two more bud vases/pictures

[alex carey]

I already posted two bud vases but I figured I'd post a few more.

1. Eastern White Cedar before I put it between centers.
2. It definitely has some potential for inclusions
3. not much to say but it turned out alright I think. I think the shape works alright.
4. This is the bottom finished, I hand sand a burn my initials and date. Not too shiny but it looks alright I think.
5. I love this inclusion but I am not big on the top part of this. I don't think the shape works that well.

Comment, CRITIQUES more than welcomed.

Alex

[Jeff Nicol]

Alex, I like the second one you show that has more of a neckless look. The shape is great and the wood does have lots of character. The other one I think the shoulder transition to the neck could have been a little rounder than squared off. Have fun and keep at it and the Mustard will help you create masterpieces!

Jeff

[Richard Madison]

Nice stuff Alex. Work on making smooth, gradually varying curvatures with no flat (straight) spots. You can check for flat spots by rolling a straight edge along the side of the piece. This will show the flat spots that may not be obvious to the unaided eyeball (until it's off the lathe and too late to fix).

[Bernie Weishapl]

Nice looking weed pots Alex. I also like the second one.

[alex carey]

@ Jeff and Richard- thanks for the critique, I made a post of two other weed pots and had the same problem, it seems I am in this rut where I don't curve it enough. Next one I'll try and keep that in my mind more.

[Don Eddard]

Both pieces look good Alex. Your skills are definitely progressing. The finish on both pieces looks great. No tool or sanding marks visible.

I really like the form of the second piece. The curve could be evened out a little bit. There's a slight bulge in the middle and corresponding semi-flat spots above and below it. Still, you did good, because it's not easy to do the long, slight curves like that. In the piece with the long neck, it sounds like you already know what to change next time. Although it's rounded, it still has somewhat of a rounded-off square form more than a bulbous, continuous curve. This is especially noticeable at the shoulder, as Richard mentioned.

Your pics are pretty good. They show the piece clearly. You might play with cropping them a bit to get the image a bit more centered in the frame. And if it's available in the photo software you have, you can do fine adjustments to the rotation of the pic, so you can get the pieces truly vertical. Here's the tall vase, rotated 1.75 degrees to the right and cropped a bit. I used Irfanview (which is free, just Google it) to make the adjustments.

Alex Bud Vase 3b.jpg

Keep it up, you're doing good.

[alex carey]

Thanks for the critique, I had a little trouble getting the body of the tall one right and I know I didn't. While turning I just kept having trouble so I figured I'd leave it as is and get the next one right instead.

I actually have been working on my pictures a bunch, I used to just set up the lights take 3 or 4 pictures and be done but now I am trying to actually take good pictures. There is a big difference between taking a few pictures and 40 pictures per turning. There are still a few shadows I need to get rid of, but lights will easily take care of that. I will definitely start copping them more. I know how to do that pretty easily but can you tell me how to rotate it in irfanview. I have the program and I now see how to rotate, thanks for the help with that.

Thanks for the compliment also, I definitely hope my skills are improving, I hope to do a ton of turning before school starts. So expect lots of pictures.

Alex

[Richard Madison]

Alex,
Often there is nothing wrong with having one shadow, as it can give some depth to the photo. Having multiple shadows is usually not good. It tends to confuse/clutter the image and detract from the subject.

Digital is just great (especially for an old film photographer), since you can make as many exposures as you want to try different lighting and so forth, no developing cost or waiting time, easy to correct minor errors, etc.

Also great that you (and our other young folks) are getting into turning at your age. By the time you are half my age you will probably be a very accomplished turner. As Steve says, looking forward to seeing more of your work.

[Don Eddard]

Thanks for the critique, I had a little trouble getting the body of the tall one right and I know I didn't. While turning I just kept having trouble so I figured I'd leave it as is and get the next one right instead.

Yeah, sometimes it's better to just call it done before you run out of wood and go on to the next one with what you learned. And if you're like most of us, you'll see something in nearly every piece that you'd like to change the next time. It's a fun process.

Glad you figured out the rotation adjustment in Irfanview. For me, it's easier to adjust that after taking the pic than to spend a lot of time trying to get everything plumb and square in the camera.

[Barry Elder]

I believe Keith Tompkins article in the Spring AAW Journal, "Sketch for Success", would be invaluable to you. Sometimes our eye can appreciate smooth flowing lines before our brain can store the figure in our memory.

[Brian McInturff]

Alex,
First the compliments: I don't see any heat marks from sanding which is real easy to do with Eastern Red Cedar. I like the 2nd vase minus the very top. The 2 accent lines at the bottom really add to the piece.
Now the criticism - The fist one doesn't do anything for me, the neck is too long and I doubt you were able to find anything to actually hollow out the bulb part - Not saying you have to but it adds to the piece. You could shorten the height and flare out the top. More continuous curve on the bulb. The 2nd one - ditch the top and make it an open vase, hollow it out thin. All of my critque is based off of my personal preferences, yours may vary.

In the past few months I've noticed some definite improvement. You are well on your way to being a young seasoned turner who will be an inspiration to us all.

[Tony Kahn]

Alex, i have to say i like the shape on both, on the first i think if you had made the bottom contour to match the top contour, kinda like a round off block, it would help. The second i really like the shape including the top area, i tend to turn alot of pieces that have the switchback look like that. I typically make the transition a little sharper but i like the subtlety of yours.

[alex carey]

@ Brian- I have a ton of this eastern white cedar and I have no had quite a bit of practice with it, I definitely used to have lots of problems with the sanding but the more I use it the better I get.
These are all end grain branches and I don't have the tools to hollow end grain so I have just been doing bud vases with them.

@Tony- The top of the second one was a last minute addition. Originally it had a few more steps but I was having too much trouble sanding it so I decided to just get rid of it and make it one curve. If you saw my last post you'd see another very similar bud vase where the top has a much quicker and shorter curve. I definitely liked that piece a bit more.

Again thanks for all the advice, I really appreciate it.

Alex