Twisted lidded boxes

Boxes: Blackwood, Spalted Tawa and Eucalyptus
Lids: Six are black Maire and the other two I am unsure of the wood, might be ash but it seems too yellow!
Height: 120mm - 135mm
Diam: 90mm - 95mm

I have been making a few boxes, this time with no texture on the lids as the client wanted them plane but with different woods.

Five of these boxes are for an order for a gallery in Nelson so I thought I might as well make eight. I have the other three in my gallery. I finally made some jaws out of black maire for my chuck so I can grip inside the top of the box to return the bases. The way I used to do it was, turn a jam-chuck but it was time consuming to alter it for each box, the jaws make the job much easier. The profile of the jaws matches the top of the box so they don't damage the box.
Comments welcome

My latest woodturning

Iwa
Wood: Tasmanian Blackwood (NZ grown)
Diameter: 370mm (14-1/2")

I started this piece at Participation (put on by South Auckland Woodturners Guild) in September and finally finished it today. The leaves are about 2-3mm thick and the bowl is 10mm so the piece is very light. I had planed to colour the leaves but decided against it. I like the black as it works well with the reddish colour of the wood. Quite a few hours doing the pyrography and sanding on this piece but you get that or should I say, I make pieces that require lots of hand finishing. lol

Comments welcome

Art à la Carte Exhibition

Art à la Carte Exhibition is over for another year. It was a great weekend meeting new artists and new clients. The weather was fantastic all weekend, sunny and warm but we had fewer people through this year. I guess we could put that down to the financial status of the country but who knows. We all had sales so it worked out OK but well down on last year.

A big thank you to our host Malcolm for supplying the food and wine for the opening night and putting up with the Artists taking over his lodge for the weekend.

The pictures show art pieces in the lodge and the grounds of Breckenridge Lodge.
My koru sculptures are the ones I've been working on with Fiona and Hugh. I decided to give them a rusty look and I am very pleased the way they came out.

Eco Chic Exhibition Open

I couldn't make it to the opening of the Eco Chic opening on Friday night as I was demonstrating at the Tauranga Woodcrafters Annual Show and Sales Day. It was a three day event and ran from Friday to Sunday and I demonstrated for the three days.


Sue and I went to the exhibition yesterday and was amazed at some of the work, the paper folded art in particular.
I entered my two pieces, which were my Voyager Recycled and Ceremonial Bowl 4.


I have added a few pics of the exhibition and hope the other artists don't mind.
Click on images for larger view.
List of Artists.

• Anna Gundesen
• Carole Parker
• Clare Cavanagh
• Eleazar Bramley
• Jenna McKelvey
• Joan Taylor
• Jonathan Baxter
• Julie McDowell
• Lee Hemming
• Marcel Zwezerijnen
• Marti Wong
• Myself

Eco Chic

This is my entry into Eco Chic Exhibition at the Taupo Museum and Art Gallery. It's just about finished. I decided to make it a birdbath and feeder, it will have shallow metal trays in the top for water and food. Not a lot of woodturning in this piece, only the ends are turned then carved to take the steel ties.

Comments welcome, Robbie

Kawerau Woodskills Festival 2008

I went over to Kawerau yesterday to see the competition and to pick up my entries and looks as though the weekend went pretty well. Quite a few pieces sold this year but unfortunately none of mine, however I did manage to pick up a few prizes.

I have been trying to win the Open Artistic category for quite some time so I am very pleased with the result.

1st in Open Artistic

Highly Commended in Open Artistic

Second in Open traditional

Highly Commended in Open Traditional

Recycled Voyager

Progression of my latest Voyager for the Taupo exhibition. The post that it is sitting on is only temporary, the finished piece will sit on an old fence post. I have coated the wood ends with instant rust to give the appearance that it is all steel.

October Exhibition at the Taupo Museum and Art Gallery

I have been invited by the Taupo Museum to participate in and exhibition where the art pieces have to be made out of recycled materials.
This piece is going to be one of my voyager series but instead of using wood I will be using the diagonal cross arm supports from old power poles. The pieces of wood on the ends were destined for the fire but this is a better use for the wood, which is Lawson Cypress.
Watch this space for progress pics and info. Cheers, Robbie

November Exhibition, Art à la Carte

Art à la Carte November 15-16 10am to 5pm Breckenridge Lodge Hawke's Bay New Zealand.
Website for Breckenridge is http://www.breckenridgelodge.co.nz/

We decided to keep the name for this year's exhibition the same as last year.
The Artist lineup for this year so far is

Sue Graham (paintings)
Robbie Graham (Woodturning and outdoor sculptures)
Fiona Tunnicliffe (Clay sculptures)
Hugh Prosser (Decorative and functional tableware)
Russel Evenson (Bronze Sculptures)
Doug Anderson (Wood sculptures)
Mandy Olson (Outdoor clay sculptures)
Gerard McMullan (Stone sculpture)
Ricks Terstappen (Sculpture)

Cheers, Robbie

November Exhibition

Sue and I are having an exhibition in the Hawke's bay with a group of friends 14-16 November and we plan on having some great new works.

we will be having bronze and clay sculptures also inside art pieces including paintings and woodturning.

I will put a list of the other artist on soon so watch this space.

Fiona Tunnicliffe is giving me some help and guidence in making clay korus for my sculptures. see attached pics.

Cheers, Robbie

This a new piece I've been working on, enjoy.

Cheers, Robbie