Several more hours of carving done over the weekend. Starting to get the depth into rough shape.
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Worked for a while this past weekend on the rough carving. 
Started a new, big hollow form on 9/19/2015. I was given so big blanks of Maple by my friend and fellow woodturner Chuck Lobaito. This piece should finish out around 15" tall. This day was spent turning the form, and now it needs to dry for a short while before i start the carving. 
Turning and drawing done, now it just need to dry a while befor the carving starts.
Turning done, about 3/8" thick.
Its a large, deep piece so I used a steady for some extra support during hollowing.
Started between centers for the majority of the outside shaping.
This is a little box made from Pear wood, with a hammered copper top.    I have been pretty busy during the past few month and haven't had very much time in the shop. Work has been busy, and I have been taking some welding and metal fabricating classes in the evenings. I've always been interested in metal work, both as a method for constructing and customizing my own woodworking tools, and as a decorative element to merge with my wood art. I haven't quite figured out how to do that yet, but am having fun thinking over the possibilities. In the meantime I have been learning a lot about metal as a material and metalwork in general, and have been outfitting an area in the shop with some nice metalworking equipment (always fun to get some more tools). It was really great to find a little time these past couple of weeks to get back to some woodworking. These are some in process pictures of my latest piece. Its a little Sycamore and African Blackwood box, carved with an Escher-type pattern called a tessellation. His work has always appealed to me, and it seems to add a lot of interest, and to my eye at least, works well on these small pieces.  #1. Pattern sized. #2. Carving done and taped for painting. #3. Background india inked to ready for painting. #4. Brush painting and airbrushing done. Finally finished it tonight. Last of the painting done, a few coats of lacquer and glued in the top ring. Fun piece. I hope you enjoyed the in-process pictures. 
I finished the airbrushing today. Now on to the brush work. I need to redye the background and paint the stems. Done for today though. Time to get cleaned up and ready for a fantastic Easter turkey dinner!  Today I dyed the entire piece black in preparation for painting, and turned an African Blackwood collar and base for the finial. It was good to get back on the lathe after a couple weeks of carving. Hoping to start the painting tomorrow, after I watch Michigan State beat up on Duke this evening :)  I finished the final sanding, shaping and texturing of the leaves today. I’m hoping to have it airbrushed tomorrow.  |
