Placing
as design or pattern in a vessel
I get a lot of questions during my presentations and
woodworking talks and one that pops up almost every time is ‘how did you do
that’ while pointing at a design inside a bowl
or vase. How do you take some design that is flat and make round? Good
question!
Using the tumbling block design below I will try to go
through some of the steps and methods of doing this without going to deep into
the ring construction method used to make the rest of the vase.
Above you see the cutting board everyone likes, a basic
tumbling block, 3D pattern that is fun to do. Now let’s think about placing it
into a vessel.
See below that we have already completed the difficult
process of getting good clean diamonds whose 3 parts or diamonds form a single
tumbling block.
We then can use these same angles to make diamonds for the
top and bottom and longer pieces for the sides. Essentially we are surrounding
the design with the same material as our vase. Be mindful during construction
to keep the patterns uniform and be sure and make a couple extra as some are
bound to be less tight and appealing as others.
Here we are laying out and preparing for the glue up.
Remember as you make these single designs you are making one of eight
(depending on what you use for a degree and design look, meaning you could form
many or more designs in a single highlight ring depending on the look you are
after determining the degree of your cut) which means your are determining your
vase diameter by the length of the design. Best to start with a vase diameter,
determine its circumference and divide by 8 giving you a ball park for the
distance from left to right of each design piece.
Here you see it with its rings on the right that will form
the sides of the vessel under and over the design ring or highlight ring (I use
these interchangeably as the designs are the highlight and they form a ring
(one of several) within the vase).
Prepare for the glue up by getting everything in place and
each design uniform. Checking for tight joinery and getting the rubber bands
out. I use rubber bands for this type of glue up. 6 or 7 thicker ones are more
than enough to get you great results. If not the problem is your cutting and
accuracy of miter not more clamps.
This next step requires cutting jigs. If you have been to
one of my presentations you know how I feel about jigs, all kinds of Jigs. Here
I will be laying out MDF for a precise cut making the top and bottom uniform
and accurate according to the design in the middle. This cut will then be the
basis of the right and left hand cuts so this one is worth getting right.
I love double stick flooring tape which you can get at any
Home Depo / Lowes.
It holds everything in place nicely. Remember you are lining
up the center design here not the edges of the glued up piece. You want the
designs in the center to line up more than just cutting off the bottom and top.
The jig will allow you to move the pieces and hold them in place in a way to
insure the uniform look of the design in the center of the highlight ring.
Above I have marked with pencil to insure that my designs
are centered.
Here are my jigs all loaded up and ready to rip on the table
saw. Use a good sharp blade so you can join right away or keep your jigs in
place and run it through the planer and thickness sander if you have one. Mine usually
are joined with table say cuts only. A good blade makes all the difference.
Mark the outside of your jigs with the lines of the designs from the inside so
you know you are taking as much from the bottom of the ring design as the top.
Here they are all 8 just off the jigs with their bottoms and
tops perfectly aligned. This perfect alignment is then the basis of the miter
cuts to join them.
Again, a cutting jig is essential here to getting a good cut
and safety. Also marking to center the design is the key. You can see my mark
on the jig below the clamp. It is set for the center of the design not the
edges of the piece. The center of the design is the standard to set your cut
against. Before the saw is turned on your fingers should be far removed from
the entire saw area and the piece should be locked down by clamping with a
certainty it will not move or vibrate during the blade pass.
Here we see the cut off with design center lined up with the
pencil mark. Keep these cut off’s !!! I have made funky and wonderful small
projects (Christmas ornaments especially) with these. They are exact, witch
means if you join them correctly they will fit together just as your ring will,
making a clever little, whatever.
Here are the segments ready to make into a ring. At this
point you can choose to further highlight or not. For example with these Ash
rings I will make windows around each design by inserting another wood in
between each design segment. On the Black Locust I will not.
This will begin to move rather quickly so I will try to let
the pictures speak more.
Check for a good tight fit with no gaps before gluing. If
you have less than perfect joints use the half ring method, forming and gluing
up half circles and then sanding the two remaining joints to perfect fits. Much
easier to work with two joints than 8.
Here the highlight rings have been glued up and are ready to
go. Notice I inserted a piece of black Locust in between each of the ash rings
to make the left and right sides of the windows
Now, finally after weeks we have something to put on the
lathe. Centered we begin to add rings as we go. The top and bottom of course
will be black locust in order to close our windows for each design highlight.
Rings of Brazilian walnut help to further highlight.
The black locust vase will be plainer and less decorative by
design.
I use a lot of weight instead of clamping. Make sure the
weight is evenly distributed or it will show in wider than necessary glue
lines. Check out my post on PVC for more info on that.
Here is the ash vase with the black locust windows and Brazilian
highlights. All in all I think it came out good. Not great but a solid good.
Interior shot.
Here is the black locust with no extra highlights. My wife
likes this one best. Sometimes less is defiantly more. For me I like the more
complex designs and therefore the ash with highlights. Sometimes less is
defiantly less, right?
Anyway, whatever your preference or design choice these
steps can help you get something whose design is flat (cutting board) and
design it into something round.
Keep turning and be safe
Steve
10/11/12
