Guardian

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

This is a commission for Marriot Hotels. It was arranged through an Atlanta design company after they inquired about my piece, “Unity”. “Unity” was not available; it found a very nice home shortly after its creation. I don’t do duplicates, so this is what I suggested.

As with several of my larger sculptural pieces, this features a numeral. The number seven is represented throughout. With a casino near the hotel, #7 seemed appropriate.

What appear to be seven spiraling ridges is actually just one continuous ridge which makes seven revolutions before returning to its starting point – a mobius if you will.

Seven types of wood – canarywood and purpleheart, with small pieces of bloodwood, blue mahoe, Texas ebony, yellowheart, and holly

37” tall, including the granite stand.

There are 3196 individual pieces of wood, which just happens to be as close as I could get to “7x7.7x7.7x7.7” (seven sevens).

A crosscut of the donut reveals a seven-pointed star (a heptagram) which is a traditional symbol for warding off evil. Most American sheriff's badges are heptagrams - hence the title, “Guardian”.

Finished with General Finishes High Performance (water-based satin)

As always, all comments are welcome.

[David Walser]

Malcolm,

That is a stunning piece. Do you know where Marriott will have it on display? It's something I would be willing to go out of my way to see in person.

[robert hainstock]

You give all of us less gifted turners something to aim for. Exceptionaly well done. :D:D:D:D:D
Bob

[Gary Herrmann]

Amazing work

[Bill Wyko]

Malcolm, as always your work takes it to a whole other level. The technique of doing 7 laps to get back to the start is incredible. A+++ once again. Question, do you turn a piece round then cut it and reverse the individual pieces?

[Tom Bucanan]

This piece is absolutely breathtaking. I don't even know where to begin. But, how do you create such a sculpture? Is it turned? Carved? ...? It is just amazing

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful Malcolm. Very unique.

[Ben Gastfriend]

Awsome! Absolutely amazing! I second the question as to where it is going to be displayed!

[Paul Douglass]

WOW! said my message was to short?! I just don't know what wlse to say

WOW!

[Richard Madison]

Some wonderful optical illusions at work there. Appears to be made from about 240 hexagonal rings. Can not see them as heptagonal. That is some seriously precision sanding and fitting. Maybe time for another book? Art of Incredibly Advanced Segmented ---.

[curtis rosche]

awsome
try making a ring of solid wood using all the main wood types it would be helpful to everyone else i think for design purposes to beable to see alot of the woods next to each other and you are the best person to do it

[jeremy levine]

WOW WOW WOW
-I hope there a few photos of how you did it, so future generations won't think it came from another dimension.

[Don Robert]

Malcolm,

Marvelous piece. Your abilities to visualize/conceptualize a design, detail it, and then construct it are exceptional. How did you (and why did you) keep those talents suppressed during your "first life" in the skiing industry?

Do you have any "under construction" pictures that could share with us so that we can better understand where the lathe was used?

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

Thanks everyone for the supportive comments.

This will be in a Marriott Hotel in Stateline, NV.

Don, I didn't take any construction photos of this one, but I do have some from a similar 5-sided piece. The turning portion is quite small and could have been eliminated completely. The concave curves that exist between the ridges were turned by first turning each 7-sided ring insideout. The seven sides were held in a jig (not glued into a ring) and a consistent curve was turned on the inside. Then the individual segments were mitered and glued with those curves facing outwards. There was no other lathe work in the rest of the project; just a lot of hand-shaping to eliminate all the ridges between the rings as they were stacked and twisted into the final shape. Hope this makes sense.

[Bill Wyko]

I gotta hand it to you Malcom, you shure think in the unconventional relm. I really like the idea of inside out work.

[Tom Sherman]

That piece has some serious WOW factor. I sat here in amazement just looking at it. Great work Malcomb.

[Don Eddard]

You never cease to amaze, Malcolm. Great work, leagues ahead of most of us mortals.

[John Terefenko]

As always your work leaves those that view it speechless. Your imagination and knowledge is extrodianry. Us mere mortals can only wish we can get 1/8th that good. Fantastic work and seeing it up close would be even more breathtaking. Continued success.

[John Abt]

Malcolm,

I am always amazed with your designs. I wish that I had half of your imagination and skills.:rolleyes:

John

[Glenn Hodges]

Awsome Malcom

[Jim Meier]

first, that is amazing, ridiculous really... WOW

second,so...if the segments were first turned "inside out" then this is hollow, right?
third, how did you determine the chamfer (is that the right word?) angle for each of the 7-sided rings in order to get them to form a perfect circle? and how did you finish the clued edges?

I dont want all your trade secrets, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the construction techniques here...

Thanks for sharing this piece
Jim

[Malcolm Tibbetts]

first, that is amazing, ridiculous really... WOW

second,so...if the segments were first turned "inside out" then this is hollow, right?
third, how did you determine the chamfer (is that the right word?) angle for each of the 7-sided rings in order to get them to form a perfect circle? and how did you finish the clued edges?

I dont want all your trade secrets, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the construction techniques here...

Thanks for sharing this piece
Jim

Jim, I don't have any trade secrets and I frequently demonstrate my techniques. The mitering of the completed 7-sided rings is done with a drum sander; rings are secured to a tray with a shim under one side. The basic technique is in my book, but with the twist feature, the rings have to be positioned on the trays correctly in order to maintain their correct position within the overall donut. The final finishing of the donut surface required a lot of abrasive carving and power sanding.

[Pete Jordan]

Thanks for sharing your art!