The chosen entry Purple Heart and Yellow heart form.

[Brian Brown]

I entered 3 pieces into a local juried art show. They weren't going to announce the chosen entries until next week, but I got the email yesterday. This one was chosen for the show. It is named eclipse, and is made from Purple heart and yellow heart, on a painted maple base. The crescent tips are gilded with dutch gold. It is about 9" wide and 10" tall. Unlike the other two forms that I entered, I will probably not make more of these. I have discovered that I hate turning crescents. I am lucky to have all of my fingers still, and I discovered some new naughty words. The tips also like to break off. Maybe if I can find a better way, but I am not holding my breath. As always, a brutal critique is requested. I really appreciate your thoughts on how to make my work better.

Brian Brown %22Eclipse%22.jpg

[John Kananis]

Brian, imho, this piece is pretty high up there on the awesome scale. I like the depth, the species selection and the coloration at the tips. Beautiful work.

[Walter Mooney]

Brian, I like everything about this. And thus, I have several questions:

It looks like it’s three separate or individual crescents, turned one at a time. If so, are they nested in inset into one another? In other words, is the front one partially set in a circular recess you made, to size, in the purpleheart piece, and then that piece similarly set in the back (third) piece?
Or was this a one-piece lamination (layering?) of the three pieces of wood from which you turned away different amounts to expose the three layers (like peeling back an onion I guess)?
Or what / how?

It’s a very creative piece, and think the title is spot on! No wonder it was juried in! Congrats. Wish I had the brain that can conjure up things like that.

[Brian Brown]

Walter,

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are my words.

IMG_2985.jpg

It is a poor cell phone pic so it's probably only worth about 250 words, but I hope this answers your question. It is definitely not an onion. I thought about that for a millisecond and decided NO WAY am I going to try that! The larger crescents fit between the pokey-ups on the base, and the small crescent glues to the front pokey-up. How's that for a description?

Brian, Wish I had the brain that can conjure up things like that.

Trust me, you don't want my brain. My wife says it is made of Swiss cheese. Thanks to you, and to John to for your nice comments.

[Don Frank]

Brian,
This is a really cool piece. You wanted critique so i'll mention what I notice that could be changed if you decide you want to expand on this idea. It sounds like you don't look forward to that idea but a sale might change your mind. The gold guilding is a nice touch but the bottom edges being rough and not crisp lines is distracting. Perhaps if the amount of gold on the tips decreased in proportion to the size of the crescents. Perhaps if if the edge between the gold and the wood faded down the backbone of each crescent until it created a thin line. Those edges could be taped off before you put on your glue to give you crisp edges.
The openings of the crescents create a line in a V formation that is wide at the top and smaller at the bottom. With these three, the visual line on the right side is fairly straight but on the left side the line makes a zig zag because the gap on the red one is open more. If you do another piece like this consider doing five with each one getting smaller and so that that V formation carries all the way down. You could perhaps even segment the bottom one with two tiny slivers of purple heart so that it creates the very bottom of the V.
This is all very nit picky stuff and I hope I don't offend you by suggesting things. I get motivated when I see something new or different a look at and do these mental critiques in my head to try to help with my own turnings. You might as well do one more, perhaps with 5 or perhaps segment the red and the blond wood down the centerline so the same piece looks reversed when viewed from the back side. Could put it on a turntable base to reveal that. A Yingyang approach.

[Brian Brown]

Frank,

Thank you for your ideas. No offense taken, as this is exactly what I am looking for. If I do another, they will definitely be segmented. I think this will help keep the tips from breaking off so easily. Maybe this piece will be like falling off a skateboard. After some time, I'll forget the pain, and be dumb enough to try again.