Miniature Birdhouse Ornaments and Bottle Stoppers - Olbrich Show

Here are some photos of the Miniature Birdhouse Ornaments and the Bottle Stoppers that I turned and had for sale at the Olbrich show.

DSC04665

 

DSC04666

 

DSC04668

 

DSC04671

 

DSC04672

 

DSC04743

 

DSC04745

 

DSC04747

 

BotStopGrp - 1

 

BotStopGrp - 2

 

BotStopGrp - 3

 

BotStopGrp - 4

 

Olbrich Show 10/28/12

Here are some photos from the recent Olbrich Gardens show, which we co-sponser with the local woodcarvers club. The first two show the "People's Choice" challenge table, where the public votes on which submission they like the best.  The third photo is our raffle table, where donated turnings by our members were raffled off as a fund-raiser for our club activities.  (Scott Jameson is wearing the turned wood cowboy hat he won at the raffle at Hannes Michelson's demonstration in September, where he turned the hat from a block of maple.)  The fourth photo is my vendor table at the show.  And the last photo is a close up of my "Ball Jar" goblets entry in the People's Choic, which was captioned "Cocktails to go."  (They were purchased by an attendee at the show.)

I had a very good show, in terms of sales - and a lot of fun, too!  My experience at the show, as well as feedback from other vendors, suggest that lower priced items moved pretty well, and more expensive ones not so much.  Sign of the economic times, I suspect.

 

People's Choice - 1

 

People's Choice - 2

 

Raffle Table

 

My vendor table

 

"Cocktails to Go"

 

Shallow, Elongated Elm Bowl

This elm bowl was turned from wood from a different elm tree than the two bowls posted earlier today, and had its own interesting characteristics - principally that as it dried it went a good deal out-of-round, and therefore appears almost oval in shape; the rim is also a little "wavy."  The bowl is ⅝" wider across the long diameter (9 ½") compared to the short one (8 ⅞").  It stands 2 ½" high at the rim.  I also did a little more decorating on the bottom of the bowl than I typically do, as shown in the photos.  This bowl is finished with several coats of Minwax Wipe-On Poly (Gloss).

DSC04577

 

DSC04578

 

DSC04579

 

DSC04590

 

DSC04591

 

DSC04596

 

DSC04597

 

Rimmed Mulberry Crotch Bowl

I turned this smallish mulberry bowl from a piece of crotch wood I picked up in one of our club raffles.  Mulberry turns nicely and finishes nicely too.  This bowl is 8" across at the rim and is 1 ½" high.  It is finished with Minwax Antique Oil Finish.

DSC04575

 

DSC04576

 

DSC04588

 

DSC04589

 

DSC04595

 

Rimmed Elm Bowl

This bowl was turned from the same elm tree wood as the one in the previous post.  It has some interesting grain and color variation and several small knots.   In order not to lose any more depth than necessary I kept the pith in (nearest the rim) and it developed some radial cracks - as pith will usually do - which had to be glued.  (Naturally I didn't take any photos of that aspect.)  This bowl is 8" in diameter and 2 ¾" high.  It is also finished with Minwax Antique Oil Finish.

DSC04573

 

DSC04574

 

DSC04586

 

DSC04587

 

DSC04594

 

Deep Elm Bowl w/ Branch

This elm bowl had a branch running into the blank, which made it very interesting but a little difficult to turn.  The bowl measures 8 ¾" across and is 4 ½" high.  It is finished with Minwax Antique Oil Finish.

DSC04571

 

DSC04572

 

DSC04584

 

DSC04585

 

DSC04592

 

DSC04593

 

Spalted Tamarind Pepper (or Salt) Mill

This Spalted Tamarind grinder stands 10 ½" tall and is about 2 ¾" across at its widest point.  I turned it from a 12" x 3" x 3" block purchased locally.  Tamarind is a tropical tree, indigenous to Africa but which now grows all over the tropical areas of the globe, from Africa to SE Asia to Mexico.  It's fruit is used in numerous cuisines.  The spalted wood is quite vivid in appearance, with sharp lines and dark patches.  It turns very nicely.  In this mill, in contrast to the two in the previous post, I used a grinder mechanism with the traditional shaft that runs from the grinding mechanism to the top of the grinder (see last photo).  The ceramic "Crush Grind" mechanism itself is identical to the ones used in the apple wood mills.  

The usual practice in turning a mill such as this one is to turn a tenon on the top to fit into the grinder base.  On figured or spalted wood this results in a design gap: about a half-inch loss of pattern or figure between the top and the base.  Here I instead added an interior "sleeve" (of hard maple) to perform the same function.  This allowed me to retain the full pattern of the spalting (with only 1/16" missing, from the parting tool cut), which is virtually continuous from top to base, as it was in the original blank.

DSC04309

 

DSC04310

 

DSC04311

 

DSC04312

 

DSC04313

 

DSC04314

 

DSC04315

 

DSC04316

 

DSC04317

 

DSC04318