser]

Mike -- This is a very nice bowl. I like the form and the design. I think it is cool that the light shows through the blue resin. My only critique is with how the joints of once ring line up with the joints of the ring below and above it. In your bowl, the joints almost, but not quite, line up with each other. Typically, except for a feature ring, the joints would be in a running bond pattern. That is, the joint between two segments would fall in the middle of the segment above or below. This is not a big deal, but I find the bowl a little jarring to my eye simply because it's not what I'd expect to see.

Just a suggestion for consideration with your next bowl.

[Sam Force]

Maybe I missed it, but did you use any type of mold release? Or are the molds one time use?

[mike calabrese]

Hi David,
Thanks for looking in and thanks for the review. I often get caught up in the process more than the result and what you see is what I get.
This happens when a type A personality decides too much time has been devoted re-doing the epoxy molding process and wanting to move on to the next project. It is a result of a combination of attention deficit and crotchety old man syndrome:p .
Never a problem with me when I get help when it comes to coloring within the lines.
mike calabrese

[mike calabrese]

Maybe I missed it, but did you use any type of mold release? Or are the molds one time use?
Hi Sam,
No there was no mold release considered. The intent was to cut away the "pine box" that was the mold . I simply ran the segments / mold assembly through the table saw to get the release. Lastly the ends of the maple blocks were cut to the finished angle and length to for the ring.
Thanks for looking in.
mike calabrese

[Ronald Blue]

Very nice work Mike. I think the turning might have been the easy part of this. The construction was a project in itself. Great job!

[mike calabrese]

Very nice work Mike. I think the turning might have been the easy part of this. The construction was a project in itself. Great job!
Thanks Ronald for looking in. Yes it was a ton of work mostly because it was my first attempt to use resin pre cast in molds then assembled to a ring.
The planning to get the segments to be finished segments took some thinking but we managed after we learned how to seal the mold from leaking:eek:.
I am working on a second resin feature ring but this time I built the ring complete with the cavities for resin using the actual bowl wood and will fill each segment (there will be 8) individually. The picture here is the ring / mold ready for blanking off the outer diameter and addition of the resin one segment at a time.
mike calabrese479610