Sunnyslope

It's October, that means it's time for the Sunnyslope Art Walk. A 4 hour show held each on a Saturday evening each April and October. I've done this show 8 or 9 times now and have started to develop a few repeat customers. Turnout was good but sales were a bit slow. Still well worth it.









Maple burl hollow form. All of theses forms have been hollowed through the bottom and the plugged. The hole in the top is a illusion. Large enough to have the appearance that the hollowing was done from the top, but also small enough for people to be impressed. This one is basically flat across the top, not something I usually do.








Bottom view.













Figured Myrtle. This one has a top that curves slightly inward, requiring a slightly different approach when hollowing.











Bottom view.














Last one, red striped Box Elder. This has a more typical shape, curving up slightly at the top around the opening.












Alternate view.
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Artists @ the Arboretum

 Today was the 4th annual Artists at the Arboretum event presented by the Soroptimist International Gold Canyon at Boyce Thompson Arboretum near Superior AZ.  I've been there all 4 years and have done pretty well for a small venue with a relatively inexpensive entry fee.  I only had 7 sales selling a total of 9 items but the average sale price was pretty good so it was overall a pretty good day.  I had my 6 year old daughter with me all day so that was also a plus.

 2 more catch up photos.  These are a pair of figured Eucalyptus hollow forms I started working on about a week ago.  They're from a chunk of wood I sourced from a local firewood lot.  The piece looked different, not quite a burl but also not just straight grain.  I took a small gamble and purchased it, I now wish I had gotten quite a bit more.

Hollowing is partially done, when finished the pieces will be 6" and 4" tall and both 4 1/2" diameter.  The outside shape will be refined and changed as the hollowing proceeds.  It's slow going as this is very hard and very dry end grain Eucalyptus.

Birdhouse

A frustrating night to be sure.  I wanted to make a bidhouse for an upcoming event.  Artists in a show I'm in have been invited to decorate birdhouses that will be raffled off to help raise money for a local non-profit. 

I did another birdhouse for the same event 2 years ago and wanted to try something different.

The body is made out of Cedar, the roof is Walnut Burl.  I had to turn 3 bodies before I got one finished.  I wanted them to be quite thin in order to reduce the weight and I cut through the bottom on the first 2. 

The blanks for both the body and the roof are from pieces I've had for quite a while.  The Cedar came from eBay 5 or 6 years ago, The Walnut Burl came from a trade with another local turner about 4 years ago.

The roof was turned with steps to simulate shingles.  This was further enhanced by burning lines and by texturing the wood with a wire brush.  The ring on the top is copper wire.  Overall size is about 4" diameter and 5" tall.