Elm and Aluminium

[johnny.t.]

I had intended to carve this piece but when shaping I discovered lots of internal cracks around a hidden knot so moved to plan 'B'.I have kept some of the aluminium 'shavings' from recent pieces of mine and have used them to fill the holes, I have also rubbed silver 'gilt cream' into the open grain and hope these tie in with the aluminium finial. The timber is Elm with lots of oil to darken it and bring out the grain colours and an acrylic lacquer finish over that. The piece is 5" wide.

Comments and critiques welcomed

 

[paultnl]

Just a personal comment, I think gold would have worked better. Talking about the colour not the expensive stuff.

 

[Wood spoiler]

Hi Johnny

Another fine piece well made. I do like the contrast of the aluminium and the lovely elm. How do you make your finials?

However, and in the context of being hyper critical, I don't like the gilt cream in the grain as much as the cleaner earlier forms. I personally think it detracts from your usual perfect finish. It may be the photography but it almost gives the appearance of grain tear where the gilt cream is catching the light in the photograph. Hope this comment does not offend as i only added this comment to be helpful and as said at start to be hyper critical. Had i not seen your earlier forms i would not have made the comparison.

I would be proud to have made such a lovely object.

 

[johnny.t.]

Thanks for the reply Paul,although I disagree , as I think the silver gives a nice cool contrast to the warm look of the Elm, but each to there own, I have combined Elm and brass that did look nice but gives a different 'warmer' feel.

Colin, the gilt cream is to add a bit more silver colour to help tie in the aluminium bits to the overall piece, if that makes sense... The metal finials are turned from aluminium bar held in a jacobs chuck on the lathe, I have mostly used a 3/8" spindle gouge to do them but with a bit of scraping here and there aswell

 

[jumps]

this is surprisingly difficult

the form, and filial, work really well, and the elm and oil work with the form as well as looking stunning.

I don't like the aluminum filler here because of the filial. What seems like a match ends up a poor contrast because of the texture of the filial cannot be matched by the filler. If you agree you might try matting the filial with abrasive to match the filler? I don't think it will work though because the filler will still not match.

I echo the earlier comments re the silver gilt cream here, rather than enhancing the wood grain it rather muddies it. Again it appears to have/add a slightly matt effect. The elm already has a lot of detail in terms of colour and grain patterns, so here it's a step too far. Had you ebonised the wood such that we had a simple contrast and the gilt cream gave us back the grain pattern, then I think it would have worked (but been a waste of the elm's beauty!)

I took the liberty of downloading your image in order to be able to see how the various elements actually interact, and, for me, it's the filler that doesn't work. If you are happy for me to post a 'doctored' image to illustrate what I see I can do so. I would say that there's no easy option because I tried any number of 'fillers' before eventually cheating and using 'elm'. In practice black would probably be the best option. The silver gilt does seem to work in the absence of the filler.

 

[monkeybiter]

IMHO I agree with the view that the filled area is a clashes due to the grainy finish.
My two suggestions FWIW the crack could possibly be opened up a little and then coated on it's inner walls with the filler, with perhaps more on the inner surface, giving the effect of a geode.
Alternatively you could source some low temp. melting point alloy [Wood's metal or similar/cheaper] and fill the crack with the molten alloy, which should then allow finishing to a standard similar to the finial.

However, as it already is, it looks great and the elm looks fabulous, my first thought was 'if cyborgs played conkers....'

 

[johnny.t.]

Jumps, Mike thanks for the replies, I disagree about any clash between finial and filler, this may be an effect of the pic, in reality the two are as shiny as each other. Mike, I've toyed with the idea of using molten metal to fill cracks and have been told pewter melts at a suitably low temp but have never tried.

 

[Lightweeder]

This works for me. I think the aluminium contrast is sharp and clear, where a gold filler might not have worked. Nice piece.

 

[gasmansteve]

I love it JT, I think the contrast between the various components is excellent and the form is spot on, well done
Steve

 

[Silverbirch]

I agree. Very nicely done.

Ian

 

[gus3049]

Well.... in the first place of course, the finial is FAR too short. :lol:

Lovely form. I am thoroughly into elm at the moment and think it a beautiful wood which is shown off wonderfully in this one. Don't mind the gilt paste but find the filler offputting as, for me, it draws the eye away from the wood.

This is just a personal thing of mine and I don't like it in general and would prefer it that the cracks and holes are left open. Each to their own.

Great work Johnny.

 

[alan2001]

I've never done any turning in my life, but I do know it takes great skill! And this is a piece of art, so there is no right or wrong.

However, and I know this is my own personal taste - I'm not keen on the molten metal filling up the cracks. It's spoiled that beautiful piece of wood for me.

I love the spike though - perhaps you could have opened up the cracks even more and shaped it into a World War 1 German soldier robot?

Kind of like this:

plus this:

Maybe next time, eh? :mrgreen: