Should have planned better in my cutting. As you can see, the place I chose for the foot had already started to spalt. Which, as you can imagine, makes it a bit mushy. (Or, maybe you can't see - look to the dark reddish spot at the bottom of the vessel.)
I was liking the shape, (got a little too aggressive), when I had a catch. And... lopsided she goes. 
You can see where the foot disintegrated. I suppose I could have figured out a way to turn it back around and re-cut another foot; making a shallower piece. But instead, I chose to learn what I could from this piece and move on. 
It's hard to see, but at the bottom, center of this shot, you can also see a crack going down an inch into the vessel. That came from the pith of the wood I chose. Had I inspected the wood better before settling on the foot I'd carved, I would have caught this and made the foot deeper in. And a constant reminder from my father came back to me as I was looking at this - "Slow down, Terry. Slow down."
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Hey Terry -- Thanks for sharing. I've never turned, but I've done a lot of carving in madrona and it is indeed hard stuff. I would love to see the work as you do it. And I'll keep my eyes open for wood for you. There is a guy on Bainbridge Island (called Coyote Woodworks) who salvages wood -- blowdowns, construction removal, etc -- and slabs them for tables, stairs etc. He works mostly on the Island and Kitsap county -- but also over in Seattle. I don't know if he'd want money for root ends, etc -- or if he even has much scrap. But I can give you his email if you would like it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sending along the link. JL