Scalloped Redwood

[John Keeton]

Redwood burl, with a maple accent ring, this one is 5.25"w x about 4.75 t. The walls are just over 1/8", with the very rim being about 3/16". Finish is several coats of shellac, buffed back, and 7-8 coats of General WTF, sanded level and triple buffed. I really like the WTF finish! So consistent, so quick, so easy to use, and such a nice feel to it.

There were several bark inclusions and small voids in this one. The larger ones were filled with coffee grounds and Titebond, and most of the smaller ones remain open. For that reason, the finish on this one was not buffed to a really high gloss - it just seemed to look better with a softer finish.

I wanted to get this one finished up, as it will be part of several turnings I will deliver to the KY Artisan Center in Berea on Friday.

As is always the case, I welcome your comments, and hope some of you find it pleasing. Sorry, Jamie, for the headlight reflections! I am not sure of the source as I was using ambient light along with the shop lights.


SCALLOPED REDWOOD 1.jpg SCALLOPED REDWOOD 2.jpg SCALLOPED REDWOOD 3.jpg SCALLOPED REDWOOD 4.jpg SCALLOPED REDWOOD 5.jpg

[charlie knighton]

very nice John, the burl is well done, redwood can be pretty soft wood and yours looks well done, great form, and the accent ring does not overpower the burl, are you putting the piece in the gallery at KY Artisan Center or is there a contest there??????

thanks for sharing

[Alan Trout]

John,

I really like the form and the accent ring. It have a very ancient Egyptian feel to the piece. It for sure is a unique piece and very much a winner.

Alan

[Scott Hackler]

I agree with Alan about the Egyptian look. Pretty cool piece and that WTF looks like days worth of WOP! My only small critique would be a preference for the feature ring to be a bit narrower. Nice work John.

[David DeCristoforo]

Well, I'm glad you decided not to go with the gloss finish

This is impeccable in many ways. In form and finish of course. The woods work well together and the redwood burl... well, how could redwood burl not look great?!

The decoration is the only thing that would keep me from giving this a ten. It works well enough but it just does not have the "panache" I usually associate with your pieces. I am hesitant to even mention this because I have done absolutely no burning or decorating of this type outside of branding my logo into the bottoms of my pieces which has served to give me a hint as to how "not easy" this stuff can be. We look at work by Molly Winton or Cynthia Gibson and admire it without really understanding what it takes to pull it off. In this case, it does add to the piece and the design is simple but effective. But I think, if you continue to explore burned decoration, it will not be long before you look back at this and wonder how you ever got to where you are from where you began.

[Steve Campbell]

One of your best yet. Ya got to love that wood.

Steve

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nicely done John. I like the form and the finish is excellent. I agree that the accent ring could be narrower.

[Steve bellinger]

John of all your great pieces i've seen since i joined here, i think this is one of the best. (IMHO)Love it.

[thomas prusak]

I like everything about it. Form, finish, etc. Great pc.

[Doug W Swanson]

Beautiful! While the accent ring might look better if it was narrower, I still think this piece looks great. I love the form and the finish!

[John Keeton]

Thanks! It is always interesting to see comments on various features of a piece. When I started this piece, I did not have a sketch - quite rare for me. But, when it came time to make a decision on the accent ring, I decided a sketch was a necessity - both as to placement and size of the ring. I have made them narrow, as well as in multiple layers, and decided on this one that I wanted the wider look. Seems as one deviates from the "expected norm", the masses begin to divide in their opinions as to that feature. I kind of like the wider ring better, and it provided the desired contrast, as well as a larger palette for the pyro. Ms. Keeton really likes this one, and that usually is a good sign as to marketability.

...are you putting the piece in the gallery at KY Artisan Center or is there a contest there??????

Charlie, the Center had a bowl exhibit for a few months, and I sold five pieces during that exhibit. For a guy that doesn't do bowls, I was pleased! This piece will be part of a variety of work I will place there as a stocking vendor.

That'll work. For a nit...may be the pic lighting or a "who cares" thing...big flat spot in the transition?

Jim, there are probably multiple issues that exist with this piece, but no flats. I am pretty obsessive on getting clean curves.

Were the scallops/curves made with a preformed tip or did you bend a wire tip yourself?
I like your simple design. Getting an even burn and spacing that looks good is anything but easy!

Baxter, the lines are burned with a guitar string after scoring the wood with my D-Way diamond tool, and the scallops were done with a fishscale tip. I bought my burner used from a fellow that had done carved fish. It came with every known size of fishscale tip!

I used the indexing on the lathe to make several division lines, and picked a tip that would give me continuous connectivity all around the piece. My intent is to get some wire and play with making my own tips, but there seem to be a lot of combinations one can put together by combining basic tips. In fact, your recent piece was what got me thinking about that.

As David D. said, this is very simplistic looking and leaves a lot of room for improvement. But it did give me the clean look I was after, with a lot of open area for contrast. I was a little afraid to get too "busy" with the pyro given the burly figure of the wood. For me, that would have created two competing elements.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful work John! As I mentioned before - this piece has an Arabic feel to it - to me! I love the wood, form and finish and find that the simple design in the detail ring works well. Best of luck with all your sales through the artisan center! Looking forward to seeing what you create next!

[Tim Rinehart]

I like this piece, and do like this direction. I'm sure it will continue to evolve and mature as other of your work, in short order at that!

[Jim Burr]

That'll work. For a nit...may be the pic lighting or a "who cares" thing...big flat spot in the transition? This is a great pottery piece and they had flat spots and so can we! I'd put in my collection!

[mike ash]

Ya' done good John....especially the form. I've seen several of your pieces with the accent ring and I really like them, but for me this one could be a bit narrower.
Bottom line is that this one is going to sell immediately!!!!