I Give Up!

Vaughn McMillan

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After a month or two of time and a roll or two of digital film, I've given up on trying to get perfect photos of this hollow form. It's curly maple, dyed with black TransTint liquid dye and turquoise TransFast powdered dye, then finished with buffed spray lacquer. It's about 5" tall and 7" wide, with walls somewhere around 1/8" to 3/16" thick. The photos don't really do the color or finish justice, but they'll have to do for now.

Click on the pics to see a bigger view...











Comments, critiques, suggestions, and questions are all welcome.
 
Wow!! That's was some curl that won't quit! Black really brings it out welll and I like the size. Two snaps in a circle!!:thumb::D
 
After a month or two of time and a roll or two of digital film, I've given up on trying to get perfect photos of this hollow form.
It's curly maple, dyed with black TransTint liquid dye and turquoise TransFast powdered dye,
Hi Vaughn; I think your pics are pretty perfect. Great idea, black and blue. I can't wait to give it a try on a pen!
 
...Great idea, black and blue. I can't wait to give it a try on a pen!

You probably are already familiar with the technique, but for those who aren't...I dyed the whole thing black, sanded that back until almost gone, then hit it with the blue. It works with just about any other dark and light color combination, and looks especially good on curly maple. Do the dark color first, then sand it back and do the lighter color. You can also do it with more colors, sanding between each, and here again, working from dark to light tones. Black, red and yellow is a fun combination.
 
Most bowls or things I have tried on my lathe other than pens create the "black and blue" tint, to bad it is me that becomes/gets black and blue!!!!!:rofl::rofl:
That is one nice piece of magic there Vaughn! :thumb::thumb:
 
You probably are already familiar with the technique, but for those who aren't...I dyed the whole thing black, sanded that back until almost gone, then hit it with the blue. It works with just about any other dark and light color combination, and looks especially good on curly maple. Do the dark color first, then sand it back and do the lighter color. You can also do it with more colors, sanding between each, and here again, working from dark to light tones. Black, red and yellow is a fun combination.

Thanks for answering the question before I asked it. :thumb: :rofl:

I thought maybe the black and blue was symbolic for injuries you sustained while working on it. :rofl:

You should show that one to an interior design person. I see a market there--providing woodworking objects in any color for a design scheme....

It's look great, BTW. :thumb:
 
1/8" sounds pretty thin. Does a light shine through it?:huh:

I can imagine that someone would pick it up expecting a certain 'heft' and being surprised at the lightness of it. :thumb:

Very cool, love that turquoise color :thumb: :thumb:
 
Great looking piece Vaughn! :thumb:

Do you use any filters on your lenses? I only use a UV filter on mine, mostly as a protective cover for the lens. I've had pretty good luck with changing the exposure by +/- 1-2 to get the camera to see what I do, but colors are hard to match up.
 
Thanks for the comments, y'all.

..."digital film"????? :huh:

It was a joke, Frank. :D My digital camera doesn't use film. Instead, it useed glass plates with a photographic emulsion of silver halides suspended in gelatin. :p

Do you use any filters on your lenses? I only use a UV filter on mine, mostly as a protective cover for the lens. I've had pretty good luck with changing the exposure by +/- 1-2 to get the camera to see what I do, but colors are hard to match up.

I do use a UV filter, and ended up kicking up the exposure compensation 0.3 of an F-stop in the post processing. The color reproduction is pretty accurate, but I had fits trying to show the gloss and the chatoyance, while avoiding the 'twin headlight' reflections. I'll try outside under various natural lighting conditions next.
 
What is "chatoyance" in woodworking? I mean I can look it up, but what does it *really* mean?

It's the iridescent, 3-D look that some wood figure (like curly maple) and gemstones (like tiger eye) can exhibit. The word is coined from the French "œil de chat," meaning "cat eye".
 
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