Master Woodturner Program

[Malcolm Zander]

Well, Odie, I think it would be easy to get bogged down in long semantic discussions of what the word embellishment means to different people but I am not going to go there. However your Claro walnut bowl also has epoxy filler in it to fill "drying separations". Putting epoxy in these voids, or "naturally occurring irregularities" as you describe them, seems to fall into your definition above of embellishment as something "used to conceal or cover up discrepancies in surface quality". Why would one not simply leave these voids unfilled, if they are just naturally occurring irregularities? A purist might find putting epoxy into them odious.

 

[Odie]

Well, Odie, I think it would be easy to get bogged down in long semantic discussions of what the word embellishment means to different people but I am not going to go there. However your Claro walnut bowl also has epoxy filler in it to fill "drying separations". These voids, or "naturally occurring irregularities" as you describe them, seem to fall into your definition above of embellishment as something "used to conceal or cover up discrepancies in surface quality". Why would one not simply leave these voids unfilled, if they are just naturally occurring irregularities? A purist might find putting epoxy into them odious.

Your point is well taken, Malcolm.....

I can see where our definitions clearly differ now, and thanks for the clarification.

ko

 

[john lucas]

Odie MY apology if I came off a little strong. It was a bad morning. The truth is a lot of new turners do cover up defects with alternative methods. Adding lacing to patch a large crack in a bowl, epoxy to fill those same cracks. I have burned the edges of the cracks along with the lip to try and cover up that kind of damage.
A fun bit of info. Todd Hoyer used to (and may still do it) turn a piece and then put it outside for year of more to age and crack. However it was turned clean with no tool marks before this denegrating procedure. He then adds rusted wire and such to the pieces. They are extraordinary. The thing is he isn't covering up defects from turning, the chainsaw cuts and other texturing done by some pretty course methods are done after turning the piece to a high quality level. ON a side note I was walking through a high end gallery in Dallas and saw one of Todd's pieces sitting on a piece of furniture. I was trying to explain his technique to my fiance' and pointing at the details. A security guard came up and said please step away from the piece. I tried to explain that Todd was a friend and fellow turner and there weren't any barriers to prevent you from getting close but he had a face like the TSA agents so I backed away.

 

[Hu Lowery]

the basic design can be a crutch also

Odie MY apology if I came off a little strong. It was a bad morning. The truth is a lot of new turners do cover up defects with alternative methods. Adding lacing to patch a large crack in a bowl, epoxy to fill those same cracks. I have burned the edges of the cracks along with the lip to try and cover up that kind of damage.
A fun bit of info. Todd Hoyer used to (and may still do it) turn a piece and then put it outside for year of more to age and crack. However it was turned clean with no tool marks before this denegrating procedure. He then adds rusted wire and such to the pieces. They are extraordinary. The thing is he isn't covering up defects from turning, the chainsaw cuts and other texturing done by some pretty course methods are done after turning the piece to a high quality level. ON a side note I was walking through a high end gallery in Dallas and saw one of Todd's pieces sitting on a piece of furniture. I was trying to explain his technique to my fiance' and pointing at the details. A security guard came up and said please step away from the piece. I tried to explain that Todd was a friend and fellow turner and there weren't any barriers to prevent you from getting close but he had a face like the TSA agents so I backed away.

John,

The basic design of a piece can be a crutch also. Nothing harder than getting a big sweeping curve perfect, especially if it opens or closes. A piece with many shoulders, steps, and corners to it is broken up into small sections and if any one section isn't perfect then that section can be gone over multiple times without affecting other areas. With a perfect curve more than the slightest shaving in one area requires a complete new cut, sometimes the slightest shaving does. Anytime I see a turning with a lot of gee-gaws that seem to do little or nothing for the esthetics of the piece I wonder if they were designed in crutches to simply avoid some challenges.

One of the advantages of spending years doing auto body work, my hands feel "fair" surfaces far better than my eyes can see especially as the years creep in. For people more visually oriented if something can be done to make the piece a little shiny and then play a light slowly back and forth across a surface it will reveal flaws invisible to the naked eye under normal lighting. Since we often built up above what we wanted and cut down to it I find that auto body repair and turning have a lot in common. Moving the whole body to flow around curves, big muscles and joints making small movements instead of small muscles and joints making big movements, the whole method of refining a rough turning. While the tools aren't the same the overall technique is very similar. I find myself wanting to use the gouge like a body tool sometimes. Not the normal technique but one I am very experienced at. I try to learn other techniques but maybe I should be looking at it differently. Not sure I need to fix what isn't broken!

Hu

 

[Odie]

Odie MY apology if I came off a little strong. It was a bad morning. The truth is a lot of new turners do cover up defects with alternative methods. Adding lacing to patch a large crack in a bowl, epoxy to fill those same cracks. I have burned the edges of the cracks along with the lip to try and cover up that kind of damage.
A fun bit of info. Todd Hoyer used to (and may still do it) turn a piece and then put it outside for year of more to age and crack. However it was turned clean with no tool marks before this denegrating procedure. He then adds rusted wire and such to the pieces. They are extraordinary. The thing is he isn't covering up defects from turning, the chainsaw cuts and other texturing done by some pretty course methods are done after turning the piece to a high quality level. ON a side note I was walking through a high end gallery in Dallas and saw one of Todd's pieces sitting on a piece of furniture. I was trying to explain his technique to my fiance' and pointing at the details. A security guard came up and said please step away from the piece. I tried to explain that Todd was a friend and fellow turner and there weren't any barriers to prevent you from getting close but he had a face like the TSA agents so I backed away.

Hi John......no problem at all. I understand that we all have our own ideas on woodturning. I can seem very unyielding to what others think, but in reality, I'm only very hard on myself.....it's in my nature. Many of us have invested a lot of hopes and dreams in our turning, and what we (as individuals) think and believe can become a very personal quest, of which we make our own rules for success.

When I mention "success", it refers to our goals as we define them for ourselves. Many will put a monetary value on success, but I don't think of it that way. I am managing to sell some of my work, but I see it as a way to continue my own personal growth without investing much money to make it happen. I definitely am not paying the bills this way, and since that is low on the priority list, there is no frustration, knowing that isn't happening.......it's all about saddling up and charging windmills, instead of making deposits at the bank!......I think a few of you here can relate to that!

ko


BTW: Interesting point of view with the auto body relationship, hu.........I'm still contemplating it! 😀

 

[Charlie Knighton]

everyone's path is different......try to explain the difference craft vs art......try to explain-----ya might be a woodturner........to each his own