Project Information
Turned vase from Alaskan birch.
The piece was end-turned from a large chunk of green birch. I spindle mounted the blank, turned it to rough and put a tenon on what would become the bottom. Reversed it into a four-jaw chuck and hollowed with a combination of an end-grain termite cutter and a Sorby goose-neck hollowing tool. Once it was hollowed and shaped, I decided that I didn't like it. Seemed like it was missing something, so I parted it in half at the shoulder and glued in a piece of walnut I had in the scrap bin as an accent ring. I liked that much better and it lengthened the vase by two inches which I thought worked better with the overall design.
Next I put it aside in the drying cabinet for a couple months until it was down to 8% moisture. I then turned it to finish and sanded it down to about 600grit. Next I applied several layers of aniline dye in different colors (black, red, and yellow), sanding and carving in between applications. The finish is several coats of wipe-on poly gloss.
It's about 24" tall.
In the sunlight it is spectacular.
The piece was end-turned from a large chunk of green birch. I spindle mounted the blank, turned it to rough and put a tenon on what would become the bottom. Reversed it into a four-jaw chuck and hollowed with a combination of an end-grain termite cutter and a Sorby goose-neck hollowing tool. Once it was hollowed and shaped, I decided that I didn't like it. Seemed like it was missing something, so I parted it in half at the shoulder and glued in a piece of walnut I had in the scrap bin as an accent ring. I liked that much better and it lengthened the vase by two inches which I thought worked better with the overall design.
Next I put it aside in the drying cabinet for a couple months until it was down to 8% moisture. I then turned it to finish and sanded it down to about 600grit. Next I applied several layers of aniline dye in different colors (black, red, and yellow), sanding and carving in between applications. The finish is several coats of wipe-on poly gloss.
It's about 24" tall.
In the sunlight it is spectacular.
