"Love me or Leaf Me" hollow form laser work

[Ernie Kuhn]

Attached foto is from one of our club members that was in the instant gallery in Portland. Demonstrates what some of the artistic possibilities are. About 18" to 20" dia. The recess for each leaf is lasered out of the base maple hollow form and each individual leaf is then lasered out of some contrasting wood. Thought y'all might be interested in some of the goings on here in the desert (Eastern Washington).
Ernie

[rick woodward]

WOW ! That is stunning ! I wonder what that will sell for. I know he has tons of work in it, then the laser work too. Did you do the laser work I guess? I also guess there was a small platform to lay one side of it on to get the top surface level ? Seems tricky lasering it with even that small radius. It would be in focus at the top of the radius but not on each side of the slope? What thickness of veneer ? I wonder if a vacuum bag would be the ticket for this ? Or would it take too long glueing and placeing the inlays to vacuum bag it. Thanks alot for posting it, these inlay pics are really something.

[Belinda Barfield]

That is a beaut! Thanks for posting it. I hadn't thought about contacting turning clubs in the area to see if anyone is interested in lasered items. I surely will now.

[Jacqui Marlin]

Belinda ~ our turning group here in Hilo has a member with a (fancy) machine and he gets a steady business cutting butterflies (they are used across cracks in the wood as a decorative repair) and also all kinds of awards and he did our club nametags on nice wood - there seems to be a lot of business there. One of the other members suggested I might be able to take up his overflow! Gotta learn to use my machine better first.

[Ernie Kuhn]

We are having our monthly woodturner club mtg tomorrow. If Don is there, I will ask him some of the questions that have been posed. Not sure how deep the recesses were "lasered out" or how thick the leaves are. Will ask. It is an absolutely stunning piece in person. I believe it is in one of the photos on the AAW web site in the Instant Gallery.

[Ernie Kuhn]

Rick and Belinda,
Rick, The leaf pieces were slightly less than 1/8" thick, the slight curvature did not present a problem. The pieces were glued in and left slightly "proud" of the surface and then sanded back.
Belinda, a possible idea for your contact with turning clubs; for wedding gifts, I turn a shallow plate and have the wedding invitation laser engraved on it, by the same folks that did the Love me or Leaf me hollow form.
This one is out of redwood, about 15" dia., 3 coats of lacquer sanding sealer before laser engraving.
Ernie

[Frank Corker]

Ernie, lovely work, you have real skills!

[Carol VanArnam]

wow I love the plate. Those folks from the dry side of WA know how to make nice stuff

[Keith Outten]

Absolutely Stunning

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[Ralph Lindberg]

When I first saw that (at Portland), I thought it had been lasered... Glad to know I was right (if you think a photo is impressive, you should see the original)