Here is some recent progress on the painting of Moses anointing Aaron. A detail of Aaron followed by the whole picture.
Milling Ash With a New Set-up
A carpenter ant infested green ash crotch being milled using a piece of heavy aluminum C-channel on sawhorses as a guide for the first cut. Also the standard 20 inch bar on the Stihl 039 has been replaced with a 24 inch bar and a rip-cut milled chain. The extra four inches and a new bar make a big difference in getting good true and flat cuts.
It would have been better had it not been filled with a colony of carpenter ants, but still nice wood.
A little better towards the edge, just not as interesting.
Bowls on the Mantle.
We have been making a lot of bowls lately, here are some of them.
A row of bowls on the mantle. Some are turned on a foot powered pole-type lathe and some on an electric lathe.
One in green ash, and one in cottonwood.
One in bald cypress and one in walnut.
Bowl blanks just cut and ready to have the ends coated with paraffin. Species here are, persimon, green ash, post oak, black walnut, and bald cypress.
Two More Bowls In Ash
Two new bowls in green ash. The one on the left was turned by my wife.
Walnut Bed Update
The chest taken apart and being fitted with a floor and a till.
Detail of the till.
The bed to this point, dry fit and testing out some planks for the sides of the legs.
Two Bowls
The second bowl, in ash. I counted forty growth rings in this bowl, and it represents less than half of the tree’s radius.
The ash bowl with oiled with walnut oil.
Two bowls. One in walnut and one in ash.
Hollowing the walnut bowl on the lathe
Walnut Baby Crib
Carving of a dove-messenger on the crib’s headboard.
Two views of the baby crib in black walnut.
Turning a Black Walnut Bowl
Below are a series of pictures of turning a black walnut bowl on the pole lathe.
Shaping the sides with a roughing gouge.
Starting to hollow it out.
Walnut Headboard-Chest
The walnut headboard-chest will have a “free-edge” on the top. The lid will be “floating” within the top of the chest. So the top edges need to be balanced out and given a certain quality of surface to fit this application.
Below, I am cutting along the top edges with a medium sized gouge.
Below, a detail of the edge. More adjustments will be needed as the bed progresses.
Shadow Puppet Workshop
I had the opportunity to do a afternoon shadow puppetry workshop with Sara Murphy in Kansas City for some high school kids. Below are images of some of the interesting puppets they designed for an adaptation of Rumpelstiltskin.
The School of the Transfer of Energy 