Thursday, December 10, 2009

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

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Beautiful work. I don't know anything about pyrography... will you go into a little deeper detail on how you did the bottom? Thanks for sharing!

Robbie said...

Hi Bill,
Pyrography is done using a pyrography machine, which uses a hot wire to burn line, shapes and patterns. If you look closely at the bottom of the piece you will see lines. They are burned using a sharp blade that I have made. The rest of the pattern is then filled in with dots, which are burned in with a fine point. It is very time consuming but it's worth the effort.
I paint the sections with iridescent paint to enhance the pattern. I hope this helps explain the process.
Robbie

Robbie said...

You're very welcome.
Cheers,
Robbie

Unknown said...

Terrific work and you inspire me to spend a little more time on my pieces' exteriors in decorating them.

John, OSR (old shop rat)
WA State, USA

Robbie said...

Thanks John, I'm glad I can be an inspiration and help people on a woodturning journey.