Hollow Form #1

Vaughn McMillan

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Here's my first attempt at a hollow form. I posted rough-turned pics here, and I figured I'd show how it turned out. It's a little walnut guy, about 3 3/4" wide by 2 1/2" tall. Sides and bottom are about 1/8" thick, finished with Antique Oil and buffed. Since I'd never actually held a hollow form in my hands, I was sort of surprised to see how lightweight this was when done. I started out with about 18 ounces of walnut blank, and ended up with a little less than 3 ounces.

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I'm still not quite happy with the finish, especially around the collar, so I'll probably build up a few more coats and buff it back out. Nonetheless, I was anxious to show it to the gang here. I'm also not happy with the photos yet...I definitely need to play with the white balance and lighting some more. Lastly, I need to get with some Velcro tape to attach my new gradient backdrop inside the photo cube. Tonight was my first time using it, and I had no Velcro handy.

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Comments and critiques are welcome. I know I have a lot to learn yet, but this being the first, I feel sorta like a proud papa.

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Vaughn, my friend, that looks great! :clap:

I'm VERY impressed! :thumb:

The "collar" area has a bit of a rough spot there at the transition, is that the area you are not happy with?

Boy, if this is the first one, I can't wait to see the next ones! :D

VERY well done! :)
 
To me hollow forms are fun but they do seem to take for ever.

I like the shape, but (here it ceoms) I think you need to tough up the ring a little more. Right now the ring looks a littl odd to me at the outer diameter. I think (my opinion and you asked) the ring needs to be undercut a little. This will give it a more defined look.
 
Vaugh

That is very nice --thanks for the pics

I agree about the comments on the collar -- I was trying to visualize it without the collar - just a nice smooth arch disappearing into the edge

Jay
 
Vaughn.....Very nice first HF. I hope my first turns out that well! I looked long and hard at the collar area. The one comment I'd make about it....It stands out too much. If the outer edge was bevel a little lifting to the inner top edge or if the overall height was a little shorter it would be more appealing to me. But....that being said........You still did an awfully nice job on that! Well done!
 
Thanks for the comments and compliments, guys. I agree the transition to the collar is a bit rough -- that's part of what I hope to touch up when I work on the finish some more. (The cut's actually pretty clean, but I buffed away the finish in a couple spots, so it got packed with White Diamond compound.) I think if the transition were cleaned up a bit, then it wouldn't stand out so much and appear as big. Personally, I'm pretty happy with the collar size; it just needs to be done a bit cleaner, IMHO. Nonetheless, I really appreciate the critique, since in order to improve, I need to see what others really think. I suspect I'll be trying a lot of different collar (and non-collar) approaches as I figure this stuff out. ;)

Thanks again -
 
Vaughn I think you nailed the form but the suggestion I'd offer is to make a smoother transition from the form to the collar. It has such a nice curve all the way fom the bottom to the collar and then the abrupt step up to the collar breaks the curve. Also, in my experience Walnut is hard to photograph. I'm thinking it looks better in your hands than in the pictures. I wouldn't try to change anything on this one, it's very nice for a first. But experiment on the next one.
 
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