Long musing about the restraints of turning wood on a lathe

enjoy another hot dog

Yep. A war against ignorance and superstition. Islamic fanatics are o nly one manifestation of such. Southern Baptists with guns and bombs are anoth er.

I also apologize for the off-topic and won't pursue the topic. Just wa nted to point out that fanaticism is omnipresent. We're just lucky that our re sident fanatics are a small minority :-).

First, happy 4th and Canada Day to you all! No matter what you think - have another cold beer and hot dog, that is as good as it gets (a steak would be better:-))

I am not turned off by plain round objects, that is what brought me over to the lathe in the first place... I'm still trying to make a nice round object myself, I don't know if I will ever get to even trying those other things.

I think as people struggle to make a living as an artist they have to have a unique mark, sadly it is not enough to just produce usefull/utilarian objects, there has to be some sort of statement - and attempt to overcome the limitations/contsraints. Since I am not an aspiring artist, just a humble beginer turner, I have no such problems with the constraints present but work with them.

The main advantage the potter has always had over us, is that once wood is removed, you can't put it back there - its gone forever... That is one big advantage!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ I doubt that he meant it as a compliment. I hope he had enough prestige to justify such a condescending remark. If his "stuff" is utilitarian, then he has no business saying that about you. And, if it's not, it had better be really beautiful, since it's not good for anything but looking at.

Much of the beauty of a thing comes from the way its form suits its use. I like the subtle kind of "form follows function" kind of attractiveness. I usually dislike obvious ornamentation. (Except in Christmas tree ornaments, where the ornamentation is functional.)

Most of the shapes of turned pieces I've seen could better be done with ceramics. And while ceramicist have come up with a plethora (finally got to use that word) of glazes and glazing techniques - horse hair, now the rage, crackle, opalescent, salt, multi layered translucents etc. only raku comes close to the color and figure in some woods. So why turn pieces in wood that would be more easily done in ceramic of a potter's wheel?

But then there are the "couldn't be done any other way" stuff

- trembleurs and escoulenesque asymetric pieces for example. The former would be extremely difficult, or impossible, to do with ceramics and the latter impossible (unless of course adhesives can be used). And "natural edged" pieces are a little tougher when done with ceramics, as are the irregular holes all over the outside of the piece turnings - neither of which do much for me though I appreciate the effort and skill required to do them.

And when it comes to messy - well that's a push.

I doubt if the Demi Moore / Patrick Swazy potters wheel scene in Ghost (was that the name of the movie?) would have been memorable if it involved a lathe, spinning wood and some sharp high speed steel.

Ceramicist deal with pieces blowing up in the kiln, we have cracks and splits and checks though sufficient wedging if the clay to reduce explosions is more predictable than what wood will do as it changes its moisture content.

But it sure would be nice to slap a piece of wood onto an area of a turned piece as desired.

charlie b

Charlie, Whether from wheel or lathe, for me it's the medium, as much as or more than the form itself or the process used to make it. I realize that some work is best made or must be made in either ceramic or wood and one material will function best or not at all for a particular use.

In work in which it is technically feasible to use wood or ceramic to make an object, say a bowl, and utility doesn't rule, I almost always prefer wood. Sort of a yin-yang, cold-warm, dark-light, glassy-glow, feel-look difference and you know which I think is which. A picture of a bowl or seeing it in a glass cage or sitting high on a shelf doesn't tell the whole story. Actually if said bowl is made of wood, somehow intuition lets me know just from its picture or 'don't touch display' that it's warm. Wooden may be poor for the look on my face, but not for the look on my bowl. :)

Of course beauty is beauty and outstanding work using any technique in any medium is just that.

Turn to Safety, Arch Fortiter