Collared vase

I finished my portion of the collaboration piece. I did a little more hollowing, then finished off the bottom. I did decide to put a decorative collar around the rim.
















Top view. The collar is made of some Katalox I've had sitting on the shelf for 6 or 7 years. It was the right thickness for this purpose and the color should provide a nice contrast to the Magnolia body.
















The collar removed and turned upside down. The joint is tight enough I don't think glue is necessary. This is a similar process but a little different than the collars I made for my recent hollow form and the foot on the Birdseye maple bowl. In this case the recess is on the inside of the ring, not the outside. Requiring a rethink and a different approach.

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Trick or Treat

 The President's Challenge for January is "Collaborations".  I was contacted by another club member the other day, he was looking for another member in his area to collaborate with and it turned out that he wasn't that far from my house.  He brought over this piece late last week, it's a piece of Magnolia he roughed out a few (5-6) years ago.

 It's end grain from a whole log section and had a significant amount of tearout near the rim.  It was left nice and thick when he roughed it out so there was plenty of left to play with to improve the shape and get it down to a reasonable weight.

 After finishing most of the hollowing I started working on shaping the outside.  I might remove a little more on the inside near the bottom.  It's currently 9 3/8" deep and about 4 1/2" at the widest point.  I'm considering adding a contrasting rim to help dress it up a bit.

 Last night between trick-or-treaters I chucked up this chunk of maple and went to work.  It's turned on a total of 4 axis and has my normal 120 degree twist.  

 3 of the axis are on the outside to give it the triangular shape and the twist.  The 4th axis is the true center used for the top, bottom, and the inside.

I wish the base were a little smaller, it would make the piece appear lighter and more delicate than it truly is.  Realistically this piece will never be very light because of the thicker walls, particularly in the corners.  I'm also considering adding a collar or lid/finial combination to this piece to help dress it up.

Collaborations

Both of these pieces are at least a couple years old, both are also collaborations with my Mom.  First is a Mesquite hollow form I turned 2 or 3 years ago.  My mother asked for several pieces that she could do some carving on.  She's done some relief carving on a couple other pieces I've given her so I thought she'd do more of the same so this piece was left between 1/4-3/8" thick.  Little did I know she intended to pierce it.  Thickness is the enemy of piercing so this took 10X longer than it would have taken if the piece was turned to 1/8" thick.


She surprised me by giving it back to me as my Christmas gift in 2009.  I know how much work went into this which makes me appreciate it even more. 




This piece is some Honey Locust I got from Boyce Thompson Arboretum several years ago.  I turned a smal hollow form while it was still green but the rim cracked.  I sent it to my Mom and she cut, carved, and painted it in a Southwest motif before sending it back.




She and I were talking about this piece recently and she thought it was a gourd, not wood.

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