Spalted Birch Vessel

[Bill Bolen]

It seems like all I have been doing in the shop for the last month is making turning tools and using them to make HF's. I have about 10 turned and in various stages of finishing. This one is heavily spalted birch taken from a yard tree in front of our home. The log was "found" at the bottom of my turning pile, and just in time too. Has a lot of spalting that was just starting to get punky. This piece is 8"X5" and finsihed with wipe on poly and buffed. Sorry about the glare, I just could not get a shot without it on this high gloss HF. Please, any advice on form is appreciated as that is what it takes to get better! Thanks...Bill...

[Don Carter]

William:
I haven't done any HF's but I know what I like and I like that. It looks great!
Can't wait to see the others as they are finished. Thanks for showing it.

All the best.

Don

[Richard Madison]

Bill,
Beautiful piece, beautiful wood, beautiful finish! Try turning off the light on the right (where you can see reflection of the bulb and its reflector), and shoot the exact same picture. One bright spot can sometimes be good to show a deep glossy finish, and one shadow can add some depth to the picture. Just stuff to try.

Edit: Might try it without the thing underneath it too. Oh yeah, form was what you asked about. It looks good to me, and/but form is often in the eye of the beholder. Any given piece could always be a little wider here or a little narrower there. Smooth, and smoothly varying curvature is very important, and sometimes more difficult to achieve than one would think. Study the work of the great turners, shapes of ancient pottery, native American pottery, and so forth, and decide what you like. You may already have a pretty good handle on "form".

[Jon Lanier]

Absolutely fantastic! woooo hooooo

[Andrew Derhammer]

I normally am very picky about form(haven't really showed it here on the forum), but since you asked, the lower 2/3rds i'd cut back some It looks to thick and buldgy, it should cut back in a little bit more, doesn't have to be straight sided, just cut it in some to make a transition that pops.

[Dewey Torres]

I normally am very picky about form(haven't really showed it here on the forum), but since you asked, the lower 2/3rds i'd cut back some It looks to thick and buldgy, it should cut back in a little bit more, doesn't have to be straight sided, just cut it in some to make a transition that pops.

Drew,
How old are you like 15?

You going to be a legend if you keep at it!

[Bernie Weishapl]

Beautiful piece William. Like the form, wood and finish.

[Eugene Wigley]

Bill, I am new to wood turning. I have not done any hollow forms yet. I have done several bowls. I really like this hollow form. I like the form and the wood. You have inspired me to try a small hollow form. I have some green sweet gum I think would work for a vessel similar to this one. I will probably make a mess of it but... yep i'm gonna try it. Thanks for posting this.

[Steve Schlumpf]

Beautiful hollow form Bill! Love the wood and finish!

I agree with Richard about loosing the light on the right side and also the marble base the form is sitting on and taking a few more photos. Glare will always be a problem but if you can isolate it to one small area it may work to highlight the high gloss finish. The marble base is actually to busy for my taste and competes with the vase for attention. I also agree with Richard's comments about form in that you can always vary something. I think you did a great job on the form on this one and look forward to seeing the next one!

Nice work! Thanks for sharing!

[Skip Spaulding]

Looks great Bill, nice color and form and a very nice save from the bottom of that wood pile!

[Jim Kountz]

Beautiful, nothing else to be said in my opinion!!

[Martin Drummond]

That is a beautiful piece Bill

[Dennis Ford]

Great wood and form. The glossy finish looks good on this. I think it is a winner.

[Sid Matheny]

Wow this was back in 2008