Five years ago I hosted a class given by Stephen Hatcher where he showed us a process which allowed us to add stone to our turnings. I started with simple embellishments, adding stone to rims and filling voids. This adds interest to the turnings. But the real fun is when you go beyond this. Somehow I think I define fun as time consuming!
I enjoyed Princes work, and made this a tribute to him, “Purple Haze”. It was made with Purple Halite, but was not as purple as I had hoped. The wood tone had an affect on the color the eye observed. Still more to learn.
These 2 walnut bowls show 2 different rim accents. The one on the left is filled with a green calcite. On the right, it is filled with turquoise. Both add beauty to the wood.
I found this piece of red bark eucalyptus about 2 years before our class. What a beautiful piece of wood. It immediately reminded me of the ocean waves. But, as is true with most crotch pieces, cracked something awful. I then carved the cracks and made many new voids to create the froth/foam from the waves. You can see the final piece on the right. I hope I can find another piece of wood with this much character.
My daughter loves cats. I’m more of a dog person, but I carved out a cats paw and some claw marks all over the bowl. It was a success.
One day I was outside admiring the sky. This was a piece of walnut that had been drying for a few years and was a perfect piece, no voids, no cracks. Just not very interesting. I carved clouds into it. With a light behind it, the translucent stone glows.
This shows the extremes that can be made with a stone rim. A beautiful maple figured crotch piece just begged for an accent. Learning how to add this was a real learning experience.