with a bit of leftovers from the salt and pepper mills, and some odds and ends of walnut, i decided to try my hand at turning ornaments. if all goes well, i should have 26 ornaments, if not, maybe 1....
i was thinking about making the main bodies similar to my salt and pepper mill bodies. about 1 1/2" in diameter, with a 1/4" bead on each end. then drill a smaller hole on each end, for the walnut top cap, and the finial on the bottom. i selected the ambrosia maple that had the wildest colors, and grain, so that no matter what, that part of the grain isn't lost. the main part is only going to be 1 3/4" tall, with the over all height being about 6-7 inches. i still have to design the top cap, and bottom finial, then it is off to the spinny zone....
after turning and finishing the first main body, i found that they are light enough, that any hollowing would be a waste of time. this one came out pretty good. all pics are of the same body.
just for the fun of it, i put it on the scale. it weighs .5 ounces (or 15 grams, for you metric sorts). it will weigh even less, once i drill the holes for the top cap, and bottom finial. only 1.75" high, by 1.5" diameter.
I had purchased years ago kits made out of acrylic for xmas ornaments.
after making some of them, I made some wood ornaments.
they were very heavy and bent xmas tree branched down....the acrylic kits were very tiny. just a bit thicker then pens and maybe 1.5 inches in length.
The ones I make I try to keep at less than 20 grams so that they are not too over weight for tree use.
Any of significant dimensions are hollow formed construction.
Some examples here in my gallery, unfortunately the forum threads where the detailing of construction was show are lost since it suffered a commercial acquisition and change of platform.