Some Small Stuff

Vaughn McMillan

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Here are a few little vases I turned recently to increase my stock of lower-priced items for sale. I also used most of them as practice pieces for coloring ideas. They all have glass test tube-style inserts so they can hold a few stems of fresh flowers in water.

Here's the only one I didn't dye. It's some blister maple I got a couple years ago from Terry Quiram. It's got a bit of nice curl, although there's not a lot of blister visible in this one...

Glass Insert Vases 0909 01 - 800.jpg Glass Insert Vases 0909 07 - 800.jpg

This one is from some scrap sycamore, with a black, red and yellow dye job. I'm not particularly thrilled with it, but it'll probably appeal to someone enough to buy it...

Glass Insert Vases 0909 02 - 800.jpg Glass Insert Vases 0909 08 - 800.jpg

Here's another piece of blister maple (with visible blister figure this time). It's got a combination of green and teal blue dyes...

Glass Insert Vases 0909 04 - 800.jpg Glass Insert Vases 0909 06 - 800.jpg

And a piece of nicely-figured maple, with black, red and yellow dyes...

Glass Insert Vases 0909 03 - 800.jpg Glass Insert Vases 0909 05 - 800.jpg

These little guys are pretty quick and inexpensive to make, but can still be a challenge if you're picky about the form.

Comments and critiques are welcome - :wave:
 
Nice work, Vaughn.

I'm a bit surprised about your comment on the black, red and yellow dye. I like both of those!

And ditto on Bob's question.
 
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Thanks guys. The hole's drilled on the lathe with a 3/4" spade bit. I'd use a Forstner bit, but it's not long enough and my Forstner extension won't fit in a 3/4" hole. I hold the piece with a regular tenon on the bottom, just like a bowl. To finish the bottom, I jam the vase on a 3/4" dowel that I have centered on a round piece of wood that fits in my chuck. I started out with a 7/8" dowel and turned it down for a tight fit in the hole of the vase.

Bill, the dyes on the sycamore came out more splotchy than I would have liked, but the same combination on the maple is really cool, IMHO. The chatoyance of the wood really comes through, so the colors change as the light hits it from different angles. It has an effect like tiger eye stone.
 
Those are great looking Vaughn. I just bought some inserts at a garage sale from a gentleman that passed away and am going to give it a go. He made a lot of those plus candle holders.
 
Vaughn,

Those are really VERY ugly.. They will not sell.

Please just send them to me and I will give away for Christmas presents.

~~~~~~

In truth I really like them -- may steal the idea and make a few...
 
Vaughn,

What size are the test tubes and where did you find them? At a local crafts store, I found small plastic single flower vases with a rubber top, but they don’t hold enough water to keep a flower fresh for over a few hours.
 
Larry, the teal blue and green dyes are powdered waterbased dyes (TransFast) and the red and yellow are liquid alcohol-based (TransTint). The black I used was Rit fabric dye. All the dyes were diluted by guesswork. :p

Chuck, I got the glass tubes from Craft Supplies. They have two different sizes.

Thanks for the comments, guys. :thumb:
 
I like these, as you say quick and easy to make but not so easy to get a goof shape but you have managed :D

I get my test tubes from a laboratory suppliers. Try Googling 'test tubes' ad I'm sure you'll find one in the States. Much much cheaper than the 'proper one.' and they are usually glass as well which IMHO is much classier.

Tip: make sure the hole is fractionally larger than the tube. I had one shrink on me (the wood) and shatter the tube as they are quite thin.

Pete
 
Thanks for the suggestion on sourcing the tubes from lab suppliers, Pete. A quick Google found them for about half the Craft Supplies price. (Although they're only about $1.00 each at Craft Supplies, which is still pretty reasonable compared to potpourri lids and other similar project parts.)

I also found these plastic ones that can be custom imprinted:

http://www.testtubesonline.com/16_5x150mm_Custom_Print_Polystyrene_Tubes_p/p207-0033w.htm

In the end they'd cost more than the ones from Craft Supplies, but it might be a nifty bit of marketing to have your name and logo on the tubes.
 
Those are neat. My club participates in two show/sales a year. Guys who do small vases like that (often called 'weed pots') learned long ago that sales improve dramatically when they have something in them. e.g. dried weeds and flowers from craft supply places. When the flowers are gone, vase sales come to a screeching halt. Folks is funny critters. But, that's marketing.
 
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