Author Topic: Propeller Box  (Read 2436 times)

Offline fuzzyturns

  • platinum
  • *****
  • Posts: 978
    • Fuzzy Turns
Propeller Box
« on: October 14, 2019, 11:51:37 AM »
Over the summer I had a period of quite reduced activity, after suffering a bit of a personal setback. Eventually I did find my motivation again, and here is the result. The body is a piece of lime, the lid, propeller and the ring in the stand are ash (obviously with a bit of help) and the three feet are sycamore. About 3" diameter and 6" tall.
Any comments welcome. The photo was taken with a mobile phone, so the quality is not the best, but before you cut me into pieces over the image quality, I will eventually take pictures with a proper light tent and hi-res camera.

Offline Derek

  • platinum
  • *****
  • Posts: 1369
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #1 on: October 14, 2019, 12:04:13 PM »
I like that a lot Fuzzy. The contrasts work well and even though the finial for want of a word is on the large side works for me and does not look out of place.

Offline GBF

  • platinum
  • *****
  • Posts: 2262
    • Artistry in wood
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #2 on: October 14, 2019, 12:05:42 PM »
I like it  except the propeller in my opinion it would be better without it

Regards George
The man that never made a mistake never made anything

Offline Twisted Trees

  • platinum
  • *****
  • Posts: 776
  • Bristol, UK
    • Twisted Trees
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #3 on: October 14, 2019, 02:47:25 PM »
I like it, nice colour contrast, interesting shape, and the propeller adds extra curve which is always a good thing in my book. but does it spin? now that would take it to exceptional.
TT, AKA Pete, but that name is taken :-)

Offline fuzzyturns

  • platinum
  • *****
  • Posts: 978
    • Fuzzy Turns
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #4 on: October 14, 2019, 03:21:30 PM »
I'm sorry, but no, it doesn't spin. It's not really a propeller anyway, it just got labelled like this by my wife when she first saw it. I would probably call it a crest. The picture is slightly deceiving, because the crest/propeller is actually very thing, only about 2mm at the bottom and then tapering into an edge at the top, so it's a lot less heavy than you might first think.

Offline Mike313

  • gold
  • ****
  • Posts: 263
  • Ancora Imparo
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #5 on: October 14, 2019, 03:22:07 PM »
I love it. Great overall form and great detail. I like the propeller as a nice tactile handle for the lid. The curved main box body is very pleasing and I really like the stand. It looks to me like a considerable amount of design and planning went into it :)

Offline fuzzyturns

  • platinum
  • *****
  • Posts: 978
    • Fuzzy Turns
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #6 on: October 14, 2019, 04:05:06 PM »
Thanks for the compliments, Mike. However, I have to disappoint you. This all sort of happened as I went along and let my intuition guide me. I had a piece of lime left over from another job and decided in the spur of the moment to make a small box from it. Once I had rough turned the body, I started scouting around for something nice for the lid and settled on a piece of curly olive ash. While turning the lid, I thought it would be a nice idea to have something on the lid, so took another cutoff from the same ash and shaped the crest. Once this was coloured, I looked at it and thought: that's a bit heavy with that dark red on the top, so better make a stand for this. So the bottom of the body got rounded over, a ring was cut (again from the same ash) and then I made the three little feet from rippled sycamore because I'd run out of suitable cutoffs of ash. A series of most fortunate events, if you will.

Offline Mike313

  • gold
  • ****
  • Posts: 263
  • Ancora Imparo
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #7 on: October 15, 2019, 12:06:13 PM »
Fortunate indeed! The results work very well :)

Offline John Plater

  • gold
  • ****
  • Posts: 295
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #8 on: October 15, 2019, 06:36:51 PM »
I love the story ! "Fortunate events" to a certain extent are of one's own making. One look at things and make the most of them. It is a part of the skill and application of experience. It gives the overall piece its dynamic. I liked it before knowing the back story. I like it even more now !
ATB John
If I had a better lathe, I would be able to show my ineptitude more effectively.

Offline fuzzyturns

  • platinum
  • *****
  • Posts: 978
    • Fuzzy Turns
Re: Propeller Box
« Reply #9 on: October 16, 2019, 09:37:41 AM »
Thanks, John. Clearly my "fortunate events" comment was made with a little smile, and I am pretty sure that a few years ago I would not have ended up with the same result. I agree with you that experience plays a big part in "following our intuition". I suspect we all do it completely unconsciously, and may even wonder in the end: how did I get here?