Hollow form with finial and plinth

[Les Symonds]

Here's another piece of my holly (just to rub it in), but this time, made into a hollow form urn with a finial and plinth.



My skills are not yet up to hollowing through a small opening, so I've made this by rough turning the shape and then splitting the workpiece and hollowing each piece, before sticking them back together. The only problem with that was an area of bark-inclusions and rot exactly where I needed to turn the spigot to support the bottom half of the urn whilst I hollowed it, so I made another cup-chuck out of a big log and secured the workpiece inside it



This shot shows the underside of the urn, and clearly shows the bad piece of timber that couldn't support a spiggot...



...and here's the problem seen from indside the urn....gladly, most of this got turned away by the time that I got down to an acceptable wall thickness.



I thought long and hard about how to support the urn, as it's bottom is completely rounded, so for now it sits on a plinth that I've turned for it. I'm in two minds about the plinth, though....when I look at the photo, it looks a bit too big, but when I look at the urn itself, it looks ok. I guess that I'll live with it for a few days and see how I feel about it.



The overall height is 13.5 inches, about 34 cm. Urn and finial detail out of spalted holly, finial and plinth out of African Blackwood.
C&C always very welcome....Thanks, Les

[woodndesign]

  ..  ... more Holly ... Les, nice WIP in your way of going about it, which works just fine .. jubilee clips as commented before in a post, should be the other way or did you forget the tape.

I like the same form in the finial which is very pleasing in detail to the eye, complements the main form, from the picture angle difficult to work out your concern with the plinth, it maybe wrong, you see it first hand .. could a mirror of the finial base work here, just two slight steps at the base (same size) then a long slight curve coming out with repeat steps retaining the top as the same size, if you get my drift.

You've got a nice finish.

Cheers   David

[Bryan Milham]

Les,

The techniques and methods you've brought together to create this shows just how well you are progressing.

The shape of the hollowform is very good, and the matching bead in the finial works well.

Unfortunately the piece as a whole does not sit well in my eye. It's mostly small things, to run through a few;

• The turned bead above and below the inset holly in the finial should be the same to give balance.
• The top part of the finial should look as if it follows through the holly from the lower part, it's thicker and therefore looks wrong.
• The base/stand/foot just 'sit's' there, needs something, a waist or small detail to give it life.

Finials, especially split ones are very hard to get right, I've yet to make one in a single try so don't worry about it. Look again and see where it seems unbalanced and try again, draw it before you turn it, I find that helps.

Bryan

[Les Symonds]

Cheers Dewi (or is it David, tonight) and Bryan....I was hopeful that you guys would contribute.

Dewi...the issue with the Jubilee clips is that the tails should trail, not lead, but with the clips almost fully extended - as is the case here and as was the case with the Steampunk vase - there are no discernible tails, but you're right, I could have taped them as I did last time. i get your drift about the base...I'll rough one out and see how it looks.

Bryan...thanks for that, and I like the idea of copying the shapes into the finial....if only blackwood wasn't so darned expensive! as for the plinth/foot, I felt it important to keep it as plain as possible so as not to distract from the urn, but I see your point.

As for proportions....I've been thinking about this since I made it; why do things look different in photos to what they do in reality? Perhaps, in reality we see three dimensions, so in this case the urn, being so much larger than the foot, appears disproportionately larger and therefore makes the foot look ok, even if it is a little on the large side. Whereas, in a photo we see only two dimensions, so our view could be argued to be more objective.

Thanks again...Les

[Roderick Evans]

Siwd mae Les

Nice form, nice finial ( a nice idea to include a bit of the holly between the african blackwood ).
I agree with David's idea for the foot , have a look on google images, something along the lines of the base of the finial would really set it off. I'm working on one of these at the moment and hope to get it posted this week, great Welsh minds think alike

Hwyl am y tro

Rod

[Les Symonds]

Well...thanks folks for all the comments, especially for the advise on the plinth.

I decided to have a go at re-shaping the plinth, but this process had its problems. I mounted it on a screw chuck, so as not to waste height in the plinth by cutting a spigot for my chuck, and my Patriot chuck's screw-chuck has a 12mm screw, so the shaft of the plinth needed to be no thinner than 16mm. Also, I wanted to copy the urn shape into the top of the plinth, but to do that, I would have had to have reduced the diameter of the very top and then the urn might have sat a little precariously on it, so the shape that I turned was more like a copy of the ball on the finial, rather than of the urn.



It's a compromise, which I feel is a bit better than the solid plinth that I first made, but I can't do much better now, until I get more blackwood....maybe I'll keep working at it, maybe I'll just put it down to experience and move on to something new!

Finally...the urn is changing shape as it dries and the whole thing is quite deeply rippled where the dark, spalt-lines have shrunk much more thaan the rest of the timber. I love the feel of it...you can close your eyes, run your hands all around it and immediately understand the feel of the grain...it's amazing!

Les

[Andy Coates]

100% improvement...well done

[Francesco Dibari]

very nice piece and excellent  technique, I prefer the second foot which I think gives lightness to the whole, but it's just my personal taste
many compliments Les ..

[woodndesign]

"It's a compromise, which I feel is a bit better than the solid plinth that I first made, but I can't do much better now, until I get more blackwood....maybe I'll keep working at it, maybe I'll just put it down to experience and move on to something new!"

What !!! Les, IMHO you've cracked it, you took it beyond what I'd even imagined ... which is not difficult to do ..    ..

Cheers   Dewi

[Bryan Milham]

Les,

That has given the whole form lift and definition. Sufficient shape and detail to make it an interesting foot without overpowering the form.

Bryan

[TWiG]

That is a big, big improvement !!!  I do not know about others on here but I never buy blackwood  , but normally use any close grain wood eg; sycamore then spray it with ebonising laquer , it works well for me ....   Terry

[Les Symonds]

Wow...thanks so much Andy, Francesco, Dewi, Bryan and Terry. Your opinions are very important to me and I appreciate your frank and honest input. This sort of guidance is helping me immensely and I'll always be grateful for it.

Cheers guys..Les