OK, so to say it's been awhile since I have posted in this blog would be an understatement. Truly, I don't really have an excuse. That's not to say I haven't been busy turning, because I have. There has just been a lot going on at home and at work, and I got lazy.
My turning hours are pretty restricted right now. I get up at about 5am and go out in the studio (translation: garage) and work on my turnings for a few hours. By about 8 or 9, it is just too hot to be out there. It averages about 110 degrees here right now, and it heats up fast in the morning. I never thought I would be grateful to be in Arizona in the summer, but at least our high humidity days are nothing like those in other parts of the country. If it hits 30-40% humidity here, I think we are under water. I wouldn't want to deal with 100 degrees and 90% humidity. I'll take my hot garage.
Anyway, I have been playing with a few things here. the first picture is a pool ball that has been hollowed out to make a small box. It is not at original idea, but they are kind of fun to make, and really fun to get people's reactions. The only down side is that they are actually very time consuming to make. It is actually really easy to shatter the material. You wouldn't think so in a pool ball, but when you are spinning it at 2000 rpm and sticking a piece of sharp steel in the side of it, it reacts very differently than hitting it with a que stick.
The next piece is turned from Desert Olive that blew down near downtown Phoenix last year in a monsoon storm. it had a large bark inclusion that I could have done several things with, including turning it away and leaving a hole in the side, or filling it with one of many materials. Instead, I chose to leave it as it was, and use some of my grandmother's clay sculpture pieces to fill it in and use the bark as a sort of backdrop. At this point, I think the turned piece almost becomes secondary to the sculpture pieces.
