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Thread: Dark Ivy - Pyrography on Mahogany Plate - for "Wood Works: A Regional Exhibition"

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  1. #1

    Dark Ivy - Pyrography on Mahogany Plate - for "Wood Works: A Regional Exhibition"

    Recently made this plate for "Wood Works: A Regional Exhibition". I've titled it "Dark Ivy". It's a 10" x 3/4" turned and burned mahogany plate. Finished with matte spray laquer. Took me approximately 40 hours including design time and finishing. I'm including trial sketches made two weeks ago. (You may remember a couple previous pieces similar to this.)
    If you'd like to see other work in this show, go here: http://ocaf.com/index.php?option=com...140&Itemid=194
    Attached Images Attached Images
    CarveWright Model C
    Stratos Lathe
    Jet 1014
    Half-a-Brain

  2. #2
    Beautiful work! It's a very apt name.

  3. #3
    Very nice, I can certainly see why it too 40 hours to complete.

  4. #4
    Great job, Jim! I like your final version much better than the others - good choice. Nice balance, and clean work.

  5. #5
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Ambridge, PA
    Posts
    968
    Sweet looking work Jim. Congrats on a job well done.
    Member Turners Anonymous Pittsburgh, PA

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Nov 2007
    Location
    Fort Pierce, Florida
    Posts
    3,498
    V-e-r-y nice!
    Retired - when every day is Saturday (unless it's Sunday).

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Idaho Falls, Idaho
    Posts
    1,356
    Gol Durn That's Purdy!
    Brian

    Sawdust Formation Engineer
    in charge of Blade Dulling

  8. #8
    Thank you all for the compliments. I've been enjoying this piece now that it's finished. And it's even more of a relief now it's officially submitted to the exhibition. I was half afraid that after all this work, I'd forget to turn it in on the last day....

    I was quite excited when I learned about the exhibition. I was planning to enter it and was getting photos of representative work together when I was informed all slots had been filled... Wow, was I ever disappointed. So it was a surprise when I got a call from our club president a couple weeks later asking if I wanted to be in this show. OF COURSE! But it did mean I had to spend the last few weeks scrambling to get this piece created. Took some of the fun out of it.... but I'm planning the next one now.
    Last edited by Jim Underwood; 01-10-2017 at 10:02 PM.
    CarveWright Model C
    Stratos Lathe
    Jet 1014
    Half-a-Brain

  9. #9
    Absolutely beautiful job.

  10. #10
    Join Date
    May 2011
    Location
    Sioux Falls, SD
    Posts
    372
    That's just gorgeous work! Timely too, I have been wondering recently about how to transfer designs to turned items. I work in a lot of plain looking woods up north here. I was looking at carbon paper as an option. How do you transfer your designs to your work? Platters make such great canvasses for these types of embellishments and I have some large blanks that I'd like to try my hand at pyrography and carving. Any tips would be appreciated.
    USMC '97-'01

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Petersen View Post
    That's just gorgeous work! Timely too, I have been wondering recently about how to transfer designs to turned items. I work in a lot of plain looking woods up north here. I was looking at carbon paper as an option. How do you transfer your designs to your work? Platters make such great canvasses for these types of embellishments and I have some large blanks that I'd like to try my hand at pyrography and carving. Any tips would be appreciated.
    Jim, your work is beautiful! Best of luck at the show!

    In addition to Adam's question, I was wondering how you actually carved the design? Did you carve it by hand and then "burn" the background, or do your pyrography tools let you do both at once? (Sorry Sir, I'm a newbie to turning and really don't know.)

    Thank you!
    Fred
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Frederick Skelly View Post
    Jim, your work is beautiful! Best of luck at the show!

    In addition to Adam's question, I was wondering how you actually carved the design? Did you carve it by hand and then "burn" the background, or do your pyrography tools let you do both at once? (Sorry Sir, I'm a newbie to turning and really don't know.)

    Thank you!
    Fred
    There are several different styles of pyrography. Some use extremely fine lines and power settings to define and shade to get a photographic-like rendering. Another is simply just destructive BRANDING using an extremely high power setting. Mine falls somewhere in the middle, although the background on mine is made using the high settings. It's probably most like the carving type of pyrography...
    My process went like this:
    I first just ran my knife point pen around the penciled design with a low setting and a fine sensitive hand to get flowing lines. Then I came back and burned around the outline again on a higher setting to prevent the ball tip from encroaching on the design. I then used the ball tip on a high setting to brand the background in. There's inevitably some back and forth between the outline and the background in order to get things touched up. And finally I come back with a shader and knife tip to create the shadows and intersections. Sandpaper, alcohol, and razor knives are used liberally in this process...
    CarveWright Model C
    Stratos Lathe
    Jet 1014
    Half-a-Brain

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Adam Petersen View Post
    That's just gorgeous work! Timely too, I have been wondering recently about how to transfer designs to turned items. I work in a lot of plain looking woods up north here. I was looking at carbon paper as an option. How do you transfer your designs to your work? Platters make such great canvasses for these types of embellishments and I have some large blanks that I'd like to try my hand at pyrography and carving. Any tips would be appreciated.
    On my first one, I drew it on plain 8.5" x 11" printer paper, cut out the 1/3 part of the design, scribbled graphite all over the back, then traced over it for each third. That's how I did the second one also.

    On this one, I just marked out the one third marks, and hand drew it on the plate directly. It didn't matter to me that each third was a little different. I didn't want them to be exact photographic copies...
    CarveWright Model C
    Stratos Lathe
    Jet 1014
    Half-a-Brain

  14. #14
    Graphite paper is available at craft stores and works well for transferring designs.

  15. #15
    So basically it's like carbon paper only with graphite? And you just trace the design?
    CarveWright Model C
    Stratos Lathe
    Jet 1014
    Half-a-Brain

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