I’ve been sanded smooth by the walls of the rabbit holes down which I fall while searching out shapes to turn. I usually don’t look at other tuners’ work, but start with some period or region from art history. Lately, it’s been Bronze and Iron Age vessels in metal or ceramic. I lose track of time, frustrated by empty search results, or obsessed with trying to reason out why the things have their particular shape. Too often I fall for a form that simply can’t be turned from a single piece – my preferred working method – and would have to be built in stages. I’m still working out a couple of those types of vessels, more about that later. Others need external support, like this cauldron shape.
The high sides display the figure and irregularities – early stages of decomposition by fungi and molds, knots, cracks etc. – and the shoulder turns the surface 90 degrees to produce a different look. The stand, I admit, I turned for fun after a fair amount of figuring, trimming & gluing. This one is oak that’s been patinated with iron acetate; in woodworking terms, it’s ebonized. The iron acetate reacts with the tannic acids in the wood and turns black. Expect to see more of that here; brown and round can get a bit tedious 😉 I’m liking the light under the main form as well as the implied visual weight.
That’s all for now – I need some more input, so down another hole or two….
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