Spring 2020 Collaboration - Tim Harteau asked and received interest from 7 club members to participate in a joint turning project. The idea was to have one member turn an object and hand it over to another club member to be embellished and/or finished. The participants are: Kelly Bresnahan, Paul Borawski, Ed Cole, Gerry Jensen, Gerry Keberlein, Darren Throop and Tim Harteau. After completion, the before & after pictures will be published and the items donated to charity.
To facilitate the exchange Tim stopped by the Artisan Center to exchange with Kelly, drove to Iron Mountain to exchange with Darren, scooted to Sturgeon Bay to exchange with Paul, dropped a bowl off at Gerry Jensen’s in Green Bay, met Gerry Keberlein in Kaukauna and Ed stopped by my house for his exchange ... whew! Here are pictures of the unfinished items ... scroll down this page for finished results.
To facilitate the exchange Tim stopped by the Artisan Center to exchange with Kelly, drove to Iron Mountain to exchange with Darren, scooted to Sturgeon Bay to exchange with Paul, dropped a bowl off at Gerry Jensen’s in Green Bay, met Gerry Keberlein in Kaukauna and Ed stopped by my house for his exchange ... whew! Here are pictures of the unfinished items ... scroll down this page for finished results.
Here is the first collaboration result from former Artisan Center woodturning student Paul Borawski and Woodturning Instructor Gerry Jensen.
Paul started this project by turning a 11” x 4” cherry bowl and handed it over to Gerry.
Gerry said, “I left the inside of the bowl as Paul turned it because I liked the grain.” “The spiral design on the outside was inspired by a demo I saw several years ago by Trent Bosch, and was my first free-hand carving.” The finish was done with Ack's Wood Paste (abrasive and polishing pastes). Nicely done Paul & Gerry!
Paul started this project by turning a 11” x 4” cherry bowl and handed it over to Gerry.
Gerry said, “I left the inside of the bowl as Paul turned it because I liked the grain.” “The spiral design on the outside was inspired by a demo I saw several years ago by Trent Bosch, and was my first free-hand carving.” The finish was done with Ack's Wood Paste (abrasive and polishing pastes). Nicely done Paul & Gerry!
The second woodturning collaboration is a carved black bowl made from birch (8.25”w x 3”h). The first step of this joint effort was performed by Ed Cole in his east Green Bay shop. Ed is a former NWTC student, Artisan Center Workshop attendee and a BayLake Woodturner. The bowl was turned rough from a birch tree blank. Ed left the tenon on the bottom of the bowl to provide flexibility during embellishment. The bowl traveled 31 miles south to Neenah (“as the crow flies...”) and Gerry got ready for step 2.
Gerry Keberlein is member of BayLake Woodturners and frequently embellishes his turning projects. Gerry remounted this bowl on the lathe and established the raised ring around the outside. Then he used the lathe indexing feature and Dremel tool to establish the grid and individual patterns and textures within. After removing the tenon and sanding, Gerry applied 4 coats of black stain then finished with several layers of lacquer clear coat.
Gerry Keberlein is member of BayLake Woodturners and frequently embellishes his turning projects. Gerry remounted this bowl on the lathe and established the raised ring around the outside. Then he used the lathe indexing feature and Dremel tool to establish the grid and individual patterns and textures within. After removing the tenon and sanding, Gerry applied 4 coats of black stain then finished with several layers of lacquer clear coat.
This multi faceted/multi colored vessel ( 6”h x 4”w) is the 3rd of 7 collaboration projects. In Step 1, Tim Harteau, a former Artisan Center woodturning student, took a rather bland block of white basswood and hollowed it into a vessel. The tenon was left on to help with the embellishment step. The vessel then traveled 43 miles north to Paul’s woodturning shop in Sturgeon Bay.
For the embellishment step another former woodturning student, Paul Borawski, mounted the vessel back on the lathe and added the facets with a die-grinder and sanded it smooth before applying three layers of acrylic paint. Black, orange, and green. The paint was "rubbed back and distressed” with fine sandpaper and finished with two coats of rub on polyurethane. The polyurethane slightly melts the surface of the paint allowing additional creative options. The vase is not meant to hold water. Dried flowers would perfect. Who said wood had to be smooth and round?
For the embellishment step another former woodturning student, Paul Borawski, mounted the vessel back on the lathe and added the facets with a die-grinder and sanded it smooth before applying three layers of acrylic paint. Black, orange, and green. The paint was "rubbed back and distressed” with fine sandpaper and finished with two coats of rub on polyurethane. The polyurethane slightly melts the surface of the paint allowing additional creative options. The vase is not meant to hold water. Dried flowers would perfect. Who said wood had to be smooth and round?
Vessel - 11”w x 5”h
Kelly Bresnahan and Darren Throop
This is the 4th of 7 turning collaborations. Kelly Bresnahan Artisan Center employee/Turning Instructor created a large hollow form from tamarack. Kelly’s tamarack vessel then traveled to Iron Mountain, MI where Darren Throop (pronounced “Troop”), a member of BayLake Woodturners took over for part two of our collaboration.
The overall shape reminded Darren of southwestern pottery and he wanted to try centrifugal art, so he picked a color scheme and got to work.
Darren started by filling the voids with wood filler then applied black lacquer to provide a background for the color scheme.
With the black hollow form dry and spinning on the lathe at about 50 rpms he used a brush to apply a thick line/layer of white acrylic paint and then increased speed until the paint started running outward towards the edges. He then repeated this process with each color.
For the underside, he splattered the same colors then finished the project with some gold guilding paint for accent and twine around the rim.
Very fancy Darren, Kelly provided you with nice surface to embellish and I like the colors and texture of the paint!
Kelly Bresnahan and Darren Throop
This is the 4th of 7 turning collaborations. Kelly Bresnahan Artisan Center employee/Turning Instructor created a large hollow form from tamarack. Kelly’s tamarack vessel then traveled to Iron Mountain, MI where Darren Throop (pronounced “Troop”), a member of BayLake Woodturners took over for part two of our collaboration.
The overall shape reminded Darren of southwestern pottery and he wanted to try centrifugal art, so he picked a color scheme and got to work.
Darren started by filling the voids with wood filler then applied black lacquer to provide a background for the color scheme.
With the black hollow form dry and spinning on the lathe at about 50 rpms he used a brush to apply a thick line/layer of white acrylic paint and then increased speed until the paint started running outward towards the edges. He then repeated this process with each color.
For the underside, he splattered the same colors then finished the project with some gold guilding paint for accent and twine around the rim.
Very fancy Darren, Kelly provided you with nice surface to embellish and I like the colors and texture of the paint!
Platter 11 x 1.5
Gerry Keberlein, Tim Harteau
This is the 5th of 7 joint woodturning projects
Gerry Keberlein, a member of the BayLake Woodturners made this unique segmented chip & dip platter with maple & African Blackwood. The platter has 30 pieces of wood with an off center glue-up and a cup in the middle. Gerry’s creation then traveled from Neenah to Tim’s shop on Green Bay’s east side.
Tim wanted to embellish this piece with something that flowed well with shape and contrasting wood. The end result is this “basket weave” wood burning that used the same center point as the maple & Blackwood glue-up.
Nice creative piece that challenged the embellishment process!
Gerry Keberlein, Tim Harteau
This is the 5th of 7 joint woodturning projects
Gerry Keberlein, a member of the BayLake Woodturners made this unique segmented chip & dip platter with maple & African Blackwood. The platter has 30 pieces of wood with an off center glue-up and a cup in the middle. Gerry’s creation then traveled from Neenah to Tim’s shop on Green Bay’s east side.
Tim wanted to embellish this piece with something that flowed well with shape and contrasting wood. The end result is this “basket weave” wood burning that used the same center point as the maple & Blackwood glue-up.
Nice creative piece that challenged the embellishment process!
Ash platter 2”h x 10.5”w
Gerry Jensen/Kelly Bresnahan
This platter turned from kiln-dried White Ash is number 6 of seven collaboration projects. This is a form that Gerald Jensen has turned many times, and the extra wide rim allows for painting, pyrography, and other embellishment.
The platter was handed over to Kelly Bresnahan where he made good use of the large surface. Kelly started by carving grooves for the gray metal inlay. These grooves needed to be wider at the bottom than the top so a metal with a low melting temp could be dripped and pressed into the grooves. Kelly then sanded the metal flush to the surface. Kelly’s embellishment also included texturing of the surface, two colors of stain and painting the center of the bowl silver.
This project has a wonderful combination of techniques and color to make it stand out.
Gerry Jensen/Kelly Bresnahan
This platter turned from kiln-dried White Ash is number 6 of seven collaboration projects. This is a form that Gerald Jensen has turned many times, and the extra wide rim allows for painting, pyrography, and other embellishment.
The platter was handed over to Kelly Bresnahan where he made good use of the large surface. Kelly started by carving grooves for the gray metal inlay. These grooves needed to be wider at the bottom than the top so a metal with a low melting temp could be dripped and pressed into the grooves. Kelly then sanded the metal flush to the surface. Kelly’s embellishment also included texturing of the surface, two colors of stain and painting the center of the bowl silver.
This project has a wonderful combination of techniques and color to make it stand out.
Cherry burl vessel 2”h x 4.75”w
Darren Throop/Ed Cole
Today’s bowl is the last of 7 woodturning collaboration projects. This vessel was turned and hollowed by Darren Throop in his shop near Iron Mountain. This piece has a nice combination of straight and burl grain that highlights the beauty of the cherry wood. After turning, this vessel traveled south to Green Bay to Ed Cole’s shop.
Ed enjoys working with burls and decided to compliment the wonderful grain of this burl vessel with inlays. In addition to filling the natural voids and cracks, Ed added and filled rings around the outside of the vessel. The inlay was sanded flush then the bowl was finished with polyurethane and buffed. To complete his embellishment Ed coated the inside with black epoxy.
Hollowing projects provide a nice canvas for beautiful wood grain. With this project I found the combination of cherry burl with turquoise inlay to be very pleasing. Nice job Darren & Ed!
Darren Throop/Ed Cole
Today’s bowl is the last of 7 woodturning collaboration projects. This vessel was turned and hollowed by Darren Throop in his shop near Iron Mountain. This piece has a nice combination of straight and burl grain that highlights the beauty of the cherry wood. After turning, this vessel traveled south to Green Bay to Ed Cole’s shop.
Ed enjoys working with burls and decided to compliment the wonderful grain of this burl vessel with inlays. In addition to filling the natural voids and cracks, Ed added and filled rings around the outside of the vessel. The inlay was sanded flush then the bowl was finished with polyurethane and buffed. To complete his embellishment Ed coated the inside with black epoxy.
Hollowing projects provide a nice canvas for beautiful wood grain. With this project I found the combination of cherry burl with turquoise inlay to be very pleasing. Nice job Darren & Ed!
Wrap-up:
A Big Thank You! to the BayLake Woodturners/Artisan Center Alums that participated in this project: Paul Borawski, Kelly Bresnahan, Ed Cole, Gerry Jensen, Gerry Keberlein, Darren Throop.
Great work everyone. I know there is a little extra pressure when you apply your artistic ideas on your friends artwork. You met the challenge!
A Big Thank You! to the BayLake Woodturners/Artisan Center Alums that participated in this project: Paul Borawski, Kelly Bresnahan, Ed Cole, Gerry Jensen, Gerry Keberlein, Darren Throop.
Great work everyone. I know there is a little extra pressure when you apply your artistic ideas on your friends artwork. You met the challenge!