A long wait

Well, due to health reasons, my production is still very slow, almost no existent. I am hoping to pick it up this weekend, the garden is almost as much as can be done for now. Just a few more trees to cut down and I should be able to dedicate some time to the shop. I have to get some things done now before it starts actually getting hot.
Meanwhile I have been doing some new pottery when it was very cold the last month (to cold to be the shop!) I might try some pictures of those items as they are for sale as well. Plus they are mainly thrown pottery so it fits with the "Brazos Turnings" theme.

Exciting news!

Well, there has been an unexpected upgrade of equipment this weekend. After winning the grand prize of a new full size lathe I can finally start turning things larger than what my little jet mini lathe could handle. I still need to do some electrical work to get the 220 to the garage but hopefully by the time the temperature cools down enough to work in the garage I should be ready to go. So hopefully there will be salad bowls for Christmas this year!

Summer heat

Well, the summer is upon us and this slows the turning down quite a bit. Even the portable AC can't keep up. Plus with 6 broken ribs I am lucky to get the garage cleaned and organized, let alone some turning done. Plus the garden (brazosgarden.blogspot.com) has to be attended to or it will die. Priorities.
Expect the turning to pick up again in the next month (end of September) with some new stuff and also the Christmas season is just around the corner so ornaments will be coming as well.

Hackberry Commissioned Pens

Well, the 4th of July was a busy day, in the garden as well as in the workshop. As you can see above I finished a group of pens. They are all from the same branch. I was commissioned to make pens out of a limb of Hackberry that had sentimental value to the family as it was at the Grandmother's house before she moved.

Pens out of wood that has sentimental value it a great and treasured gift. This is my second commission, the first being two pens made out of mesquite.

Prices vary on style of pens, type of pen finish (gold, chrome, gun metal, etc...). Also, the wood should be free of major cracks or the piece long enough so I can cut past the cracks/splitting. I can only tell that by looking at the wood.

If you have some wood that you might like pens made out of please of contact me via email.

Farmers Market, (Demo Day) and Texas Reds!

Well, tomorrow (June 19th) will be a busy day at the Farmers Market. It is demo day so there are different people exhibiting how they do their craft (since there is 30 min slots, that is not enough time to set every up and do a turning demo in 90+ degree heat and humid. Hopefully in October sometime I will do a demo.
It is also Texas Reds Festival so hopefully that will bring some early people in as well.
I have new bowls and pens and hopefully I can sell the rest of my wine stoppers. (This will be a discontinued item after the remaining stock is sold unless I get a large request. The parts have gotten more expensive and I am not sure the market would be very good if I had to increase the price to accommodate the more expensive parts.)
So come down 8-noon to the Farmers Market, pick some produce (I have tomatoes, peppers, fresh herbs and a little eggplant and squash) and some great gift items!

New templates

Just to give things a different look I have updated the templates on this blog and the brazosgarden blog as well. Sort of like moving into a new house. Let me know what you think!

Welcome to the jungle

Well, I have started the garden blog. Fairly boring right now with what I am growing but if you are interested the link is: http://brazosgarden.blogspot.com.

See you all at the farmers market this Saturday! (Should have italian zuchinni, zephry squash, fresh herbs (basil, dill, oregano, parsely) and small onions.

I am thinking of making an 'italian herb bunch' it would be something like a couple sprigs of basil, a sprig of oregano and a couple sprigs of parsely all fresh and tied together. Would this be something you think people would be interested in?

Let me know your thoughts.

Slow winter

Well, it has been a very limited woodturning winter/early spring. Except for some requests from the Houston gallery, I have barely turned the lathe on. Hopefully that will change as I finally got the insulation blown in for the garage and now just need to pick out the AC unit so I will be ready for turning in the Texas summer.
Also, with a Crop Science and Horticulture degrees I have started a garden. OK, maybe it is a small farm. (6 - 4'X8' raised beds, 2 - 3.5'X7' raised beds, 6 ft x15 ft spot for sweet corn and some raspberries and blackberries in large pots.) So I will have not only woodturnings but fresh produce this summer as well. I will try to start a seperate blog for the garden and if I get my camera and computer to cooperate then put pictures up as the garden grows.
I am behind two wedding gifts (goblets with captive rings) so that will be the first things to come out of the new 'shop.' Will post pics when I am down. I also have a 3ft section of cottonwood root that I am curious to see how it turns.

Huisache plate - $40

This is a Huisache plate, again from the same tree and it is either a deep plate or a very shallow bowl. It has a double bead rim and is 7.5 in wide by 1 in tall. It is not perfectly round due to the natural movement of the wood, but has great exable of the variation of color of the sapwood transitioning to the red heartwood.

Mulberry form - Sold

This piece of mulberry presented many challenges to me as the bark was really hiding was was beneath the surface. The hole in the side is a natural void of the wood and the blue is real crushed turquoise which is in many of the small voids and cracks of the piece. The inside was given a semi-gloss black stipple paint coat for texture and to contrast with the smooth outside of the piece. It is 4.5 in wide by 3 in tall.

Ribbed Huisache bowl - Sold

Another Huisached bowl from the same tree. This one has a little discoloration in the sapwood but the ribbed grooves on the outside make it a neat bowl to hold. It is 7" wide by 2.25" tall.

Huisache bowl with textured rim - $70

This is another piece from the same tree of Huisache harvested a couple of years ago in College Station, TX. I was helping a friend who was helping a friend remove the tree. They told us it was mesquite but when it got there we realized it was Huisache. It was a very large tree and we cut it down and harvested as much as we could before both of our chainsaws gave out. I have had to get rid of some of it due to cracking but this peice was lucky enough not to crack and has great figure. It is 8" wide by 2.5 in tall.

Huisache bowl - $60

This bowl is sort of like a flying saucer with an undercut rim. It is a beautiful piece of Huisache (relative of mesquite and has the yellow sapwood as well as the red/brown heartwood. It is 8" wide and 2.5 in tall.

Farmers Market

So today I will be at the Brazos Valley Farmers Market doing a woodturning demo and selling some of my items. It was cancelled last week due to the possibility of rain and the standing water on the ground.
Come by and check it out. On the corner of William J Bryan and Texas (you can't miss it.) Saturday morning 8-12.
Here is the link:
http://www.brazosvalleyfarmersmarket.com/

Moonscape

Sorry for the quality of the pic. The finish on this is very shiny so I couldn't use the flash. African Blackwood background with a variety of cut out pieces of different woods, natural color and colored. This is another piece for the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft.

Stars and Stripes

A pen done for the gallery at Houston Center for Contemporary Craft as a showcase piece to go wtih some of my other pens. The white is maple wood and the other is colored box elder. It really is a spectacular pen. Can be made to order.

Examples of recent work - 'Texas Turned' exhibit

These are some of my more recent pens that were selected for the 'Texas Turned' exhibit at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. I have been notified that they have all sold but if you are interested in something similar, please contact me.

Maple 'wedding goblet' with twist stem - Sold

This is a goblet that is not for sale but an example of a special order. It is a 'wedding goblet' with two captive rings and a spiral stem. The wood is maple and the finish is 'Waterlox' and buffed with the Beal Buffing System. Just another example of the different type of work I do.

'Hurricane Ike' walnut bowl - Sold

This is my first bowl from 'Hurricane Ike' wood (aka trees that fell during Hurricane Ike.) It is a beautiful piece of walnut and came from the Houston area.

It is about 5" in diameter and finished with 'Waterlox' and the Beall Buffing System. I sign my pieces with my initals and the year with an engraver on the bottom. If requested I can also engrave the type of wood as well, just be aware that it is not laser engraved and will have the "handwritten" look. Picture of the bottom available on request.

It all has to start somewhere

I have been turning since 1999 and over the past few years, I have had numerous requests about a website. Since I really don't have the time at the present moment to do a full website, I thought that this might do for now. This blog will mainly be a listing of items for sale but I will put other woodturning related happenings here as well.
I am a member of the Brazos Valley Turners as well as the Gulf Coast Woodturners Association and an American Association of Woodturners member. My main speciality is pens and I am a member of the International Association of Penturners (IAP) as well. I have had my work exhibited at the Houston Center for Contemporary Craft. I have also done pen demos in association with the Gulf Coast Woodturners Assocation and have sold my work both in Las Vegas and locally here in the Brazos Valley. I am currently located in the Bryan/College Station area and this is where I learned to turn my first pen back in 1999. I was a graduate student at Texas A&M and took a pen making class at the craft center (University Plus) in the Memorial Student Center. After that I was hooked and have been turning for most of the time since.
I have a Jet mini lathe and it has been all over the country, locally, at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, CA, while I was a resident athlete training in archery, and in Las Vegas where I relocated for a couple of years. Through all that I have chosen the Brazos Valley to make my home and so it is appropriate for the name to be Brazos Turnings. While my pens mainly come from exotic wood from around the world, for my larger turnings I hope to use both exotics and locally harvested wood. While the main tree in the area is oak, I have found, elm, poplar, mulberry, chinaberry, huisache and of course mesquite.
Hopefully, besides pens, you will find confetti lamps, bottle stoppers, boxes, bowls, plates and various other items.
Wood is a beautiful medium to work with since it really is God who makes the tree and I have the privilege to create something beautiful and hopefully useful (at least most of the time.)
Well, that is all for now. Hopefully in the next couple of weeks I will get some items up as well as post pictures of projects in process.