a mess

Well, it's been a minute, and stuff's been going on. Here's a few pics from lately....

 Woodturning class has turned out to be awesome! I didn't expect to be into this as much as I am but it's really fun. One of the class assistants brought in some of his own segmented turnings, and they are insane...

 closer - can't remember how many hours he said it took to glue this up, but it was ridiculous. this is actually turned in two pieces, top and bottom sections, and then glued together once finished. can't tell where the seam is though - this is crazy looking in person.

 a few smaller guys, equally cool

 cool idea of having thick walls and parting out these lines. the then let it warp on purpose, but it didn't warp as much as he thought it might. cool effect though to let things warp

 burls, bowls, vases, and mugs

 here's a bowl i turned recently. it started developing a bad crack through the top middle, so i kinda V cut it out to get rid of it and figured 'd see how that tured out. came out cool!

 end before removing the inside of the bowl

 scariest part - parting off the bowl from the lathe - hoping it doesn't fall, or break in any way on this last step.

 finished, but no oil or anything on it. i should've showed this bowl before, the assistant's turning above. this doesn't look so great, ha

 Here's some work from the internship - sanding lots of wood these days. it really is more fun to sand pieces that go to a lamp/fixture that you think looks cool, rather than one that is just ok in your mind

 pieces oiled, and attachments/wiring being assembled.

 Then the acrylic boxes and outer pieces go on. I got to assemble a couple of these one day, which was pretty fun

It ultimately become this guy - really really cool looking. this is big too, just shy of three feet in diameter I think

 And other days, I'm routing a ton of the same piece.... not overly fun, but getting good at routing. :)

 routing pieces to make this lamp fixture

lots

 which ultimately becomes this - it hangs and looks pretty cool. I like this fixture

 Then clamp and glue them up

Then to deal with this open corner issue,  they taught me this cool trick: wipe it down with a water and rag, and then mash the wood at slight angles using the rod of a big screwdriver 

 wiped with water and mashed along the edge. the water raises the grain, slightly filling the gap, and then running the rod along on each side of the corner, basically mashes the wood together, and then it dries, adn the corner is closed up and nicer looking. cool technique, but it does take a while to do this to every corner of every fixture

 closed up!

I was finishing this piece, and it just had some awesome quilting on it, so I figured I'd take a pic

 Made these fins for Mike for his birthday in November. they are cool, but definitely have some mistakes

 Mom came to visit last week, and we got out bodysurfing with her. super super fun. she had a blast

 mike going left

 mike going right

 mike prepping for a tube?

newest bowl I'm turning. keeping the bark on this one. it's olive wood which smells like green olives as you turn it. pretty cool, but kinda strong actually...