Blue

Weird, wooden pottery, I LIKE IT!

-- mtnwild (Jack), It's not what you see, it's how you see it.

why not use a cheaper wood if you’re gonna just cover it up? I’m intrigued by patination, but too many things higher on the list….nice result you got there

Chris-

I was “pulling your leg”. Didn’t you feel it?

It’s just a piece of ambrosia maple, which is so common around here that it’s half of my firewood pile. The bugs have gotten into almost every tree I’ve seen, and I only pull the “good” pieces for turning. This one was pretty good, but I cut through it while hollowing. I decided it would become an R&D piece.

The other one I did was cherry burl, and it was cut almost perfectly, but needed something and this is what I decided. Can’t get any cheaper than free… I picked it up off the ground at a firewood place.

-- Steven

Yea, theres no such thing as just ambrosia maple you coulda used poplar. It is beautiful though and maybe poplar wouldn’t have withstood the abuse of making it.

-- Mike. mwurm13@yahoo.com

Nice piece! I like your sense of form and adventure, always pushing the envelope for technique and form. It seems that one wood worker’s trash is another’s treasure. I should send you some clear maple for some ambrosia maple!

Can you show us some additional photos showing the inside or underneath areas where the wood is seen?

-- "They who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night." ~ Edgar Allan Poe

Nice looking piece. The painting technique is an interesting look. Thanks for sharing.

-- My favorite piece is my last one, my best piece is my next one.

Like it!

-- "Bordnerizing" perfectly good lumber for over a decade.

I think it’s great whatever it is made from.

Thanks for the continuing praise.

Some more about my thought process and answers to a couple of the questions:

1.) there is no place on the outside of the form that bare wood can be seen. It is entirely covered in the paint/patina finish.

2.) when I started turning it, I don’t think my intent was to do this treatment on this vessel. I had spent about 8 hours on it, and I got to a point where I decided that a few more trying to fix it wasn’t going to kill me. I knew that I’d have to find a way to deal with the mistakes, and I’ve been playing with patina for about 2 years now, so this became another canvas to play around on. I had made a comment at a club meeting that I now need about a day to be “ready” to do something, and that turning is just a part of it. It is the prep for my “work” as I try to become an artist instead of just a turner (yeah, I still “just turn” too)

3.) Jock Mike- as I pointed out, I didn’t start with this in mind, but I believe in “green woodworking”. I knew that if this failed, I would still be able to burn it (and get a pretty green fire to boot!), but rather than wasted this wood, use it for R&D. Trust me when I say that there is such a thing as “just ambrosia” maple, as I had an opportunity to get a whole tree worth of this stuff (24” wide) and just cherry picked a few pieces from the pile. My wood pile overfloweth…

-- Steven

Now how did you get that covering on the wood…?

-- Never board, always knotty, lots of growth rings

what do you mean covered in copper??Alistair ps looks lovely

-- excuse my typing as I have a form of parkinsons disease

Kindlingmaker-

The finish is a copper based paint which has been oxidized with some chemical solutions that react to form the various colors. Think of it like the Statue of Liberty, only accelerated via chemistry. Different chemical produce different colors. The blue is a solution that also contains some pigment to augment the chemical reactions, so you get something other than green…

-- Steven

Scotsman-

The paint is find ground copper in an acrylic binder. When applied, it covers the entire vessel in copper which can be patinated like any copper…

-- Steven