Getting Going Again

After moving several times and then spending a few years repairing and rebuilding our home, I’ve finally got my studio set back up to the point to where I can begin woodturning, carving, and metal spinning again. Here are photos of two paintbrushes and two vessels I’ve made over the past few days. The shorter paintbrush is 18cm/7.25” long and is made of Gabon ebony, sterling silver and yellow heart. The other paintbrush is 28cm/11” long and is made of bloodwood, sterling silver, and holly.

I spun the ferrules from sterling silver tubing using mandrels that I made to support the work. They had to be annealed a few times to relieve the work hardening that occurs during the spinning process.

I’m working on some new ideas and spun two experimental vessels from flat discs using the wooden mandrel/chuck and setup on my lathe shown in the first picture. The larger vessel is about 16cm/6.5” wide and the smaller is about 11cm/4.375” wide. I used a technique called spinning on air to create these shapes.

It’s still going to be several months before making things will be my primary focus, but I’m pretty excited about getting going again.