I made as couple more ornaments out of soft wood. The circles are pine and the rest is maple. I used those woods to experiment with and I wouldn't lose the exotic wood, if my experiment didn't work. When I got them as smooth as I wanted, I applied stain. They came out much better than I expected.  After the wood I got at Rocklers dries, I will repeat, but with a different size circle.

Those are nice!

 

About what diameters are the holes you drill to create the circles?

I didn't know how this combination of woods and grains would work. I figured I'd start with a 3" block. That would allow plenty of room for problems. If I had to go deep to correct chipping, I could. I randomly chose One and an eight inch hole...........because that is the size that was in my drill press.  I turned it diagonally to place the holes at random places. That also meant that the hole didn't need to be precisely on center. 

Nice design concept.

Great Idea with the stain taking differently on the end grain. John Lucas did something similar with dowels in a symmetrical pattern but not dyed. Just something to add to my round tuit list.

I like that idea.  The contrast really attracts the eye to it.  Nice!

dAN