Ornaments with a twist (or turn?)

[Chuck Jones]

I'm a new woodturner and my wife is an old lampworker. (Maybe I should have phrased that better). We saw Larry Marley's video on turning ornaments and decided to try a different twist. I turned the wood and she made a glass bead Christmas tree, snowman, etc for the figurine inside. We made one of each of our children. They loved them. They didn't even notice that I'm having trouble with the geometry of getting the opening round! Maybe six or eight more and I'll get it.

Here are pictures of a couple extras that got left behind.

[Jerry Allen]

Nice work, Chuck.

[Dan Forman]

Those look great, nice collaboration.

Dan

[Paul Engle]

Yep, nice work you two.:D Them kids will cherish those for a long long time to come. Merry Christmas and thanks for sharing Chuck and Mrs Jones.You know ......they weren't looking at the defects , they were looking at the Love you put into them.....;)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Those are beauties for sure Chuck.

[Bob Hamilton]

Very nice, Chuck! If you are trying for a round opening there is no need to go the "inside outside" route. You can just use a solid piece or glued up piece of wood and bore intersecting holes with a large forstner bit. It is a bit less aggravating than trying to get everything aligned and glued together the way you have to for the inside out ornaments.

Take a look at: http://bobhamswwing.com/Articles/Christmas%20Ornament/Christmas%20Ornament1.htm

Some things I have been doing differently lately rather than the way described in the article:

Boring 1 3/8" holes in 8/4 stock rather than 1 1/2" holes. This makes the corner webs a bit more substantial and reduces the failure rate.... :)

Sanding the inside of the holes at the drill press using the drum sander rather than on the lathe. This is quicker because you can just flip the piece around in your hands rather than having to stop the lathe and re-mount it four times.


Take care
Bob

[Larry Marley]

Hey Chuck,
Those are realy nice!
I learned how to make inside-out ornaments from Curtis Fuller.
Must be a sawmill creek family thing...

Larry

[Chuck Jones]

Thanks Bob, that sounds like a great idea. I'm going to try that. It certainly should speed things up. My wife gets impatient waiting for the glue to dry.

Thanks to the others for the kind comments also. It's not easy being a 68 year old beginner, but I'm enjoying it immensely.

Merry Christmas

[Henry C. Gernhardt, III]

Nice looking work, Chuck. Given what I see there, you might be giving your wife a run for her money soon... I sense segmented lampshades in your future... :)