out and about this weekend

[mark sanger]

This weekend I have been out and about demonstrating and these are among others a few of the pieces that I made.

The wide rim bowls are sycamore around 10 inch dia x 2.5 deep.

The hollow forms are around 6 inches dia x 2-2.5 high in ash.

The other items, lidded forms, sculptures, aged/coloured bowl, box/pot I gave away so don't have pics of those.

 

[gasmansteve]

Well done again Mark !. I wondered what finish you use on the scorched pieces?. I have been making a few pyro decorated bowls and often wonder which finish to apply afterwards and usually use Lemon oil because they tend to be more or less finished so can`t be remounted back on the lathe to polish and buff them, at least thats the way I do em?
Steve

 

[mark sanger]

Hi Steve

Thank you.

I seal them just with Acrylic sanding sealer/spray. I want the scorched textured area to be matt and the centre is highly buffed to add a contrast.

Just a couple of thin coats will seal the scorch on.

 

[stevebuk]

love the platters, very Nick Arnull and i love his stuff, would like to see more like this from you.

 

[mark sanger]

Hi Steve

Thanks for the comment.

The texturing is taken from my garden sculptures so I thought I would try it out on platters. There are lots of variations for platters. I like Nicks work too and even did a course with him a year or so ago, but have not seen him do this texture so hopefully I have not trodden on any toes.

Thanks again

 

[bikerbob]

Hi Mark

I love the second ash hollow form, the shape is great and gives it great figure for ash which can sometimes be rather bland.

I would like to try something like this but have no idea how to start. What tool do you use to hollow out through such a small opening? And how do you tell where the tip is since you obviously cannot see down such a small opening?

Great treen, Appreciate any tips you can give me.
Bob

 

[mark sanger]

Hi Mark

I love the second ash hollow form, the shape is great and gives it great figure for ash which can sometimes be rather bland.

I would like to try something like this but have no idea how to start. What tool do you use to hollow out through such a small opening? And how do you tell where the tip is since you obviously cannot see down such a small opening?

Great treen, Appreciate any tips you can give me.
Bob

Hi Bob

Thank you for taking the time to comment.

The forms are not hollowed through the top. I am always after processes that make life either simpler,safer or quicker as I have to sell what I make so I can buy baked beans to feed the kids.

The forms are hollowed through the base via a 20 mm hole first of all. Then reversed to finish the top.

In relation to the tool. I use the crown Revolution system. However the only way you would hollow through a small hole like this would be using home made tools as in Dave Ellsworth's book " How a master makes pots bowls and hollow forms"

You can buy a cranked hollowing tool that will go through a small 10-12 mm hole for about £20 but normally only fairly small and roundish forms can be made due to the undercut.

Thanks again

 

[richburrow]

Hello
I like the black and white platter and the grain on the second hollow form. All lovely pieces of work but those two are the two that jump out at me
Rich

 

[mark sanger]

Hello
I like the black and white platter and the grain on the second hollow form. All lovely pieces of work but those two are the two that jump out at me
Rich

Hi Rich

Thank you for taking the time to comment.

I have to say I much prefer the black and white platter as anything but muted colours for me can be a bit garish. However when I demonstrate I like to show different methods and how to achieve different effects as some like to add colour. Red probably being the least effective colour for this as it is over powering and draws the eye too much in large washes. Much better only to use it for accents. But it was the only stain I had available to I had to use it.

 

[Nick Arnull]

Unable to sleep ? Mark ! or did you get kicked out of bed by the boss ? LOL.
Nick Arnull.

 

[mark sanger]

Unable to sleep ? Mark ! or did you get kicked out of bed by the boss ? LOL.
Nick Arnull.

The puppy woke me up. My dog I mean not my good lady, yapping at 0345 so I thought I would have a cuppa and check out the forums.

 

[mark sanger]

Here was another project I made on my travels. It is based on a traditional temple incense bowl.

only 90 dia x about 90 high.

 

[stevebuk]

hi mark
can i just ask how you applied the red stain, rag, brush or spray?

 

[CHJ]

The diversity of output is great to see Mark, don't know how you manage to maintain it whilst still achieving sufficient profitable production, I can only envision having to resort to some form of mass batch methods in order to get enough completed in a standard working day.
I know a current turning project I have despite being batched to the best of my ability could never provide an output sufficient to meet the basic bills let alone spare income.

 

[mark sanger]

Hi Steve

the stains can be applied either by brush or sponge/rag, I am after a worn appearance so any method that is not too precise will do.

Hi Chas

Thank you.

These projects are all produce during my demo's so a lot of prep and blue peter style input.

All of my work is based around very simple processes and yes I apply batch production methods.

IE I will drill all the bowl blanks first, then produce all of the bases and then the tops. I do not use cole jaws which are very slow and cumbersome but employ a simple friction pad which fits all sizes. So A quick jam between this and the tail stock and I am off again finishing all the bases etc in one go. All sized bowls and platters can be done with one initial clamp of the drive in the chuck. NO other tooling after this to mess around with.

All my bowls,platters,boxes, lidded forms, pots etc follow exactly the same process of work holding and tooling only the shapes are different. This I have done specifically as you say for profit margin etc.

Carving all but the pyrography work is very quick and also uses simple texturing methods and with some scorching quite effective results can be achieved in a short time.

The carved bowls I can have completed in an hour and the incense bowl only takes about 15-20mins to finish.

A small hollow form .5-1 hour and the lids 5 min finials 15 mins.

It has taken me a long time to work out the process methods by re-visiting how I can be more efficient. This being the reason I hollow the small holed forms through the base as it makes for me commercial sense.

I also turn at mach 6 when no one is is the room with me as George will say Bish bash bosh , and this being why I purchased a more powerful lathe. For roughing I can produce the outside form of a shallow bowl in four cuts including the spigot. Then one finishing cut and straight to sanding.

Sanding is also only ever completed down to 320 grit as the buffing does the rest in seconds so again very quick.

All always tell my students to work on the basic tooling techniques and once the tools can be used any thing can be made efficiently.

Mind you things do go wrong and I do make mistakes, have explosions, but I would rather push it hard for a few days then relax than work at a steady pace all week.


One final thing. I also switched on a long time ago that the only place/group to market my work at was gallery/high end. here I can asked realistic prices £60-£80 for the carved bowls more for larger and due to the relatively short time to make the margin is still acceptable.

Also the wood I source is next to nothing compared to seasoned blanks.
Thank you again for taking the time to comment.

 

[del]

Hello
I like the black and white platter and the grain on the second hollow form. All lovely pieces of work but those two are the two that jump out at me
Rich

hi mark have to agree with rich this platter is great i would love to see how this is done you dont have anything on you tube by any chance really nice work =D> :mrgreen:

cheers derek

 

[mark sanger]

Hi Del

Thank you for taking the time to comment it is much appreciated.

I am afraid that I don't have any instructional videos on You Tube but may do in the future. At them moment I have to concentrate on bread and butter.

Thanks again

 

[mark sanger]

The diversity of output is great to see Mark, don't know how you manage to maintain it whilst still achieving sufficient profitable production, I can only envision having to resort to some form of mass batch methods in order to get enough completed in a standard working day.
I know a current turning project I have despite being batched to the best of my ability could never provide an output sufficient to meet the basic bills let alone spare income.

Hi Chas

On reading back through my previous post to you in relation to this I thought that it may have come across that I was intermating that you are not selling in the right market etc. This was in no way my intention as I am aware that you are very proficient in what you do. I was just explaining how I do it.

I guess I have been very fortunate to meet the right people at the right time who have the right connections in certain galleries etc.

Also as my good lady works in high end interiors I am able to lock in to this recourse and once people find out what I do they want a piece and I find this one of the best sources of income from my work as I do not pay any commission to the galleries so I get a double bite of the cherry so to speak. I would rather charge what I believe it is worth and sell to a certain sector which in turn means I do not have to turn day in day out to keep up.

Also I suppliment my income with teaching, demo's selling tools etc so it is a multifaceted business model.

 

[CHJ]

Hi Chas

On reading back through my previous post to you in relation to this I thought that it may have come across that I was intermating that you are not selling in the right market etc.

Not at all Mark, I fully appreciate what is involved, hence my comments to the effect I don't know how you manage to achieve sufficient output. Your business model explanation goes a long way to explaining that.

I personally have no desire to find a market or a small niche in one for that matter, my days of worrying about costings and profit margins thankfully disappeared when I retired some 17+ years ago.

The engineering principles of economic production methods, be it time saving, or wasted processes still surface though when contemplating what I do.

Your reference to 240/320 grit abrasive limit for instance is one I've applied since early days when I cottoned on to what gave best 'finish' to a piece of wood.

 

[Elaine]

The forms are hollowed through the base via a 20 mm hole first of all. Then reversed to finish the top.

Hi Mark
Is it possible to see the base and how you do this hollowing??