Wood turning: small canister

I made another small canister (1.5" X 3.25") turned from a small piece of Mahogany. No stain or finish except woodworkers wax..

Lathe-turned chain-pulls

I made some chain-pulls for the ceiling fan/light fixture in our dining room. These are about 1.25" wide and 2.5" long. These are made from scrap wood pieces found in my shop. I made a third one for another ceiling light in my studio. Just looking for something to made to get some practice with different lathe tools.

A tool-making tool

The other day while doing ceramic restorations in my studio, I needed a mallet to tap a piece into place. All the mallets I have are way too big for the job. Then I remembered, "Hey, I have a lathe. I can make the mallet I need." So, I found some scraps of Oak and glued them together. When the glue was dry, I put it on the lathe and turned a mallet head just the right size: 1 inch wide and about 2.5 inches long. I drilled a hole in it to accept a 3/8 inch hardwood dowel and I was in business. I will glue a piece of rawhide on one of the faces of the mallet, so I have a hard side and a soft side.

Another small bowl

I turned another small (1.5" high X 3.5" wide) made from a 2x4 scrap from my shop. For this one I had a bowl gouge. It's kind of rough, but a 2x4 isn't a real good wood for this kind of thing. I'm surprised I actually got a bowl formed from this wood. Knots are not good in wood turning. Can be dangerous. It does look kind of cool though. I'm not doing another bowl until I get some better wood.

More from the lathe: my first bowl

This is my first attempt at turning a bowl. It's a pretty small bowl (2.75" wide X 3.25" tall) made from Redwood. When I turned this I didn't have a bowl gouge yet. Very tough, and kind of dangerous, to do the inside of the bowl without a bowl gouge.

More lathe turnings

My next lathe turning: a small wooden canister (1.5 inches wide X 3 inches tall). Made from Cherry wood, from a tree branch in my own back yard.
This is kind of an advanced project for a beginner, but I didn't know that when I started it. This took about a half hour to make. The lid fits perfectly, opens with a pop.

I got a lathe recently

I got a lathe recently. The first thing I turned was a handle for a file: a real simple item to make. The photo to the right is of the second thing I tried turning: a mini wooden vase. Looks like a duck call.
I haven't used a lathe since high school. That was a long time ago. I'll post the things here that come out of the lathe. Stay tuned.

New sculpture ver. 1.3

This model is a variation on the idea I posted in my last post. Actually, this version is the original idea I thought of and drew a picture of, but it is the 3rd one I actually made a model of. This was the original idea but I thought I couldn't actually build it, so I made the two that I showed in my last post. When I first got the idea I went out to my shop and quickly bent this thing into shape, then tossed it aside thinking it would be too difficult to make a full size version of it, say 2 or 3 feet in size. I completely forgot about it until I came across it again the other day. It got me thinking about it again, and if I couldn't make a full size one right now, at least I could try to make a model of it. I made this model out of a piece of scrap aluminum left over from another project. This piece of scrap was about 10" long (30 cm), about 3/8" wide (10mm) in the middle and tapered to about an eighth of an inch wide (4mm) at the ends. All the bending was done a couple of weeks ago. Now all I had to do was solder the ends together with an aluminum "brazing" rod, do a lot of filing, sanding and polishing which isn't real easy on this 2.25 inch (60mm) object. Then I drilled a hole in it and tapped threads into it, made a post with threads to match and made a base out of wood painted black.
Here's the cool thing about this, and it happened by accident.When I twisted this object into the shape I accidentally twisted one end a quarter turn in relation to the other end when I welded them together. While inspecting the finished build of this model, and I look at things very closely, I noticed something very interesting. What we have is a thick, tapered ribbon of aluminum joined in a loop, so we have a thing with four faces, or sides. If you were to draw a line down the middle of one of the sides of the ribbon, you would go all the way around the loop four times, making a line down the middle of each of the four sides, before you come back to where you began your line! I love it when you accidentally make something better than what you were trying to make! I'm sure there's a fancy scientific name for this kind of a twist/knot shape. If anybody reading this knows, please let me know.

A new sculpture

These are a couple of models of a sculpture idea. I was looking at an art catalog and saw a sculpture in stone that sparked the idea for this sculpture. It looked nothing like these models. I drew a picture of the idea I came up with... it looked kind of like a very loose knot . . . which I liked a lot at the time. I liked it but I didn't think I could build it. So I thought about it some more . . . what if it was sharp angles instead of loops? I drew another picture, and the red model above looks just like it.

 I'm thinking these should be made of steel. I envision the final size of the finished outdoor sculpture would be somewhere from four to six feet high. I can also see it as a table top sized sculpture. That is the size I would like to build the next, steel, model. On the larger model, the color would be site-specific.
Above,the red model is six inches high, the bronze one is four and a half inches, that includes the bases. I made these models out of cardboard, which is flexible and forgiving, so precision is not required as far as angles and connection joints. An attempt at a wooden version failed completely. Much more precision is required to make everything line up perfectly. I might be able to make this in metal though. That's what I'll try next.

Some small test paintings

Since this is supposed to be an Art blog, I should post some actual art from time to time. Today I'm showing you some small (6" X 6") test paintings done on wood. Here, I was experimenting with making and working on a textured ground. I used sheet rock "mud", or wall patching plaster, as my texturing medium. As experiments will go, some are failures and some are successful.
For the texturing I spread a layer at least an eighth of an inch thick on the face of the wood blank. I could stop right there and let that dry hard or I could use a variety of tools and objects to scrape, scratch, and stamp into the wet plaster.
When the plaster is dry it can be further scratched or carved, or sanded roughly or smoothly. At this point you could even spread on more plaster here and there and working that until you are happy with the textured ground. I mix paint in with a modelling medium and use that to create texture in layers, in different colors, and then sand those down for interesting effects. 
For the painting: essentially, any means one would use to apply paint; using brushes or palette knife with very thick paint, adding even more texture. Very thin paints running into all those marks you made in the plaster. Paint can be brushed, troweled, rubbed, splashed, any way you can think of. These paintings are tests, so I'm trying not to repeat myself and I'm trying a wide variety of methods and color schemes. In the process I'm finding I like this small square format. It presents interesting possibilities.
(click on an image to see a larger version)

Under-painting and Over-painting black. I painted this board and didn't like it, so I painted it black and lightly wiped the paint off before it dried. I did that twice. Then I painted over the black in a few spots, and wiped that off . . . a few times.

Gouging and marking while wet. Dried. Then painting and varnish. Then sanding and scratching, revealing fresh plaster. Then more paint applied, and quickly wiped off, the paint soaking into the plaster but wiping of the varnished paint.

Deep, dense gouging while mud was wet, then several layers of paint followed by an application of  paint mixed with modeling medium applied with a trowel.

Thick layer of mud with a few deep lines incised, painted then dried. Then heavily sanded, flattening all the highest parts, exposing fresh plaster. Several more layers of paint brushed and airbrushed on, some simple masking involved.

All the texturing  here was done in the wet plaster which was dried before painting with no sanding or further altering of the texture. Many light layers of paint, applied with a brush or rubbed on with a rag followed that and resulted in this.

This one started with several thin partial layers of plaster. Cans pressed into one layer, straight lines incise another. When dried, paint was poured, rubbed and brushed on. For my taste, this is the best of the bunch.

Mobile' #59

I made this mobile' rather quickly one Saturday afternoon. I had no plan, only a vague idea, when I started on this. I just made it up as I went. I knew only that it would be not too large and would have three arms with auto plastic "lights". It is welded all steel construction, except for the red inserts at the end of the "arms". This piece is 14 inches high. The legs are steel nails, the cylindrical shape is a solenoid case from a starter motor. Above that, more nails and a screwdriver blade ground to a rounded point. Spinning on that point is a domed disk made from the bottom of a spray paint can. Welded to that are coat hanger wires with big steel washers at the ends. Filling the washers is bits of auto tail light plastic.
I've been making these steel mobile's which incorporate colored plastic or glass in them. I've always liked the idea the these mobile's are "powered" by wind and gravity; natures free energy. And now I'm able to give them "lights", using free sun light to power them. I would point out also that almost all of these mobile's were made from materials I got for free from the trash or literally lying on the side of the road.

Box of the week: Two Oak Boxes

Here are a couple more boxes made from bits of scrap wood in my shop. From time to time I pick out some wood from the scrap bin to make something useful out of it. A lot of the wood I use if from somebody else's scrap bin. I hate to see good wood, even a little bit of it go to waste.

A lot of times my scrap bin projects are tests of ideas I have, or testing a new jig I made. In this case I was trying out a new box joint jig I made. This new jig uses a threaded rod and a crank to move the wood and to make the spacing for the box joint (some call it a finger joint).
So, a little bit of nice hardwood and my new jig and no metal hardware results in a couple of nice little boxes. Both are made completely of (White?) Oak. The box above is about 4x6x1.75 inches, with a beveled lid, and stained walnut color. The box below is roughly 5x5x2 inches, with rounded corners and stained "cherry bark". Both are then finished off with woodworkers wax.

Another scrap box challenge: box

Here's another box made from bits of wood from my scrap box. The main body of this  4.5 X 6 inch box is made from a piece of Poplar trim molding. I made a raised base from pine. The lid is made with 

Teak (the angled part) the flat top is MDF and the knob is Rosewood. I used a stain to make all the wood the same color. No metal parts are used to make this box. 

More boxes

Here are a couple more boxes made recently. This first one is made from a cedar fence board (sides and bottom) and mahogany (top). It has 1/8 inch finger joint corners, made with my new home made finger joint jig. This one has brass hinges and an invisible magnetic latch to hold it closed. The box measures 13 inches by 6.5 inches, and 3.5 tall.

This box is from my "scrap box challenge" project. I decided to see if I could make something interesting from the dregs of my scrap box. Choosing the worst looking bits of wood in the scrap box wasn't quite enough. I picked up some sticks from my backyard as well. The box measures 5 inches square by about 7 inches high. The "knob" on top is a bit of a Eucalyptus branch. The legs are silver maple branch sections, with the bark on. The lid is part of a cedar fence board, left rough, and the sides are spruce construction lumber scraps with 1/4 inch finger joints. The bottom is just a piece of MDF. It's a lift-off lid. Inside box depth is 3 inches. The box is left rough and unfinished. No metal hardware of fasteners were used on this box.

A new box, with corner splines

Here's another wooden box. This one is made with maple faced plywood, a mahogany top, splines and feet. On this box I used a corner spline jig I made. The splines are a two-toned spline-within-a-spline with contrasting wood colors, mahogany and spruce. The box is 6.5" X 12", with brass hinges and an invisible magnetic catch on the front.

Mobile' #58

This is a refurbished/rebuilt version of Mobile' #4. I replaced one half of this mobile', which was a bunch of blue discs, with one big yellow disc. I was never crazy about the blue half of this thing anyway. I like this much better now. I gave the whole thing a fresh coat of paint. The links between the arms are fishing swivels, so that each arm can swing all the way around without affecting the arms it is connected to.
See this mobile' and the other 57 on my art web site at: Tesserak.net

Mobile' #57

I finished this new mobile' a few days ago. This is number 57 in the series. This is all steel construction except for the colored plastic inserts in the rings. Those are pieces of auto plastic from tail lights found at accident sites. The stand is made from three really big nails (10 inches), part of a car transmission and a piece of rebar. It's all painted with a textured black paint. I built this in about six hours over two days. I really like the way this came out; almost exactly like the sketch I made ahead of time.
See this mobile' and the other 56 on my web site: tesserak.net.

A Couple More Boxes

What? More boxes? I thought this was an art blog.
Well, yes, it is an art blog . . . and more. Here at Tesserak Studios we make things. All kinds of things. One of a kind things. We craft. We don't manufacture. Yes, I agree, there should be more actual paintings and sculptures seen here. I hope to remedy that soon. The thing about a blog is: if I don't get a photo of the thing I make before it's gone out the door, and I don't have time to write something about it . . . well, then you don't have a blog entry. Also, this is not my only job and this is not my only blog. I only have so much time. In the meantime:
Here are two more boxes I've made recently. Most of the stuff I make is not made from new material. I use recycled, found or scrap materials when ever I can. I don't usually work from plans. I base things on what I have to work with. These boxes are made from small scraps of wood, too small for most purposes. Sometimes I build a box because I need a box. Other times I build a box to practice new woodworking techniques; different kinds of cuts and corners, etc.. These two boxes are practice pieces. Both boxes were made using a jig I made for my table saw for cutting compound angles. In this case, it was used to make boxes with 45 degree angles on the corners but with the sides tilted at an angle. Both boxes are roughly six inches square and about 4 inches high.
The first box has a stepped base, then short sloping sides, and is topped with a stepped lid with a loop handle on top. The sides of the box are made from poplar wood molding, the base and lid are oak and the loop is spruce. The top loop was a slice, with a hole drilled offset and cut at an angle, from a section of a railing. It is interesting that light shines through the tree rings on the thinner part at the top of the loop. The lid is a simple lift-off type. The box is stained and varnished. It's a shallow box, so not very useful. Kind of rustic looking with bit of Asian styling. If I made another like it, it would be a much better box.

The other box is shallow as well but with more interior space. This one came out rather well. The feet, box and knob are made from spruce. The lift-off lid is made from poplar. All the wood is stained so it's all the same color. It's finished with varnish. This combination of angled sides and lid work well together. The angles are repeated in the box feet, making a nice balance of the feet, body, lid and knob. Visually, it has nice lines and good balance. It is a beautifully simple design.