Free form sculpture

[mark sanger]

Hi all

these I have had in the drawing book for some time and this is the forst.

250mm high x 250 wide or thereabouts.

Turned in oak, cut, carved and finished in renaissance wax.

The spere is made of acrylic.

The base is temporary while I decide if I like it but I will probably put it on a black stone base.

the idea is inspired by Zen and the minimalistic approach of this philosophy.

Comments welcome

 

[Night Train]

That's nice. Very clean lines to it and simple.

Freeform sculpting is something I would like to do more of without it having to be a piece, or part, of furniture. I have been playing with odd shaped offcuts from college students to come up with some pieces.

Here are some jewellery items I have done:

I haven't got photos yet but I also have various abstract animal horn shapes and a Henry Moore style pregnant woman I am working on.

 

[Lightweeder]

Mark - I really like this. Good sphere 8)

I think the angle of the photo means the base takes from the piece a bit, but it's going to be good, no matter what you ultimately decide to do with it :wink:

LW

 

[Bodrighy]

Very elegant and still somehow you. Reminds me of some of the finials you do.

Pete

 

[Jenx]

Its beautiful... as always Mark ...

know what it reminds me of ? ... its a bubble pipe with a bubble on the way out of it ! sounds daft, but thats what it made me think of.

Its just fantastic ... I agree totally with Pete.. different, yet very 'you'.

Magic 8) 8) 8) 8)

 

[cornucopia]

stunning yet simple Mark (i bet you've never had that said to you before :lol: )

My biggest problem would be how to orientate to display it- as i think it will look brilliant from so many different perspectives.

the medular rays in the oak look brilliant and i wondered about another piece where the oak is bleached to create a black white thing with the sphere/ball.

proportion wise i belive the ball/sphere is only just big enough- for my eye maybe slightly bigger would have looked good too although slightly smaller wouldn't have looked in keeping.

well done mark

 

[johnny.t.]

Sorry but as soon as I saw this I thought.....of this

Not that theres anything wrong with it,it is a lovely piece 8).

 

[mikec]

Lovely Mark. It just "looks" right while recognisably being one of your pieces.

Mike C

 

[mark sanger]

Hi all

Thank you for your comments.

Night train

Thank you for your comments and input.

LW

Thanks, I am still looking at it to decide where to go with the base. I do like matt black so may stick with that but a bit smaller.

Pete

Thank you

Jenx

Thanks. I am glad you didn't say a bong :lol: :lol: or I would be wondering what you have been up to. Glad you like it.

George

Thank you. I have been called simple before :lol: :lol: but never stunning, although I do know you are referring to the sculpture, !!

I was a little limited on the ball as the acrylic was only a bit larger in diameter. I have to source some more larger bits.

Actually now you say it, the sphere does look a little small. I will think about it. It is all screwed together and not glued at this time for me to be able to change bits.

Thanks for your comments.

johnny.t

Thank you .

It is surprising how difficult to find something that no one has made a variation of before. But I had no preconceived ideas while I drew it. Perhaps I could sell it to the company for a corporate entrance sculpture. :lol:

mikec.

Thank you very much.

 

[gasmansteve]

Very nice that Grasshopper. :wink:
Looks a very nice piece Mark. Must admit to having a yearning for the arty side of turning meself :lol: .
Steve

 

[MikeG.]

Mark,

forgive me, firstly, for venturing into the turning zone.

This is a beautiful piece, but I am really intrigued as to why you would turn the oak?

I don't have a good idea of the sizes involved, but that oak piece looks like it would be relatively simple to cut out on a bandsaw then carve and sand to shape. Why involve a lathe at all?

Mike

 

[mark sanger]

Mark,

forgive me, firstly, for venturing into the turning zone.

This is a beautiful piece, but I am really intrigued as to why you would turn the oak?

I don't have a good idea of the sizes involved, but that oak piece looks like it would be relatively simple to cut out on a bandsaw then carve and sand to shape. Why involve a lathe at all?

Mike

HI Mike

Thank you for the comment. #


You are quite right this piece could be cut out using a band saw. However this would involve firstly drawing a flowing line which replicated the final form.

Then a clean flowing line would have to be formed with the band saw and any slight movement away from the line would require blending before the edges were rounded over by either a rotary or reciprocal carver.

By using the lathe I do not need do draw any curves ( which I would have to alter depending upon size. This only takes a small amount of time but time is money as they say.

By turning the outside profile the flowing curve is easy to achieve ( and quickly) with a skew, which also leave a fine finish needing much less finishing than a band saw cut, if indeed any finishing at all on the cut part.

Also by turning, the edges are rounded over to start with and get tighter in towards the base. Again I do not have to worry about getting the flow of the convex outside curve of the side. With the band saw again this would need to be blended in and leaves room for error. The band saw method is also slow and would involve too many processes after the cut to shape and blend the form with any accuracy and would not make this a commercially viable item for me to sell.

With this sort of simple form any slight mismatch would show easily and would ruin the look of the piece.

Basically this is a rugby ball shape with cut outs. Would you make a rugby ball on a band saw. ?

So after my waffle ( which people will tell you I am master at)

:lol: :lol:

The reasons for using the lather are.

1/ Speed

2/ Accuracy.

3/ Fine finish from the skew.

3/ I get a 2 axis curve both up and sideways so less processes.

4/ Because I like turning. :lol:

I hope this answers you question.

 

[mark sanger]

Very nice that Grasshopper. :wink:
Looks a very nice piece Mark. Must admit to having a yearning for the arty side of turning meself :lol: .
Steve

Steve

Thank you. I have started these pieces in an attempt to get away from the round so to speak.

he problem is I now have around 50 roughed bowls that I don;t now want to finish as I am bored with them. But I will try and do something different with them.

 

[MikeG.]

God....I'm still in the turning zone.......

Thanks for that Mark.

So, presumably you turned this about an axis that is roughly the same axis on which it is mounted?

If I am right on that, presumably you turned it from a flat piece little deeper than the finished depth, so that most of the time your chisel was trying to cut fresh air? The alternative being to have turned a half rugby ball shape and then cut away the two parallel faces. Either way, you would still be "blending" the turned edges of the piece with the flat parallel faces once you had finished the turning?

I'm always interested in how people approach things in such very different ways. I've done a number of free-form sculptures in the past, and would never ever have thought of putting this piece on a lathe!!

Anyway, however it is made, it is really nice!

Mike

 

[mark sanger]

God....I'm still in the turning zone.......

Thanks for that Mark.

So, presumably you turned this about an axis that is roughly the same axis on which it is mounted?

If I am right on that, presumably you turned it from a flat piece little deeper than the finished depth, so that most of the time your chisel was trying to cut fresh air? The alternative being to have turned a half rugby ball shape and then cut away the two parallel faces. Either way, you would still be "blending" the turned edges of the piece with the flat parallel faces once you had finished the turning?

I'm always interested in how people approach things in such very different ways. I've done a number of free-form sculptures in the past, and would never ever have thought of putting this piece on a lathe!!

Anyway, however it is made, it is really nice!

Mike

Lol still in the turning forum.

Yes you are right. Basically by turning it between centres I get a partially rounded side which I can carry on with blending but have less to do myself so to speak. The axis turned is the mounted axis.

The idea is very simple in process which I hope gives a simple line/sculpture.

I turned it using a skew and most of the time it is cutting fresh air. It helps with the skew technique, as long as you keep it steady then you don;t get a dig in.

The faster turned for me the better too as there is less time between bevel contact. I turned this piece around 1000 or faster rpm once it was balance and only took fine cuts.

take care

Mark

 

[boysie39]

Superb piece Mark, and turned with the skew. I have four skews and find that I have developed a very consisant digin with all four
I love looking at your work and your offering in September's Woodturning is another masterpiece,Keep on amazing us with your work for many more years REgards Boysie.

 

[mark sanger]

Superb piece Mark, and turned with the skew. I have four skews and find that I have developed a very consisant digin with all four
I love looking at your work and your offering in September's Woodturning is another masterpiece,Keep on amazing us with your work for many more years REgards Boysie.

Hi Boysie

Thank you for your kind comments

Trust me to use the skew is not that difficult on this piece. It is nothing more than a rectangular piece between centres. I first take the corners off with a bowl gouge just to stop any large splinters/shards coming off. Once this is done then I change over to the skew. Then I am doing nothing more than a planing cut and a very large half bead/curve towards the base.

It is a tool that is well worth persevering with as the finish is brilliant once you get use to it.

I am not a master at it by any stretch of the imagination, trust me. But I decided a while ago that I would only get better at the skew if I used it and after a short time it became more of a friend than enemy. Once I got past the fear stage of having a dig in then things got better.

Now when I have a dig in I just enjoy the moment
:lol: :shock:

thank you again and I am glad you liked the articles in woodturning.