Bowls 2005
01 / 20
Since last Christmas, December 2004, I have been working mostly on large pieces. During the summer of 05, I assembled all the pieces that I completed until then and arranged them on the wall of our house on Culver's Lake.
02 / 20
The opening photo is the display. Following are details of those pieces. Some require comment and some don't. I composed these photos for vertical display, but they are bigger and clearer as a horizontal web presentation. I hope it's not too weird!!!
03 / 20
The piece above was entered into a competition at the AAW (American Association of Woodturners) convention in Kansas City. The theme was "Return To Oz". It is maple burl and about 15" in diameter, with a gold leaf applique.
04 / 20
This one was purchased by the Museum of Arts and Design in NY. I named the design "Four Squares." It is Jarrah Burl and 13" square. Jarrah burl comes from Australia.
05 / 20
I called this "Crick" for the double helix appearance. Most of the pieces in this folder are between 14" and 15" in diameter.
06 / 20
I called this design "Wiggly Squares". I have made 3 of them and still have them. This one is made from Teak. I made them mostly because I enjoy the process of setting up the fixtures to make them.
07 / 20
The driving force in this design was the six small circles. That, combined with the "Wiggly Square" fixture produced this decidedly ethnic looking piece. It cracked one day and I put it in a box, where it will stay for quite a while....
08 / 20
This is the design (only in a smaller version), and wood (teak), that the curator of the Museum of Arts and Design saw, liked and requested a larger version. At the time I made this it was the largest and best piece that I had made.
09 / 20
This piece is "Swiss Pear." The shape is a reverse curve similar to the "Return to Oz" piece. For a 15" diameter I need a piece of wood at least 2 1/2" thick. Not easy to get in kiln dried wood.
10 / 20
This piece, mahogany, was made using the same "wiggly square" jig. As with all my recent work I am using only enough ribs on the back to hold the piece together. this piece has a double rib on the outside and one double 1/3 of the way down.
11 / 20
I had a piece of walnut that had this dark stripe in it. When I started to cut it., it reminded me of a comet. The swirls and jagged edge completed the effect.
12 / 20
The "Wiggly Square" fixture applied to this piece plus the "Comet" idea gave me the name for this series of pieces. I decided to call them my "Solar Series" for the radiating arms and central orb.
13 / 20
This piece and the "Return To Oz" piece came out of the same incredible piece of Maple Burl. The wood positively radiated. For your information, this quality is called chatoyance. I named this piece "Sun Ra."
14 / 20
Another "Sun Series" piece.
15 / 20
After making the "Four Square" piece for the Museum of Arts and Design, I had the idea of adding a circle imprint to the surface. This wood is Swiss Pear with a large piece of core wood. The obvious name for this piece was "Circle In A Square."
16 / 20
Jarrah Burl and "Circle In A Square." It is almost impossible to get the lighting to fully outline the effect but it is really wonderful.
17 / 20
I originally wanted to make this piece as an inverted shape, similar to "Sun Ra." The two inclusions made that impossible. The final design worked with the inclusions. The cross hatch design came from some really early pieces.
18 / 20
I bought a plank of Cocobolo, (from the rosewood family) 16" wide and 4" thick. Cocobolo is very hard and highly figured. Because of how it holds together I can create details as small as 1/16" square. this is the ultimate expression of my craft and design.
19 / 20
This is a detail of the area at the center. The face ribs swirl outward to the right, while the back ribs are direct. The pattern is really wonderful. Each of the back ribs are .065" wide and the spaces are .100" The yellow portion at the outside is part of the wood.
20 / 20
This piece is English Yew. While the cocobolo piece has straight back ribs, these ribs both swirl in opposite directions. The shadow it casts when lit is wonderful. I have not been able to figure out how to light the pieces, showing the shadow and not destroying the piece.