Last week was a hugely productive week in spite of there being no finished items. I stretched a large canvas, prepared my pitch bowl for chasing work, and finished lathing my wood dapping tools.
Things I learned:
1. If you lathe a wooden rod too thin at one point, it will eventually snap. It’s true, I feared that might happen since I wanted to form a sphere which required significant cutting in. Fortunately, thanks to my eye protection, when the piece snapped and hit me in the face, it didn’t do any damage beyond my pride (and nerves). My sphere will have to be refined to a more ovoid end thanks to the splintering (middle punch in the photo above), but once I clean them up, I’ll have three large dapping punches of differing radii.
2. I love making my own tools.
3. I wish the belt sander at the Buurtwerkplaats was working, because finishing these by hand is taking more time than I wanted it too. I think the first one is now in a usable state, but the other two need several hours of sanding.
4. The oak wood was free, but I’m a little concerned that the wood grain is larger than I’d prefer and may be noticeable on my silver. If I have to try something finer, I’ll seek out maple or cherry.
5. Woodturning, which I’d never done before this week, is really fun!
Pitch Pot with Copper 2021105 ©2021
I finally set up my chasing kit: melted the pitch into the bowl, annealed a couple of sheets of copper with the mirrored outlines of a small sculptural piece scribed onto them, and got it ready to go. This morning I set to work with the steel chasing punches I made last year. It’s working really nicely, and my punches are great. I haven’t used copper in a long time, and this project reminds why copper is a traditionally favored metal: it’s so soft and smooth; perfect for chasing. Future note: turning copper is something I’d like to try.