Here’s a Southwest style bowl that I turned for my wife for Christmas. It is made out of Maple and it is 12 1/4 inches wide and 4 inches high and features ‘sinew’ lacing around the rim as well as a bit of turquoise inlay.

The rim was first stained a Cherry red and then over 15 yards of ‘sinew’ lacing was laced in a criss-cross pattern around it.

There was a small area on the bottom where a branch had been so I cleaned it out and inlayed some crushed turquoise in it.

Both of these features really accent the Maple, adding a bit of Southwest flair.

Here’s some more photos:

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Here’s a large Southwest pot made from Large Tooth Aspen. It is 7″ high X 9 1/2″ at widest diameter and has a 4″ opening. It has been burned with a swirl design, stained and then finished with a semi-gloss spray lacquer.

A couple of months ago I got several large pieces of Aspen from my brother-in-law and sister-in-law’s cottage lot, the same ones that I helped build the bunk beds for.

I made this pot for my sister-in-law for Christmas and also in thanks for the wood. She was quite pleased.

Here’s some more photos:

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Here’s a piece that I created specifically for the Nova Woodturners’ Guild Turning of Age Exhibition last month. I call it ‘Godina’, which, loosely translated, is Croatian for ‘aged’. Here, have a look at why I believe the name is appropriate:

The bowl is made of Maple and has been heavily textured. This was helped by the fact that the wood was fairly punky when I started. It was then painted with a metallic type paint and then over-layed with a layer of Verdi Gris. The base was made of Pine and painted with a crackle paint to match the old, decayed look of the bowl.

The diameter of the bowl is almost 7 inches and it is 4 inches tall. The overall height of the piece is 10 inches and the base is between 4 and 5 inches square.

The different textures, the mix of woodturning with woodworking and the finishes were all really fun to explore.

Here’s a few more photos:

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Here’s a piece that I call the Collection Plate, since it is a shallow, flat-bottomed plate for displaying a collection of items. It could be used for a small collection of brightly coloured stones, perhaps some aptly, appropriate old coins or like in this case, just a few glass balls.

While creating it I was struck by the remembrance of ornate silver collection plates that passed through the church pews during my youth, not like the baskets of today. It’s flat-bottomed bowl left a lot of wood in the base, therefore a fair amount of weight. I left this to give the piece a sense of substance, that no matter what is in the bowl it’s worth is substantial, where mass is relative to worth.

It is made of Birch and it is 10 1/2″ in diameter and 2″ tall. It has a 2″ rim that has been textured. It was finished with tung oil and then buffed using the Beale system.

Here are some more photos:

Continue reading 'A Charming Collection Plate'