Toru 6

Toru 6
Wood: Matai
Diam: 160 mm
Height: 45 mm
Finish: inside vessels lacquer, outside rust

It was pointed out to me that was number 6 not 5, now corrected.

This is the smallest of this multi axis series, which is only half the size of Toru 4. I decided to coat the entire outer surface with the rust this time to give some contrast to the Matai. I think it works quite well with this piece. I started this piece in February and thought it was about time to finish it.
Comments Welcome

Mutant

Woods: Rhododendron, Tawa and Jarrah
Length: 750mm
Height: 350mm

There is more carving in this piece than turning and it had it ups and downs in the design and some of the processes used in the making but I'm pretty happy in the result. I had intended to have this piece more like a mutant monster but this is how it ended up.
The vessel is turned out of green Rhododendron, which would dry and give me some distortion and look more organic. The stem is laminated Tawa, using strips just over 1mm thick and formed and clamped in a MDF pattern.
The leaf is recycled Jarrah, which once was a side of our unused waterbed and had kept to use one day. (I had forgotten how dusty Jarrah was to work and my work shop was covered in red dust) I have laminated a strip of tawa through the centre. The vessel and the stem are air brushed it using acrylic paint.
Comments welcome.

New piece of woodturning

Balance

Wood: Rhododendron
Height: 200mm (8")
Texture: Pyrography and painted

I turned this out of a piece of wet Rhododendron to about 2mm thick and let it dry before doing the pyrography. It has a rounded bottom, which makes it rock if bumped, hence the name Balance.
The photo isn't the best sorry. I found that no mater what light source I used the pale wood over exposed and if I set the exposure for the bottom part of the vessel the picture came out too dark!??

Comments and critique welcome

New piece on the way

This is something new and one comment I have had so far is "you really are mad".
I like to try new things and have new challenges.
I will post a picture of it soon.

Rhododendron Tube

Height: 315mm (12-3/8")
Diam: 70mm (2-3/4")
Finish: Haarlem oil

Richard Raffan's tubes on the last NZ Creative Wood Magazine and tubes by Dick Veitch inspire this piece. I wanted to have a go at one for a while, so here is my version of a tube.
It is turned from green branch Rhododendron that had a bend in it and was hoping that the stress in the bend would allow it to distort when dry.
I turned the out side then turned the inside with a wall thickness of 1.5mm and microwaved it until dry. I stained it with rimu stain then sandblasted it until it broke through in places.
Comments welcome.

Needs a name?

Wood
Sphere: Camphor Laurel
Dowels: Jarrah, Black Maire, Matai, Rimu, Lemon, Macrocarpa, Osage orange
Diam: 125 (5")
Height: 200mm (8")

I am very unsure of this piece and don't even know if I like it. I got half way through making it and was unsure whether I should continue and finish it.
The sphere is drilled, turned, drilled five more 20mm holes at 90 degrees to the original holes then hollowed, scorched and painted with a wash of dark blue. The side holes looked too small and decided to remount it and turn them to about 45mm. I think it looks better but still pretty weird.
What do think?
Sorry the photo isn't the best and, need better lighting.
Comments and critiques welcome.

Turn-fest 2009

Arrived on the Gold Coast at seven thirty on lovely sunny morning and jumped on the next shuttle to the Radisson Resort, which I must say was a pretty impressive place to hold Turn-fest. We checked in and got driven to our room in a buggy and our bags were delivered to our room, a lovely room with a great view as you can see by the photo.


As we had arrived so early Sue thought it would be a good idea to hire a car and drive up to Lamington National Park, which was about an hour and a half a way. We didn't have a heap of time so we decided that the treetop walk would be the best walk to do in the time we had. It was great to walk through the canopy and see the epiphytes and other plants that grow up there, which you wouldn't normally see from the ground.

We arrived back at the Radisson in time to set up my workstation. I was to share with Neil Scobie and I had arranged with Neil to bring along tools that I was unable to bring with me. I had a bit of prep to do before my demo, which was mid morning the next day. After finishing my prep it was time to get cleaned up and meet some of the other demonstrators before dinner. Great line up of demonstrators consisting of; Bonnie Klein, Brendon Stemp, Brian McEvoy, Cindy Drozda, Glenn Roberts, Ken Rraight, Lois Green, Neil and Liz Scobie, Robert Mckee, Terry Martin and Theo Haralampou, who unfortunately was unwell and unable to demonstrate.


I did six rotations of one and a half hours each. My first two I used to demo my leaf form hollow vessel. The second and third I made twisted lidded boxes and the last two I demonstrated one of my toru series which involved a fair bit of multi axis turning. I must admit I showed my audience what not to do when making one of these pieces but managed to resurrect it (with a fair bit of CA glue) enough to continue with the demo. My audience had a bit of a laugh to see one of the demonstrators have a mishap. We can't be perfect all the time!!! LoL



It was a fantastic event, wonderful venue and food. It was great to catch with some of the demonstrators whom I had met over the years and to meet some new ones. David Dresher and a small group of helpers put on the event and I take my hat off to him for putting on such a large event.
I had an awesome time as I'm sure every one else did and hope to get back there some time in the future.