Gmelina Natural Edge Bowl

[Little Festo]

I accquired quite a lot of Gmelina fasciculiflora, White Beech. I was keen to turn the wood while it was still wet and found it to a lot of fun. I've never turned any natural edge bowls/forms so I thought that I have a go. I managed to get it quite thin and thought that I'd try to show the translucent quality of the bowl in a photo - not quite right. The light seems to pass through the end gran quite more that throught the side grain. The wood seems to have taken on a purplish colour around the sapwood

The other bowl is an endgrain bowl also in gmelina. The inside of thi bowl was dyed red with a water based dye.

I used a Rolly Munroe hollowing tool for both bowls. The Tool colgged quite a bit on the natural edge bowl but worked beautifully on the end grain bowl. I have just hollowed and shaped another endgrain bowl last night and I managed to get the walls untra thin. The light 'glowed" through the walls on it as I was turning it, just needs to be oiled later in the week (if it dosen't crack - which it shouldn't as Gmelina isn't prone to cracking.

Both bowls will get a bit more oiling and buffing.


Peter

[zenwood]

Spectacular stuff festo. I'm not a 'turner' but they look really good.

How do you get such good photos? Can you describe your set-up, processing techniques. How do you get big photos within the 100k limit? Mine always turn out pretty small...

[Little Festo]

Spectacular stuff festo. I'm not a 'turner' but they look really good.

How do you get such good photos? Can you describe your set-up, processing techniques. How do you get big photos within the 100k limit? Mine always turn out pretty small...

Zen, I use photoshop to process my images, they are all shot digitally. I generally save them to a smaller file , approx 800 X 600 (sometimes a bit smaller). When I save them in photoshop, as a jpg, the program tells you what size the final file will be, as you select the compression from 1 to 12, where 12 is less compressed (bigger files) more quality. I find that I generally compress at about 7 to 9 but this will vary images compress at different rates ie if the image has many variations in colours and tonal ranges the image file will be larger. if you save a image with 1 colour you will get a very small compressed file size compared to a colour photo with every hue in the spectrum which will generally be a much larger sized compressed file. The above photos compressed rather well. Photoshop is a very good program, a bit of a learning curve but it's worth the effort and the cost if you use it a lot. Hope this makes sense??


I use a Nikon digital slr and studio lights so my set-up is quite expensive. I could spend a lot more time to setup each individual piece but due to time I have kept it very simple.

Peter

[zenwood]

Zen, I use photoshop to process my images, they are all shot digitally. I generally save them to a smaller file , approx 800 X 600

Thanks for that response, Peter. Generally I import the 1200x from the camera, then save as 400 x whatever. If I need to touch up, I use Corel PhotoPaint and use less compression than you, which explains why mine turn out smaller. Bigger photos with more compression seem to be the way to go.

PhotoPaint also gives you a predicted jpg file size, but the actual saved file size seems to be quite different. Will have to experiment with PS.

studio lights so my set-up is quite expensive. I could spend a lot more time to setup each individual piece but due to time I have kept it very simple.

I cut up a broken beige blind the other day intending to use it as a seamless backdrop. (I'll have to make some kind of support for it: one more thing to do...) I'm hoping this will improve my photos. I don't have any fancy lighting, having to rely on the shed flouros, which seem to give everything a pale cast. Maybe I'll get a couple of floodlights on stands. How many lights do you use?

[junkboy999]

Love the bowls.

Love the light shining trough the bowl in the First Pic. I have only done a few turning in High School. I still need to get me a Lathe, so many time i need to turn somthing

[ptc]

Thats thin !
did you get wet when turning them.

[Tikki]

Beautiful bowls! Well done! Love the red interior ... nice touch!

Cheers
Tikki

[dai sensei]

Nice bowls Peter, you did very well to get them that thin. Love the light effect.

Aren't you worried you have no more wall thickness for corrections if it warps/shinks/cracks after it's dried? Or have you completely finished and sealed it green?

Cheers

[Little Festo]

Zen,

I have set up a light tent with a overhead flash in a soft box. I've attached a simple drawing. It's important to get the lighting ratios of the lights correct (but this is not too difficult with the use of a flash meter). I photograph a lot of metallic objects with this setup and it works well.

The white material I've use is just a piece of white bed sheet material.

Electronic flash tends to give good quality light ie good colour. Flouresent light and ordinary houshold bulbs tend to give problems with getting good colour unless you have a way of correcting the problem. You shouldn't mix different light sources ie tungsten (ordinary bulbs) and say fluros. Many digital cameras can assist with white balance settings (colour corrections with different light sources) and also programs such as photoshop can offer a great deal correction too.

Hope this isn't too confusing -



PTC,

Yes, I did the moisture was definaly collecting on my visor but there was NO dust and RIBBONS, it's sooo nice when that happens. My Rolly Munro tool really ripped out the wood in the end grain bowl and was brilliant in getting the walls thin. The top of the walls near the rim was very easy to do but the walls around the base were a little more difficult but still really quite easy, anybody could do it.

Dai Sensei,

Yes, the face-plate bowl distorted quite noticably and there were a few very small voids that opened up near the base. The bowl is quite oval but that's ok. It's more of a display piece and is probable too fragile to be of any practical use. The end-grain bowl didn't noticable distort as the distortion/ shrinking generally takes place along the grain. The Gmelina didn't show any signs of cracking, possible because of the thin walls and base. The red water based dye was applied to the inside after I sealed the exterior with shellack and oiled two or three times. This was to stop any dye bleeding through to the outside.

The end-grain bowl was definatly easier to turn and if you have a reasonable hollowing tool you should give it a go. I really enjoy turning green wood.


Peter From Darwin.

[zenwood]

I have set up a light tent...programs such as photoshop can offer a great deal correction too.

Thanks for the tips, Peter. You have an impressive set up, which I won't be able to reproduce easily, but you've given me lots of ideas for experimentation.

Here, have a greenie.

[Corunetes]

You know, it never fails to amaze and delight me, the amount of work and detail that woodworkers put into your projects..................... Let's face it.... The bowls are wonderful and the photography is superb...... Hooray for digital!!!!!!

It's not hard to see why so many of those who contribute to this BB are proud of the hobby/pastime/artistic pursuit (call it what you will) of woodworking.

[Peter36]

Spectacular bowls Peter Just how thin is ultra thin ? Looks as though it would be millimeters or less . I would'nt be game to try that and doing it with green wood has got to be worth a greenie

Peter

[Peter36]

Foiled by the greenie ban

[Harry72]

Nice work Peter from Darwin with many flashes!
Love the camera work too... Studley you got some competition!

[Little Festo]

Spectacular bowls Peter Just how thin is ultra thin ? Looks as though it would be millimeters or less . I would'nt be game to try that and doing it with green wood has got to be worth a greenie

Peter

Hello Peter,

I probably shouldn't have used the "ultra" before thin, must have been feeling a bit euphoric on a wonderfull Darwin dry season (winter) morning of about 22 degrees and little humidity. The bowl/closed form is a bit bigger than the one above and I was getting a quite bit of chatter particularly around the rim. The thickness is about 2 to 2.5 mm so I suppose that qualifys for thin - not quite ultra thin. I applied the first coat of oil to it last night and will post a pic, possibly next week.


Peter