Cholla vase

[Jerry Marcantel]

I've been messing around with Cholla for awhile now, but most blow up on me. I'm on this quest for "Thin", so that presents a problem with this material.
This form is the first one I cast in resin, and it needed more resin than I had. When I tried to vacuum cast the resin, the form was too tall for my casting dome. I couldn't reach full hg because of the boiling effect that vacuuming liqiuds causes and it started running over the dam I built on the rim. I had to stop in the middle of vacuuming, so some of the colored resin looks like foan. It's not totally done as I don't have the proper hollowing tools yet to get it deep enough.... It's 5 9/16" od x 6 5/8" tall and about 1/8" thick just below the 1/4" rim. Depth is 5 1/4 and should be about 6 3/8" so when I get the proper tools,I'll finish hollowing.. On the bright side, it's still in one peice...... Comments welcomed........ Jerry (in Tucson)

IMG_1152.jpgIMG_1156.jpgIMG_1153.jpgIMG_1152.jpgIMG_1150.jpgIMG_1151.jpg

[Alan Trout]

Jerry,

That is awesome. I could not imagine trying to turn that stuff thin without it being stabilized. By the way a piece for you is still on the list.

Alan

[John Keeton]

Jerry, I am impressed!! I am curious on the bottom - isn't Cholla hollow all the way? BTW, very nice axe on which the vase is sitting! Much more narrow than what we usually see here in KY.

[Steve Schlumpf]

That's really cool! Cholla sure has a lot of character and I think you may have found a neat way to turn it! Like John, I noticed the axe head... much more narrow than the one my Dad found in Wisconsin when he was a kid!

[charlie knighton]

amazing, good idea on the resin, nice ax head, thanks for sharing

[Jerry Marcantel]

Jerry, I am impressed!! I am curious on the bottom - isn't Cholla hollow all the way? BTW, very nice axe on which the vase is sitting! Much more narrow than what we usually see here in KY.

John and Steve, thanks for asking about the axe head. That's pretty much the standard size I've seen here......
John, this particular cholla is at dirt level or root ball, hence an almost solid bottom. I had this piece for awhile, and don't remember hosing and washing it.
Here are a couple pictures of my gouge before and after 30 seconds of trying to hog out the bottom. I made this gouge from a 3/4" high speed drill bit, and it looks like it's mild steel after encountering the dirtand rocks in the bottom.... You can actually see a negative burr in the second picture after a short pass.
IMG_1144.jpgActually, both pic are of a dull gouge, but just imagine it as being sharp. I tried removing the picture 1147, and inserting another in it's place, but the program won't let me
Alan, I live on the edge, so it took me awhile to realize I should stabilize cholla. My biggest problem is I'm more poor than most, and don't have anymore resin. I know it doesn't look that way, but I have weird priorities...... Rocks and all, you know..... Hehehe.......... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Bernie Weishapl]

Now that is interesting wood. Nice vase and love the axe.

[Barry Richardson]

Very cool! Gonna have to keep my eye out for a nice fat cholla stump and give it a try.

[Greg Ketell]

Jerry, I really like your shape and what you are trying to do with the cholla.

One thing you might try (if you haven't already) is to turn/sand/finish the outside of your turning then wrap it snugly with blue masking tape, then wrap that snugly with gorilla tape. Now it can't blow apart. Hollow/sand/finish the inside. (be careful since the tape makes it look thicker than it is). Carefully unwrap or cut the gorilla tape to remove. The blue tape will come right off without any damage to your piece.

Good luck and I really look forward to seeing one of these completed!

[Jerry Marcantel]

Barry, I looked at your profile and saw the you're at Luke. You won't find any of those cholla's around there according to a guy that lives in Wittman. He's asked me to supply some to him as all the ones he's seen around there might grow up to 3" od max., and the ones around here can be up to 12" od but most average 6". Come down to Tucson, and I'll take you out to get some. The actual name for this cactus is Cylindropunita Fulgida. The distribution is south central Arizona to western Sonora and Sinoloa, Mexico. Isn't Phoenix in central Arizona? Too far up for this cactus, I believe....... ...... Jerry (in Tucson)

Very cool! Gonna have to keep my eye out for a nice fat cholla stump and give it a try.

[Jerry Marcantel]

Gregg, thanks for the kind words on the shape. I actually thought it was awful until I got some hollowing done. The general shape of the trunk pretty much dictated what I was going to do.
As far as the blue tape goes, that's what I did, and you're right, it's very hard to tell how thin it is. But with all the holes, it was pretty easy.
I forgot to mention that I did do some building on the piece because there were some pretty large voids....... .... Jerry (in Tucson)

[Baxter Smith]

Looks great Jerry! I have often thought that casting would be a great way to go with these. Good luck with your next one!

I've been messing around with Cholla for awhile now, but most blow up on me. .........

Been there done that! I got the bright idea about a month ago that I would make a NE vase with the roots of your cactus being the top. I was trying to drive the root end with your chuck plate and had a cone center in the tailstock. Because the top was so uneven, I was having to apply a lot of pressure into the center of the cactus from the tailstock end to get it to grab. Just like driving a wedge and trying to turn at the same time. Not too bright! Should have made another chuck plate for my revolving chuck adaptor on the tailstock end. The inside on the lower part ended being pretty rotten so I may have been doomed from the start.

[Michelle Rich]

definatly has the pucker factor !!!