-
Home » WR Member Galleries » Slide Show -
Lesson Vessel
8h x 10.5w maple pot that has been bleached, dyed and textured...several times. I named it the Lesson Vessel for a very good reason. Here is the story: First, I felt that this rather unimpressive piece of maple needed some help. So, first I bleached it with the intent to sandblast it later. Then I dyed the inside black. LESSON ONE: Never dye a side grain vessel on the inside unless you plan to dye the outside as well. It had black sploches all over the end grain where the dye soaked through. Not only did I now have to deal with the soak through, I completely wasted my time and materials spent bleaching the piece. It gets better. Next, I dyed the outside a dark red color mixed with black so that it would blend with the sploches mentioned above. It looked OK but a bit bland, so I decided to ad a hammered texture. It took about 6 hours total of texturing work. Afterwards, I really wasn't happy with the color, so I added a bit of blue dye to give it a purple cast. LESSON TWO: Never add water based anything, including dye, to anything that has been given a hammered texture. You see, the dye made the texturing pop right back out. Now I really had what I considered to be an ugly duckling. Not willing to give up, I spent another six hours retextureing and finished the piece with satin wipe on poly. It is a fairly large piece that my wife says looks like a big purple rock. Anyway, it is what it is and although it may not be one of my best works, I am glad that I stuck with it and learned these valuable lessons. Comments and critiques are welcome.
-
