I have pictures of my latest bottle stopper at various stages of production.   I thought it might be interesting to share them in a way that would allow someone to understand the process.  I end up with a unique item, so fear of someone copying my stoppers is minimal.  A large part of the process is random, though I like to think of it as a controlled randomness.  The approach comes from my experience as a painter.  My paintings are perhaps a bit short of the results of my infuences–Pollock, Jenkins, Frankenthaler, De Kooning, etc.–but I enjoy the act of painting them and am trying to import some of the aspects that I enjoy into wood turning.  It isn’t a clean fit, but is a fun way of approaching turning.

One starts with a variety of hardwoods.  In an ideal world they would all be the same size.  This is to say 1 1/2 to 2 inches square.   Length is not as important at this stage but for simplicity lets say 4-5 inches.  Cut them on a miter saw using an angle other than 90 degrees (45 is fine to start).  You then mix and match the pieces of wood and glue them together.  At this stage you only want contrasts of color and grain.  After they dry, you re-cut each piece (using the same or a different angle) having flipped the block to cut on a different side that the original.  In this way the resulting pieces are irregular–slightly or more depending on how you have varied the angle and placement of the cut.  At this point I pause to point out that I have built a variety of cutting jigs to help make the process safer and easier.  I don’t include pictures because that is not the purpose of this post.  Safety however is very important part of the process.  Repeat the cutting and gluing until you have something like this.

Turning Block

Now you may notice that with this block I have cheated and included a piece of segmented wood that has those dreaded 90 degree angles.  I am all about not following directions here.  You might also notice that the pieces of wood were not all the same size:  I don’t live in the ideal world that I described at the beginning of this post.

Drilling and tapping the hole for the specific chuck is unremarkable.  I then turn the blank to a rough shape.

Above blank after first turn

I then add any additional elements.  In this case, I add hardwood plugs.  You have to drill holes where you want them (here I have added them to the top, but elsewhere they are randomly spread thoughout the blank.) and glue the plug into that hole.

Blank with hole for wood plugBlank with wood plug glued in place

Glue in the plug.  Drill any additional holes needed.  Here I slightly offset a smaller plug into the original.  Glue second plug.

Second plug glued on top

Turning then proceeds and you get the final shape and can see the combination of colors, grains and shapes.

Final turning and sanding

Adding a coat or two of Old English Finish hardens the surface, seals the wood pores,and deepens and enriches the wood colors.

Old English Finish on stoppers

After the finish drys, I buff the stoppers on my three stage buffing wheels.  This brings out the grain in the wood and adds a nice shiny finish.  Add the appropriate stopper and voila:

Finished Stopper

No fingers were lost in the making of this bottle stopper.

Have been painting lately.  Nothing dramatically unique, but some close to what I intended.

The first is a small painting using multiple layering of acrylic washes.  Semi-transparent with what I would call paint grain.  This painting is not finished, but I like where it is so far.

Detail of the above

detail from above

The second is more typical of my earlier paintings, though the colors combine for a  wonderfully vibrant moodiness.  Again a small painting.

Again some detail

detail from above

I have been playing with abstract segmentation again.

I am generally happy with the results.  Combination of colors and grain accomplish my aim, but I want to add another element and I haven’t pinned it down.  The attempt is to create abstract expressionist wood turnings.  The abstract is ok, the expressionist needs help.  What I have so far is available here.

I have added two bottle stoppers and a pen to my shop on Etsy.

The bottle stoppers are part of a series of asymetrically segmented pieces that I have hand turned.

Stopper 17

Stopper 18

The pen is a Civil War replica twist syle pen.

Civil War Pen 29

The top is a full sized replica 58 caliber minie’ ball used during the Civil War in the Model 1861 Springfield Rifle Musket.

The clip is a replica of that same musket.

The tip is a full sized replica of a 44 caliber 1860 Colt Army revolver bullet.

Body is Redwood Burl on the ends and imitation ivory in the center.

Bottle stopper turned from ebony with a maple insert. Ebony is a beautiful wood with at times strange grain patterns. Known primarily as pure black, it more commonly is a combination of black and brown to white stripes.

Front and back

From the top.

Detail. Can be purchased here.

Detail photos of the 2005 painting “The Wild West.”

First of a series of asymmetrically segmented pens. As an abstract painter, I am drawn away from order and toward the unique and unbalanced. This pen, and the others in this series, marks the beginning of an approach to pen making that I hope to explore.

non-linear, asymetrical

There are brass elements added to the pen to add some visual interest.

It can be purchased here.

An abstract painting from 2005.  “The Wild West.”

A buckeye burl pen for sale at etsy.com. Buckeye burl (Aesculus spp.) is a beautiful exotic wood. Regular buckeye tends to be cream to white in color, but the burl is colored by minerals to give black, grey, and blue swirls.

The pen mechanism itself is a 24k gold Gatsby pen that uses Parker style refills.

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