Alder and Purpleheart Bottle Stopper

I did something funny. I bought a couple of bottle stoppers but I forgot to buy the mandrel. This past week, I finally decided to buy the mandrel so I could make a couple for Christmas gifts. In anticipation of making them I started searching the Internet for different designs. Honestly I could not find a shape that really appealed to me. Even though I will probably give them away I wanted something that once on would fit in my refrigerator. I also wanted something that functionally would be easy to pull out.

Not even realizing I would be using them, I made a bunch of Purpleheart button inlays. This automatically led to design you see. After making a few more I realized this was the best form of the bunch. The proportions are good and I like the way the Alder flares off from the stopper. A couple of the ones I made later did not have this and the form suffered (see the last picture). I did perfect the inlay in later renditions.

Note: If you use Firefox for your web browser (and everyone should), try downloading the Cooliris plugin. This is what I use for searching for images to motivate and inspire. If you try it, let me know what you think.

Tim

-- www.responsetolight.com - A Woodworking & Renovation Blog & www.craftedbytim.com - I make. You buy.