From the Mask Series

Here is a mask from a series I did of faux metal masks (in the early 2000's). The masks are made of cardboard and paper and painted with metalic paints; this series, in bronze.
I will post more on this series in the future. I sold this one today to one of my restoration customers.

Trefoil Knot in metal

Here is my latest trefoil knot, made with 1.5 inch wide 1/8 inch thick metal strapping. That's five feet of metal ribbon to make this knot, which makes this knot about one foot in diameter. Here, I've made a mount for it: a cement block base with a 1/2 inch rod on which I welded the knot. The steel is lightly sanded and brushed, then covered with a matte clear coat.

Spalted Apple Bowl

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Here is a 4 inch spalted Apple bowl, about 1.25 inches high. There was a bit of tear-out on the end grain which I decided to accentuate with a gold paint fill. I rubbed the paint into the pits and when dried, I sanded off the surface, leaving paint in the pits. I topped that off with 3 coats of shellac. In the photos there's a narrow depth of field so, one photo has the foreground in focus and the other has the background of the bowl in focus.

Spalted Maple Box

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I think this is the best turned object I've made to date. This is a box made from spalted Maple. It is 4 inches in diameter, and about 3.5 inches tall. The knob is a darker piece of the same wood. I did a real fine job getting the walls nice and thin and perfectly smooth. The lid fits perfectly. The finish is just right. I've been using better tool and I get a better result. The practicing is beginning to pay off.

Small Pear Bowl

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The wood used to turn this bowl is a Pear. I don't know the exact variety but it is a non-bearing fruit tree, in this case planted in a shopping mall parking lot. One day I was driving past it and they'd cut all these trees down. All the branches had been chipped and hauled away and all these 2 foot long logs stack in piles all around this parking lot. I loaded up as many as I could get into my small car. I went back the next day and there was even more and this time the tree cutters were there and I asked if I could have some of this wood. They said I could have as much as I wanted, so I loaded up my car again. It took me three days to cut all that up, prep and seal it, stacked to slow-dry. This is a plain grain but beautiful wood, a nice creamy to amber color. It's hard as heck too when dried. I had this little piece drying for a while and decided to go ahead and try to turn it. I couldn't resist seeing how this wood turned. It turns like a dream! You can get a finish so smooth you barely need to sand it for finishing. This bowl is about 2.75 inches across and about an inch and a half high, with a foot ring around the bottom. Unfortunately, I should have let this dry a little longer because the bowl cracked down the side by the day after I turned this bowl. It's still usable though. I can't wait to get into a bigger bowl blank of this wood. But I'll have to wait a couple of years, I guess, before it's dry enough.

Small Plum Bowl

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This is a small bowl made from Plum wood. A decorative variety of Plum, with purple leaves. I don't know what kind it is, but I got a hunk of one of its branches that broke off in a storm. This bowl is about an inch and a quarter high and about 2 and a half inches across. It has a "foot" ring around the bottom.

A Set of Wooden Trays

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I needed some small trays for use around my restoration studio, so I decided to make them. I made a set of three 8 inch square trays with sides 1.5 inches high. The bottom is 1/4 inch MDF and the sides are poplar with 1/8 inch finger joints, made from bits of scrap lumber from my wood shop. I gave them a quick coat of boiled linseed oil. These will have removable liner pads because sometime you want padding and sometimes you don't.