In between production jobs, I managed to work in a little turning this month.
Alaskan Birch Bowl #61
Status: Sold.
Description: This is a green turned Alaskan Birch heartwood bowl. The wood was harvested in the Matanuska Valley, South Central Alaska. The piece contains extensive heartwood veining in rich golden yellow. After turning, the piece was dried for several months, then sculpted and filigreed to emphasize the grain pattern. Finished in Danish Oil and yellowed antique marine spar varnish.
Full high resolution gallery is here.
Dimensions: 10" x 5"
Price: $150
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Alaskan Birch Bowl #62
Status: Available.
Description: This is a hollow-form, turned from spalted Alaskan Birch burl. The wood was harvested in the Matanuska Valley region of South Central Alaska and dried for two years prior to turning. The wood is dense and heavy with the complex irregular grain common to burled wood. This piece contains many beautiful natural features, such as opalescent ray patterns and eagle wing spalt lines. Finished in Tung Oil and a tough, clear polyacrylic and hard wax.
Full high resolution gallery is here.
Dimensions: 9" x 5"
Price: $150
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Alaskan Birch Bowl #63
Status: Sold. This piece went to Stonekettle Station regular, Jeri.
Description: This is a natural edge bowl, turned from Alaskan Birch burl. The wood was harvested in Matanuska Valley region of South Central Alaska, near the Big Lake area, and allowed to dry outside for two years prior to turning, which resulted in a dense and tight grain. This piece contains a number of fantastic natural features such as extensive small birdseyes, rich golden ray patterns, and spalting along one side. It was turned in an inverted manner, i.e. the rounded outer part of the burr became the top of the bowl, vice the bottom which is the more common way of turning burl. I turned it inverted in order to emphasize the natural features of the burl and to give the piece an organic, sculpted rim. Finished in Danish Oil with a touch of medium walnut added, and antique boiled marine spar varnish.
Full high resolution gallery is here.
Dimensions: 8" x 6"
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Alaskan Birch Bowl #64
Status: Available.
Description: This is a embedded-rim bowl, turned from Alaskan Birch sapwood burl. This is a rather unusual style, the piece was turned from a small oval shaped burl. I left a ledge around bowl in the shape of the original burr, giving the bowl an appearance of being embedded in a concave shield-like ledge. I did this in order to leave as much of the original wood as possible, working within the natural confines of the burr shape. The ledge itself contains beautiful opalescence rays normally found only in clear birch sapwood. I left a natural edge of inner-bark around the rim of the ledge which emphasizes the lighter wood of the ledge. The wood of the bowl itself contains swirling grain patterns that reminds me of rain falling from thunder clouds on a stormy day.
Full high resolution gallery is here.
Dimensions: 9" (across the long dimension) x 4"
Price: $50
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Alaskan Birch Bowl #65
Status: Available.
Description: This piece is turned from dried Alaska Birch heartwood. The wood is naturally much darker than usual for Alaskan birch because the wood grew in a dark, iron-rich peat swamp. The sides of the bowl contain checking (cracks across the grain), the checks have been sealed and I consider them a feature rather than a defect. The rim of the bowl was highlighted by friction charring at high speed on the lathe using a leather saddle cinch strap. Finished in Danish Oils and spar varnish.
To be perfectly honest, there is nothing particularly spectacular or unusual about this bowl. It's a small piece probably best suited as a candy dish or something similar.
Full high resolution gallery is here.
Dimensions: 6" x 3"
Price: $35
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Alaskan Birch Bowl #66
Status: Available.
Description: This piece was turned from Alaskan Birch burl. The wood was harvested in the Matanuska Valley region of South Central Alaska, and allowed to dry outside for about a year, the wood was still slightly wet at the time it was turned. This piece contains swirling grain patterns and yellow-gold rippled areas and some minor spalting. There is a curved bark line along the lower part of one side. I added some speckles of metal fleck to the bark line, giving it the appearance of a gold ore seam in stone. Finished in Danish Oil and antique boiled marine spar varnish.
Full high resolution gallery is here.
Dimensions: 8" x 6"
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And last, purely to show off, this is a piece I've posted before:
Ironwood Bowl #60
Status: Reserved.
Description: this is a piece of hophornbeam, more commonly known as ironwood, burl. The wood came from South Carolina, courtesy of my cousin Dona. A pictorial of it's creation can be found here. I finally managed to find the time to upload detailed images to Flickr, which can be found here.
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Well, that's it for today.
As always, if you're interested in a piece, so note in the comments, followed up with an email to jlwright@gci.net, put the words "Birch Bowl" in the subject line. Shipping and handling for all pieces: $20USD, except for #65 - that one is $10USD. First come, first served. No pushing, whining, or throwing of panties onto the stages.
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I've got a number of jobs waiting in the shop, including a boat transom I need to complete today (the boat's owner is being very patient, but the King's are starting to run on the Kenai, and a stray or two has been spotted in the Little Su - so I need to finish this job and get that boat in the water). So, if you'll excuse me, I need to get to work.
Enjoy your long weekend.
Jim, are any of these the ones I asked you to make for me for Christmas presents?
ReplyDeleteThe Mad Cow is eating my brain, and I can't remember...
Ummm, the mad cow seems to be going around - I have to stop eating raw meat.
ReplyDeleteJaniece, if any of these are what you're looking for, stake your claim. Otherwise, if you're looking for something specific, I'd be happy to make something to your specifications. There will be additional pieces available each month - weekly once Beastly drags his dusty ass up here (he's in AZ right now, should be leaving for Stonekettle Station tomorrow, woo friggin' hoo!). And yes, I do recall, now, your email of months back - and suddenly realized that I should have working on pieces for you, sorry, mad cow retirement syndrome. That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Once the weather clears (in time for $4.00 gas) I am heading north via Las Vegas. Yep snow in AZ has me stranded for another day as the price of petrol will probably be soaring in Canada. Hopefully you have saved at least one interesting piece of Birch from the stack for me you prolific turning monster.
ReplyDeleteI really liked #s 61 and 62, hands-on and face-to-face. It was a tough decision! Ultimately the deciding factor for me was a slight preference for more imperfect art - and a smaller and more packable bowl.
ReplyDeleteMad cow is everywhere. They won't let me give blood to this day because I lived in the UK for two years in the early 90s. :P I wonder if that's still a criterium, given that there have been instances of mad cow on this continent. Even among the UCF! ;)
That first bowl is absolutely amazing. and #64 ain't too shabby neither.
ReplyDeleteAnd they can both be yours, for the low low low price of 0% off.
ReplyDeleteIt's OK, Nathan, I know you blew your last few precious dollars on that fabulous teak hat. :)
Ahahahaha! Damn, but I'm funny.
Jim, it was 43 and 49 - I sent you an E:Mail.
ReplyDeleteSigned,
The Mad Cowess...
Ah, yes. I recall now.
ReplyDeleteI really, really, really need to code an Access database this weekend to keep track of all this - and I will.
Rg, Janiece, I'll go read your email (I'm on the den computer, the email laptop is elsewhere at the moment).
Happy Birthdy to me (etc)
ReplyDeleteMy present was Beastly's departure
(Kidding) and the return of yet another room for computer parts storage. Jim, Site looks great but not as good as the work. Production should rise in a week or so unless he hits a moose.
Terry
...unless he hits a moose
ReplyDeleteHa! As heavy as he's loaded in that traveling house of his, and at the speeds he drives he'd probably barely notice a moose strike. I'll be scraping it out of his grill after he gets here.
Good to have you around Stonekettle Station, Terry. By all means stick around and comment frequently.