MIND OF A BLACK WOODWORKER IN ARIZONA

Wow I can not express the excitement I am enjoying in the creation of this piece. The final is a donated scrap of ivory, hooray. I have never turned ivory before. Truly something special. This vessel, is a song ebony and ivory. With bloodwood ( may represent blood once spilled). Ivory is for purity and a change of sadness. Ebony, once known in ancient Egypt as farrows gold. For me I find that I like the depth of this gaboon ebony, black is also known to  absorb the negativity of evils.         I like the thought of it.                                         This is story about the spirit of joy, housing the special meanings, you wish to keep near. Stay tuned for the next update, there are few more surprises, inside and out, Wow I can't wait. Turning Ivory

The  Arizona Association of Woodturners has issued a challenge for the June meeting to turn a lidded box. I have decided to turn it from one of my favorite woods, " Tigre Caspi and Gaboon Ebony .  I first decided that I wanted the shape to mimic female form. The lid maybe the breast area, the start of the ebony, the shoulders and head area with a crown top piece. the head shoulders, and breast area has finish. I need to complete the crown, which will be a challenge. I thought about attempting to insert Lignum Vitae for threading  top and base for the ultimate fit. The bottom is planned to to be rounded and maybe slightly elevated. The crown, pyrite with inlaid gold dust. 

Mesquite Burl hollow vessel  and it's life. Here is a general synopsis of hollow vessel work from the beginning to the end, almost end. More pewter fill Starting pewter fill The base is glued and mortised in place Can you image the difficulty in melting metal? See Mortise and tenon The reason I added mounting blank and pored pewter  Now I can begin the fill The view Blocked view Malikite, Pewter, Ironite and more... The unfinished view  I rigged my first attempt at vacuum chucking. Shrink wrap to cover leakage  I use parts from a new Hold Fast system I never could get to work Replaced the shrink wrap with scotch tape over one beetle hole. Vacuum gauge at 15-18 and holding.  Here the is vacuum motor, on it's first run. It was recommended by to turning sites, here's one. http://www.jtturningtools.com/vacuumpumps-kits I had to dial it down, and it held all three...

Completed Olive bowl with turquoise Surprise,  It had a baby.... Mounted with revolving tail stock.  Figured Olive wood bowl with turquoise inlays and a live edge. wood turnings, using a lathe, you can see mounted in a nova chuck. On the outside, I have filled the inclusions with real turquoise stone, and using "CA", thick glue to fill the recesses over the the turquoise and the entire exterior.  I have used my shop made carbide chisel to remove the high portions of stone, and a lot of sanding to follow, starting with 150 grit. This will take at lease 10 3" disk on my air powered angle sander. I then will sand up to at least 800 grit, followed by my mixture of shellac/alcohol/ walnut oil. Her you see the bowl with patches of "CA" glue as I add turquoise.  Her is the picture of the preliminary shape with the tenon, before it went into an air kiln. It did warp a little, as suspected. Here you can see it remounted wit...