Hollow Forms

Hollow Forms: “Oh My” Series

This is an on-going series of lathe-turned hollow vessels created from decaying logs where the center section of the tree has been totally rotted through. Finding a use for these hollow logs became a challenge to me to create something unique and quite different from what I or any other woodturner I knew had ever attempted. My first attempts were around 1993 with the first fully completed piece a year later.

Starting with large logs that sometimes weighed as much as thirty pounds, the finished piece weighing often ounces with a wall thickness of about 1/8 of an inch (3-4 mm) or less. When first viewed by a small circle of friends their direct quotes were all, literally, “Oh my God!” – hence the name “Oh My” Series. Sometimes even a hair’s breadth change in the turner’s concentration and breathing can turn a potential masterpiece into thousands of flying shards in a fraction of a second.