Beautiful cloudless day here in south central PA. Got some yard work done, a friend's computer working and another trip to the vets.

 

@Ron Altier posted a picture of his gorgeous Christmas ornament-

 

Check out his post about this turning-

 

 

 

Last week we had a video showing Guilio Marcolongo making a turning. @HandyDan   posted another video showing Guilio turning an oval bowl. In case you missed it, here it is again-

 

 

 

With December 25 approaching fast, I know we are all thinking about gifts to make. If you know someone who knits or crochets, here's a nice video that demonstrates how to make a yarn bowl. The video is from Mike Peace-

 

 

Recently, I was able to get a couple of manzanita roots. It took a little while to figure out what I could make from them. Unlike @Ron Altier I have zero imagine when it comes to artistic endeavours. The last month has been filled with detours, delays and unavoidably changed plans. I set the pieces on the lathe and would look at them on the way to the washer and dryer. Sometime, on one of those trips, an idea sneaked into my brain. 

 

So I started with something like this-

 

and this is what I found inside the root-

 

 

 

 

The root is mounted on a piece of walnut left over from another project. In the last picture, the void in the lid was created by a piece of quartz crystal rock embedded in the wood. It has a couple of applications of Danish oil. I'm waiting for it to dry completely and then a couple of coats of wipe on poly- or not.

 

The entire piece was turned with Easy Wood Tools. The root is quite hard but the Easy Wood Tools had not trouble creating the piece.

 

I'm calling it "Emerging From The Chrysalis"

 

 

Safe Turning

 

 

Excellent post again this week Lew.  I actually have a yarn bowl on the list of to dos so the video will be helpful.  I like what you did with the root.  I turned a root once and found lots of dirt and rocks.  Constant sharpening was a must.  How did you fare?

Good post and great work on the burl. I actually have turned a yarn bowl. Had a friend ask me to do one so I turned 2 and one went to my sister. The hard part is not only the design of the slot but cutting it. On the first I carved it . On the second I use a Rotozip bit.

I'll have to watch that Mike Peace video. I've had requests for yarn bowls but have shied away from doing one as yet. Beautiful job on that Manzanita root. Few of us can just get up in the morning and create a piece of art. The important thing is that you tried, art just doesn't happen by itself.

 

“The most important thing about art is to work. Nothing else matters except sitting down every day and trying.”

Steven Pressfield

 

 

Steve

Very nice root work. Hope those EW tools didn't suffer. Is that gorgeous color natural? 

Art emerges. Yours burst through. 

No imagination?  Beautiful work Lew,

Cal

Just ran across this. Something weird from a guy who generally makes no mistakes. 

 

Thanks for the kind comments, they're really appreciated-

@HandyDan I hit a small piece of quartz crystal rock when doing the lid. It did do a number on my Carbide cutter!

 

@Gerald Thank You. I'd was thinking about making one but don't know anyone who could use it.

 

@Steve Krumanaker Thanks for the encouragement! 

 

@Gene Howe Yes, that's the color! It got a little darker with the oil but it really  didn't change color. It was "natural" Danish oil. Thanks for the video link, too!

 

@clhyer Thanks Cal!