"Turning over a new leaf"

New piece called "Turning over a new leaf. The piece is Tawa and Jarrah. It is about 350mm long and is off set turned to 8mm at the thick end and 3mm at the small end. The pieces of wood are leftovers from mutant two.
I must admit I nearly gave up on this piece as It went through a stage where I hated it but I'm glad I persevered and finished it.
Comments welcome.

Mutant II

Woods: Vessel, Matai. Leaf and Stem, Jarrah and Tawa and the tongue, Rewarewa driftwood.
Length: 500mm (19-5/8")
Height: 160mm (6-1/4")

The seed pod is based on a deformed Pittosporum seed, which had two sections instead of three and thought it would work well with this piece.

I entered it into a Manawatu Open Day woodturning competition on Sunday May 16 2010 and got the best unturned piece the Wellington Woodworkers Trophy. Not quite sure where the judge was coming from but you can never tell what will happen on the day!!!

Lake Taupo Woodturning Jamboree 2010

Hi All,
Another great Jamboree has come and gone. We have had great feedback from quite a few participants which is great. There were forty five lathes this year, which was up on last year and it was great to see nearly all used.
I would like to thank Roger Maybe from the Hawke’s Bay club for bringing extra lathes.

It was great to see the competition tables with so many pieces on them, well up on last year. Lots of pieces made over the weekend were also added, which was great to see. Thanks to all who put pieces on the tables and to Rex Haslip for judging the tables.










On behalf of the club I would like to thank all who helped put the Jamboree on as it wouldn’t happen without your input. Setting up, organising the raffle prizes, catering and cleaning up at the end.

Looking forward to the next one and maybe I’ll get a bit more turning done!!!

See you all at the next one.
Cheers,
Robbie

"What's Eating You?"

Releaf XIII

Wood: Ancient Kauri (swamp kauri) and Jarrah
Length: 280mm (11”)
Width: 140mm (5-1/2")
Height: 90mm (3-1/2)
Finish: Rust, Haarlem oil then buffed


This is the first leaf with a couple of strips of Jarrah laminated through the piece of Kauri. I wasn't sure if it would work and line up with the grain when turned but it was very close and followed the curve of the grain. The vessel is about 3 to 4 mm thick with the top about 1.5mm where it is pierced.
The piece of Kauri had a couple of defects and decided to use them and make them look like the leaf had been eaten. I cut them out and added some rust, which worked quite well. What do you think?

C & C welcome

Yew Vessel

Three-sided Yew vessel

Height: 90mm (3-1/2")
Diam: 75mm (2-2/4")
Finish: Haarlem oil and wax

This is another three-sided piece using multi axis, three top and three bottom plus the centre for the rounded form and turning the inside.
I haven't turned much yew and found this piece beautiful to turn. The fine grain works well with this small piece, one of the smallest pieces in this series.

C & C welcome.

Cherry Vessel with leaves

Height: 210mm (8-1/4")
Diam: 130mm (5-1/8")
Finish: Haarlem oil

This was turned out of a green piece of Flowering Cherry grown in Taupo and turned to 2 - 3mm thick. It was going to have a round bottom but it was a bit unbalanced so I flattened off and added the pattern. The pattern is done with pyrography, painted with black and gold then the iridescent green and blue painted last. My wife Sue thinks I'm mad adding so much detail to the bottom, when you can't see it and thinks it should be displayed on its side.

Comments and critique welcome

Waharoa

Right picture, Delani and I.

Waharoa
Height: 9m (30 feet)
Width at base 4.5m (14 feet)
Carving: Totara
Legs: Steel

I haven't been in my workshop much lately as I have been helping with this Sculpture.
A Master carver Delani Brown, a friend of mine was commissioned to carve this piece. It is a gift to the Taupo community from Contact Energy and to celebrate 50 years of Geothermal
Power at the Wairakei Power Station.
Not a lot of turning but the plugs that cover the bolts are turned!!! I helped
design the legs and was the liaison between the architects and the steel fabricators
and Delani.
I started off making Delani a scale model to show him how his drawing
would look in 3D and work out how tall the piece was going to be when finished.
I have been working for the last three to four months on this project, cutting
out rot and replacing it with solid wood. The logs have been down for about
seventy years or so and some of the heartwood had started to rot and had to
be removed. One section we replaced was so heavy four of us couldn't lift it.
Each carving weighs a tonne, so there is total of three tonne of wood up
there. Fitting the carving to the steel work was a mission in itself, which
ended up being one of my jobs; I also did the red paintwork.
On Wednesday 10th Nov at midnight we fitted the carvings to the steel work
so the public wouldn't see it being erected. Each of the carvings was covered
in black plastic while we were fitting and once fitted the plastic was replaced
with a large black fabric cover. The sculpture wasn't to been seen by anyone
until the unveiling, which was five thirty the next Saturday morning. Nobody
had seen the finished sculpture, not even Delani until then. It's all to do
with Maori protocol and to be a surprise to the Taupo public.
It has been an amazing project and has been a privilege to work with Delani.
It's given me a greater understanding of Maori protocol and history.
Now you can see why I haven't been in my workshop lately!
Now it's up, I can get back into my workshop.
Robbie