Decorative bowls & platters

This piece was turned from Cornish Tulip Tree and has a dyed rim with holes carved through it to create a delicate lacework effect. The grain and colour of the wood inside the rim lends itself to the illusion of sunsets and other pictures depending on the orientation it’s viewed at.

Since I’m situated down in Cornwall, which has many ports round it’s coast and a strong heritage with tall ships, one of my first ideas was to try and carve a tall ship. I was lucky in that the Tulip Tree wood I chose to use naturally had darker grain running through it and, by carefully choosing the position I carved the ship in, the grain was in just the right place to give the impression of waves.

The tall ship design was produced by using a combination of the lacework technique and pyrography. The platter is approximately 330mm (13”) in diameter and to be able to carve the tall ship design I had to turn it evenly down to a thickness of approximately 2mm.

In keeping with the Cornish theme, the Tulip Tree wood used is also from Lostwithiel in Cornwall.

This platter was turned from slightly spalted Sycamore from the grounds of Pencarrow in Cornwall. I find the spalting gives the effect of waves, which suited the design I had of two dolphins. Again to create the dolphin picture I used the technique of carving holes through the platter and then enhancing parts of the design further with pyrography.

By using these techniques rather than just drawing a picture onto the platter I was hoping to create a more of a 3D look to the design.

This coolibah burr gave me the opportunity to combine the rough misshapen natural edge with a clean finished interior allowing you to see the wood in it’s natural and finished state at the same time. I’m glad I chose to turn it this way up, since the dirty exterior revealed this beautiful combination of a red coloured heartwood and creamy coloured sapwood.

This was turned from a piece of Exeter Elm that had a substantial burr through most of it. When turning it I could see the outline of Cornwall emerging in the shape of the burr and so began to take care how I turned the rest of it so as not to change the shape.