Turning and Piercing a Christmas Tree Ornament
"Sure it's art, it has holes in it!"
Roughing the Ball
| Actually, this is a page which follows a logical progression as I think my way through making a pierced wood or lace ornament. I was not sure what I wanted for such an ornament, but some ideas came together as I turned. First of all the object was intended for a Christmas tree and thus had to be light weight. Secondly, I wanted a ball ornament similar to the old ones my mother hung when I was quite small, but in wood, not glass. |
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| Pin cherry is a light wood but strong enough for this purpose. I decided to take a short length off this piece, saving the burl for later. |
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| Here it is between centers ready to be roughed down to round. Get the centers as close to the center of the pith as is reasonable. The pith will be removed as we make mortices for the tenons to hold on the top and bottom. |
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| I roughed to a round and marked the center of the cylinder and the length the same as the diameter. |
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| Then the cylinder was roughed to a sphere and one end flattened for a glue block. |
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| The piece is then hot glued to a glue block and mounted to the bowl lathe. Here it has been trued, shaped and sanded. |
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If you make one please let me know how it turned out.
© 2015 copyright Darrell Feltmate, Around the Woods