Bug Bowls

[Willy Nelson]

Good Evening Ladies and Gentlemen

A few weeks ago, my 18yo daughter expressed an interest totry doing some pyrography. Hmm, I don’t have a pyrography machine, but a goodmate of mine does, so I borrowed it.
I turned a bland chunk of pine to use as a practicepiece. It would be fair to say that mydaughter is normally not very artistic, and she would be the first to admitthis.
Anyhoo, she drew some simple drawings and writing, nothingwhich impressed me, but I was glad she was in my workshop, and we were chattingand she was happy. So for the next few hours, I turned pens, she drew randomimages.
I re-sanded the pine dish a few times as a fresh blank. Allof a sudden, she said ‘What do you think of this?’ It was a dragon fly. Wow,simple, but I really liked it. Okay, I said, now do 10 of them the same. Shedid. Wow, I really liked them.
Next, I turned a few wide rimmed platters for her toembellish. The first one I did, I left the chuck attached in case it neededre-sanding if it wasn’t acceptable. The first platter had 17 dragon flies, Ireckon they looked great!!!!!

We have now done 4 wide rimmed platters, 2 in Marri (one really curly which thephoto does not do justice), one in Sheoak and the last one in super curlyJarrah, my favourite one she has done. Neither of the photos really show thegrain and colour that well, but I hope you can see the dragon flies. The Marriplatter has a little surprise, a small caterpillar crawling out of the gumveins.
I really enjoyed working with my daughter on these platters,she insists I must turn more, oh well, whatever I have to do to keep the familyin the workshop.
She has since decorated a small bowl by adding numerousjellyfish on the outside, I like it, she doesn’t. She does seem addicted to thesmell of burning WA timbers though.
I have co-signed the platters and added her details, evengiven her top billing.
I hope to purchase the pyrography tool from my mate. He hasnow shown an interest in using it after seeing her work
Sincerely
Willy

[Nubsnstubs]

Those platters are nice, Willie. If these pictures don't do the wood justice, man, that's gotta be some nice looking wood! The pyro is good for what little time your daughter has been doing burning. I hope she keeps it up. The worm hole the caterpillar is crawling on and on the opposite side with the 2 dark lines; How thick is the wood in that area? ................. Jerry (in Tucson)

[Willy Nelson]

Hello Jerry
I assume you are referring to the thickness of the rim, if so, it is approximately 3-4mm thick.WA marri is usually riddled with gum veins, grub holes and other defects, which add to the character of the timber
Cheers
Wily

[brendan stemp]

I like them Willy. Not too over the top.

[chambezio]

They look great Willy!!
Some years back the eldest daughter wanted to do some thing in lead lighting. I had made a side board hutch thing so I made 3 door frames to cover the upper part of the hutch. I had never done any lead lighting before so we picked a rectangular pattern to make it easy. We cut the glass to make the pattern. It was a good exercise and yes it was great to work with her. One day during school holidays the youngest daughter asked if she could turn something on the wood lathe. I found a suitable piece of pine that I roughly turned round for her to hollow out into a small bowl. She had never done anything on a lathe before. I showed her how the rub the bevel and raise the back hand to regulate the thickness of cut. She was a very good student (she did what I told her). She was quite impressed with wire rubbing decorations. The bowl turned out OK. And Yes again, it was great to have her in the shed working.

[Christos]

That's a great story to share with your family getting involved in the work shop.

[Bluegum]

They look great Willy. Awesome team effort there.:2tsup: