Blue Eyed Blog
Posts tagged wood bowls
Improving Skills
May 3rd
Since I’ve got some time on my hands lately, a lot of time, I’ve been working on my bowl-turning skills. I spent about an hour or so on this one this morning, and I think it came out pretty nice. My first attempt at inlay, and I have to say, I love it!
That’s Redheart, by the way, one of my favorite woods to turn. I’ve also been experimenting with new finishes, and this bowl uses a friction polish which gives it a very nice shine. At least I think so.
Freshly Turned Bowls
Mar 16th
The new lathe is getting quite a workout — even if I only get to see it every other weekend. When my son is here for the weekend, he spends the entire weekend on it, and he’s getting extremely good! It sure is better than before, when he spent the entire weekend welded to the couch watching Netflix and playing 1st person shooter games. He’s actually creating something of beauty instead of just racking up a body-count.
Here are a few of his recent creations:
Cocobolo Bowl
And:
Red Heart Bowl
And finally:
Orange Osage Bowl
As you can see, he is very busy, and quite talented. The sides are razor thin (he even cut himself on one while sanding) and beautifully proportioned. He now wants to start an etsy page to sell them to, as he puts it “support his habit” of wood. This is not just a good thing, but a fantastic thing, if you ask me.
For my part, I made this bowl:
My Orange Osage Bowl
I’m not selling it, but am giving it away to my friend Capt’n Pat for being such a wonderful friend to me over the past few years. Once I am able to spend some more time on the lathe myself (which should start happening after April 1 when I get my house back) maybe I’ll start producing enough to sell as well. I’ll keep you all (all, HA!) updated on how things go.
The Lathe Returns!
Jan 30th
Finally! After an 8 or 9 month hiatus, I am back to the wood lathe! Because I finally bought my own wood lathe! And it’s a nice one, too. It arrived 2 weeks ago and I managed to get it (mostly) set up then, but didn’t get a chance to actually use it until this past weekend. I’m learning the art of delayed gratification.
That’s the new NovaTek 1624 Lathe. And it’s a beauty. Quiet, powerful and with all the bells and whistles. Well, almost all of them.
Dying to get on the lathe even more desperately than I was my eldest son. He was about to come straight out of his skin to get his hands on it. And get his hands on it he did this weekend. He spent the whole day Saturday, and most of the day Sunday working away out in the garage turning bowls.
And got annoyed when I interrupted his concentration with the camera.
I managed to get a little time on the lathe myself and practiced making some wooden eggs out of Padauk and Claro Walnut. As soon as I made one it was confiscated by The Tot though. I did manage to convince her to let me at least document their existence.
I hope to get more opportunities soon, but they will remain fairly limited for the next couple of months, sadly.
Related articles
- A day in the shed (stusshed.com)
Last Bowls
Jul 15th
Last night was my last night at TechShop RDU. I’m going to miss that place. So I took in a piece of what is becoming my favorite wood to turn. It is like butter. And even sort of looks like it! Orange Osage. So nice to work with. However, here’s what it does to me after an evening of working with it:
I end up covered in a layer of yellow dust. I couldn’t capture the funny look of my eyelashes covered in yellow dust. But you get the idea. Anyway, on to the evening’s bowl(s)
First I went back and repaired one of the first bowls I turned. It had developed a crack due to some … ummm … rough treatment … during the original turning. So I repaired that and re-polished it. I really kind of like this bowl.
Now on to the larger Orange Osage bowl I turned. About the same diameter as the above bowl (about 6 inches) but much deeper. I’m always amazed that the bowl seems to already exist in the block of wood and that I just have to find it. At least that’s how it feels as it’s happening. This piece has these interesting, delicate striations in it that look like cracks, but I don’t believe they are. It looks much lighter than the previous Orange Osage bowls, but I believe that this wood darkens over time as it is exposed to light. I’ll see if this one darkens over time. 
And yes, I turned another mini-bowl in the center of the larger bowl. It’s amazing how tickled I get with these little bowls! Positively giddy I tell you! Really. They are almost more satisfying that the larger ones. Ok, not really, but they are really really fun to do. 
So that’s that. Those are my last 2 bowls for an indefinite period of time. You see, my 2-month membership to TechShop has expired and I can’t really afford to re-up my membership. And I really can’t afford the lathe I want to buy so I can turn bowls anytime I want at home.
That being said, if anyone wants to buy the bowl(s) above, bidding starts at $800.00. I’m only sort of kidding. Except for the little bowl. I’m keeping that one.
