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Finished this guy up for one of my daughters today just in time for Christmas. I incorporated the lip below the top of the box to hide the edge of the fur fabric as suggested by Ryan and Alan and used hot melt instead of superglue. No fancy pics 'cause the missus made me take the tent off the dining room table. Family coming for dinner tomorrow.
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I turn the bottom of the box first, boring and hollowing the inside of the box, creating the tenon that will capture the hat and forming the lip to hide the top of the fake fur. It gets a coat of sanding sealer cut 25% with lacquer thinner and is parted off. The bottom gets finished on a jam chuck and then I drill a small shallow hole to accept the nose.
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When doing the top, I turn the inside profile first, sizing the interior to fit the tenon and the contour of the previously turned box bottom. I bore a half inch hole deep enough (but not so deep as to interfere with the taper of the hat) into the hat to accept a piece of 1/2" thick wall SS tube left over from another project as a friction fit jam chuck that lets me finish the thin top of the hat and also drill it on the lathe to accept the 1/4" tenon of the round ball on top of the hat. A 1/2" dowel would work too, but I really like this SS tube. It fits in my morse taper chuck so I can use it in the headstock too.


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Came out pretty nice. Now the missus wants one with a Christmas tree hat too.
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I hate when someone posts something and then I feel the need to try at least
I'd prefer someone posting food pics

But my lack of turning skills and also I rarely use my lathe but I gave them a try
These are the second 4
My daughter took the first 4

I finally found a use for all those colored plywood tiny blanks I purchase a decade ago to make bottle stoppers
They work ok on the small gnomes
Don't compare my work I'm just having fun killing time
It never fails
During cold weather when the temps hit 60's I never have a project to work in
When it drops down to 10 degrees I'll have a project but will have to wait for spring
 

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It just occurred to me in a "crazy thought" that some of us might be able to supply significant natural "fur" in the form of trimmings to make a bunch of these, though supplying some of the maker's DNA might not be such a good idea. Still, many older members of my family have saved locks of family member's hair between book pages over the last several generations.

Just a wild thought, but I'm certain that many of us could supply much of this need, if we wanted to.

Charley
 
Darren Wright said:
One of our local guild members posted theirs…
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they are beautifully turned pieces at that. they look great to me, teds pieces made me want to dust off the lathe and try my hand at it.vaughn, they are all turned pieces with fur glued on.....teds or those. its in the eye of each p;erson.....for me, I think less complicated hats, not sure, but then again, Im a special ed turner. so it all looks good to me
 
So after my daughter took the first ones I made she asked me to make her a little girl and a little boy gnome
??????

Ok

Whatever it's only 95% scraps what else do I have to do besides chase her son around all day

This is what I came up with

I'm making at least a dozen more because other people asked me if I would sell them one
While I won't sell them one I'd be happy to gift them if they really want one
I'm using dowel screws for hat not nose so I can put any hat they want in it
These are just some in the proces
I tried to make a baseball style cap for the boy one
After I turned a lip I cut most of it off on bandsaw and only left the front hey I'm trying at least
 

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I like both / all the sorts honestly. They’re quite different but I could see gnomes with crazy hats being properly gnomish as well as rather staid gnomes with more reserved headwear also being in vogue. Gnomes I suspect come in all shapes and sizes (although generally smaller as it were).
 
Alan and Ryan, to me it all boils down to character. Alan's gnomes have character. Ted's gnomes have character. A 12" spindle with a series of stacked coves and beads with fur on the bottom doesn't have character. They would have made nice candlesticks - minus the fur - but not gnomes, in my opinion. (The maker's turning skills are obvious, and I'm not discounting that aspect at all.) If you look at the proportions of pretty much any gnome that's ever been drawn or sculpted, you won't find one where the hat is 12 times the height of the body.
 
i have a huge p;iece of light blue and light pink fur material, if anyone wants to trade another color, lets say a 12 inch by 12 inch, or more, Id be more then happy to trade with someone. Ill take any other colors except rainbow color as I have enough for what Ill need it for. just a thought, I know it isnt that expensive, but Ill never use half yard of pink or light b lue.
 
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