Twenty-two woodturners participated in the Pollyanna Exchange this year. Given the requirement that it contain a finial we expected lots of ornaments, but we were pleasantly proved wrong! There were boxes, birdhouses, beautiful ornaments, and sometimes a spare finial or two.
Here are the turners and a little about their pieces. Tom Hauber took the candid pictures, with an assist from Tom Gall, and Ward Stevens took the formal pictures.
Al McCarty made a "his and her" set of ornaments, based on a drilled through design, and presented them to Mike Kehs. The finials came from some wood Al rescued from St. Paul's Lutheran Church.
Al, in turn, received a piece made by Bud Hohlfeld. You might remember that Bud has been doing some innovative work combining resins and burls. Once again, he's made a beauty; this resin based ornament positively glowed!
Next up was Joe Seltzer. Joe told Bud and the group he turned the main body of his ornament from Ambrosia maple to create a nice contrast with the finial. Joe, the master of small turned pieces, leaves no detail missed- the orb is hollowed to give the feeling of lightness when picked up or hung.
Joe Seltzer got Steve Hillerman's Cherry box with a Maple finial.
Ed Ryan's piece was chosen next. Ed carved reeds into the Box Elder body of the box and then used a locating pin in the cap to align the points of the scalloped top to the reeds of the body. The top was lined-off into sectors and decorated with a black graphic design. The cap was then topped off with a beautifully proportioned finial. There was a lot of craftmanship in this small box!
Bruce Quigley took the skills he's developed in making tangentially segmented turnings and applied them quite wonderfully to the ornament he presented to Ed. His use of Purple Heart and Maple with this technique has resulted in a very striking piece.
Jim Beckwith adorned the top of his Cherry box with a Holly finial that sported a small sea urchin! Jim provided us with his urchin source: Sue Hobbs, PO Box 153, Cape May, NJ 08204- 0153 (Tel: 1-609-884-7601, E-mail suehobbs@verizon.net)
Kathy Davis was up next, presenting Jim with this nicely turned lantern ornament, with an interior flame. Kathy used Red Palm and Purple Heart and finished it with polyurethane and bees wax. She credited a Christmas Elf (Bill Davis) for helping her drill the body. Kathy turned some really nice lines on her icicle!
Phil Hauser based his Pollyanna on a Mark St. Leger turning- the Rock a Bye Box. You may remember back to 2009 when Mark demonstrated for us! If you don't remember, no problem, here's the Newsletter with a detailed description and pictures of Mark making the box from a square.
Tom Gall Is breaking some new ground with blow painting. Check out the cover on Tom's ambrosia box. He said he painted it black and then used an airbrush to push around some iridescent paints. He also mentioned that he had gotten some new tools recently and used those to make his finial. There's quite a lot of detail here that came together very nicely! Maybe Tom would be willing to do a mini-HOW?
Mike Kehs got more than a few oohs and aahs when he presented this piece to Tom. The globe was decorated with cup burrs and burn steps then colored. If we are lucky enough, maybe Mike will teach this texturing class again. The icicle and top are made from Mahogany.
Bill Davis presented his black walnut and red palm ornament to Linford Sine. This lantern and flame ornament is well turned and nicely proportioned. It has an Early American Jacobean feel to the design and would look great on any Christmas tree!
Jim Ruocco, turner of some very elegant bowls, said he was challenged by this project since it was out of his wheelhouse. Well, he certainly rose to the challenge with this Holly and Walnut box with a Holly finial. The reverse curve on the lid and diamond-shaped finial make a bold statement.
Here is another great looking box with a finial. Linford Sine used Big Leaf Maple for the box and Honduran Rosewood for that exquisite finial. The curl and figure of that box was amazing.
Tom Hauber's top-shaped ornament left many wondering "How did he do that?" Tom explained, he inserted maple dowels into a walnut block prior to turning the disk. Yeah, but how did he get them to look like that? A great piece!
Here's a great box that had a great story as well. Linton Frank pointed out the Palm Nut orb in the middle of his finial and told us that wasn't the first one he had made. It was tricky because it's small, round and needs an 1/8th inch hole to accept the tenons from the finial. After making the first one, which turned out pretty good, he quit for the night. The next morning he looked for it and couldn't find it anywhere. After blaming his wife for messing with his stuff (big mistake), she suggest that maybe a mouse may have made off with it. After a little thought, Litton figured this might make sense and decided to set a trap for the thief. Sure enough, the next morning he found the mouse trapped like a rat in the snap trap. While he was tempted to preform surgery to retrieve his turning, he decided instead to turn another one. the box is made from Tiger Maple, Ebony, and ... Palm Nut.
Gil Malave then presented Litton with this Black Walnut box with an Ebony finial. Gil said he wasn't much into making finials, so he made a knob and called it a finial! That finial works just fine!
Well Ron Durr is into finials! In fact, he made three interchangeable finials, one with a captured ring! His Cherry box is complimented with two Cherry finials and one Maple finial.
John Williams made this birdhouse body and its finial from one piece of wood. Doesn't sound like a big deal, until you think about it a little. How do make a the hollowed body and delicate finial in the same piece? What do you make when and how do you hold it? John figured it out and made a great little house.
Tom Barns presented this great looking box to John Williams. The box is from a Yew root while the finial is made from Zebra wood- that's not easy! Oh, see the bow? Tom's wife assisted in the wrapping and insisted on a bow! Where would some of us be without our wives?
Matt Overton presented this wood box with hammered copper top and a finial made from ebony. That beautiful top sits on an inlaid metal ring- another unique feature of this beautiful Coolibah Burl box.
Ward Stevens was up last with this wavy-edged box that went to Matt. The components are all Cherry and the cap is ebonized with leather dye.
