Opal Blue and Silver Bowl:
Kim Gowney tells us about how his experimentation led to this beautiful bowl.
Kim’s ‘Opal Blue and Silver Bowl’ made in sycamore (Acer pseudoplatanus)
I started turning in the late 1980s, having made some replacement pawns for a friend’s chess set on a Black and Decker drill powered lathe with some borrowed tools. I then went on to using a Coronet Elf, doing work for furniture makers and antique dealers and, in 2012, I purchased a jet 1642 lathe for stability and accuracy.
Inspiration
My initial forays into the craft were tutored by Ray Key via his book Woodturning and Design, a book I still treasure for its excellent advice. Nowadays I also learn a lot though the abundant information online, along with videos and interactive forums such as UK Workshop, which means I’m regularly exposed to lots of new ideas.
I’m very taken with the work of Cindy Drozda and her fine finial work is something I really admire, and I also watch videos on colouring by Andy Coates, which was the start of my attempts at the art. Learning the process, like most art forms, is as much an experimentation as guidance and learning from others, new ideas are developed, including the all important finishing techniques.
This particular piece was inspired by watching my son burn a track into wood with an old microwave transformer. I figured it could look good on a bowl so we set to trying it out. This was the third such bowl I made (blue and silver) and the colours I used are Chestnut spirit stains, the silver is some makeup powder I got online. The finish is Chestnuts acrylic gloss lacquer.
