Ebony & Ivory HF

[George Guadiane]

Another Gabon ebony elephant bites the dust. His little legs and head in a bag...
The foot and rim are elephant ivory, the rim was cut down from a vintage finger ring that had already been carved. I just turned a tenon so that I could mount it on the HF. The foot was an ivory checkers size disc, I turned it down to the size I needed and glued it in place.
The shape leaves a little to be desired, but the piece of wood I had to work with was a bit limiting.
Sanded and 4O steel wool rubbed.
Dimensions:
2 3/4 inches in diameter
2 1/4 inches high
As Always, comments, critiques and questions welcome.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Real nice looking hollow form George! Like your use of exotic materials - nice color contrast!

[Allen Neighbors]

I like it too! I think you mentioned an Ebony Elephant once in another post... I'm looking for one. :)
Well done... nice used of components.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

George...another beautiful piece!


I can almost see ETs eyes in that too..........

[Bernie Weishapl]

George that is beautiful. Well done.

[Alex Elias]

Beatiful piece. Very simple form yet elegant. The use of alternative materials is very good. Being creative like that sets your piece appart. Nicely done,
Congrats,
Alex

[Steve Busey]

As Always, comments, critiques and questions welcome. I love the great white on black look. But inquiring minds what to know - what's with the blue glow underneath it - it is about to launch, or is the base just made out of radioactive ebonium 42? ;^}

[George Guadiane]

I love the great white on black look. But inquiring minds what to know - what's with the blue glow underneath it - it is about to launch, or is the base just made out of radioactive ebonium 42? ;^}
The "blue glow" is probably just the way the light was hitting the little (thin) ivory foot. The picture doesn't show it very well, but it's down there.
(I suppose it could be some kind of quantum light emissions as a result of testing the anti-gravity device I installed?)

[John Hart]

Nice looking piece George. I love the form and the finish. I'm still waffling on the rope-look of the ivory...but it seems to fit this piece (probably just some forgotten child memory involving rope and a dark basement or something). Well anyway, regardless...It's a very "strokable" piece. :)

[George Guadiane]

Nice looking piece George. I love the form and the finish. I'm still waffling on the rope-look of the ivory...but it seems to fit this piece (probably just some forgotten child memory involving rope and a dark basement or something). Well anyway, regardless...It's a very "strokable" piece. :)
(Sorry about your childhood) John,
I like that word... "strokable." It describes a lot of turnings I have seen (most fine wood pieces for that matter). They DO seem to want to be "fondled." All you sickos: DON'T GO THERE! :eek:

[robert hainstock]

REALY NICE GEORGE. I TURNED SOME PENS OUT OF EBONY LAST YEAR AND THEY ALL SPLIT. SEEMS TO BE THE NATURE OF EBONY. DO NOT STORE THE PIECE IN A DRY PLACE. HOPE I'M WRONG. MAYBE THE FORUM SHOULD DISCUSS THE SUBJECT.
I'M NOT TRYING TO BE AN ALARMIST, BUT SEEM TO REMEMBER READING SOMEWHERE ABOUT "THE WELL KNOWN PROBLEM WITH EBONY", WHATEVER THAT MEANT. NICE WORK ANYWAY.
BOB:cool:

[George Guadiane]

REALY NICE GEORGE. I TURNED SOME PENS OUT OF EBONY LAST YEAR AND THEY ALL SPLIT. SEEMS TO BE THE NATURE OF EBONY. DO NOT STORE THE PIECE IN A DRY PLACE. HOPE I'M WRONG. MAYBE THE FORUM SHOULD DISCUSS THE SUBJECT.
I'M NOT TRYING TO BE AN ALARMIST, BUT SEEM TO REMEMBER READING SOMEWHERE ABOUT "THE WELL KNOWN PROBLEM WITH EBONY", WHATEVER THAT MEANT. NICE WORK ANYWAY.
BOB:cool:
Hey Bob,
There were some cracks in the material when I started. The elephants that I cut up were probably more than 50 years old. The wood seems pretty stable, this is the second thing I turned from a cut up ebony elephant carving, the first is holding up fine. You are correct though, ebony can be very unstable, and does seem to want to crack.