When I enter the workshop, I mentally put a little box on an imaginary shelf. And in that box, I place fear and self doubt. Since the challenge; however, my creation time has brought an elevated sense of freedom, purpose and confidence, which leads me to this week's project. Experimentation and newness.
This week's creation is a small vessel from wood and colored resin with an antler finial. The process was fairly straight forward, but in practicality, much more difficult than I had anticipated. It started with a hunk of wood placed in a mold, then I poured a two part resin into the mold. It became a solid block after set up, that I then turned on the lathe. I love the silhouette of the deer antler topper, but turning horn is a foul-smelling experience (should you take a stab at it).
Simple right? Well not quite... the box did not come out like I had planned, but I'm happy with it in the end. It measures 2-1/2" in diameter and 3-1/2" tall, but shockingly it was three times bigger when I started the turn. This was a learning project. I became a bit heavy handed with the resin as I had anticipated the vessel to be more wood-based. And the faster the pour, the greater the air bubbles (dammit). And shockingly, when you turn resin it heats up, becomes pliable and quite frankly mush.
But I'm better for it now cause "in the end we only regret the chances we didn't take" as "too many of us are not living our dreams because we are living our fears."
