Emma Cooke -
The Tiny Turner
Thursday 7 November 2019
Snainton Village Hall
We welcomed Emma Cooke back for her second visit to the Club, almost exactly 2 years since her last visit in November 2017.
Christmas decoration
Emma's subject for the evening was a Christmas decoration, based around a handblown hollow glass ball, filled with LEDs. She brought along all the necessary items to make this for sale at the break and after the demonstration, along with some examples of this project and other pieces she has made in demonstrations.
A purple heart blank, 2 inches square, was mounted on the lathe and turned to round, pausing to show the immediate effect of turning, which is to remove the purple and reveal brown timber. The purple will return with exposure to UV light.
The piece was parted off to give a top and bottom to the decoration. This improves the stability of the piece when held on a spigot in the jaws. Emma always turns the bottom - finial - part first.
Working backwards from the point, sanding and finishing as she goes, Emma turned a thin point leading to a wide disc, then a ball, then an ogee shape. All the shaping was done with a spindle gouge, constantly changing direction to ensure cutting downhill.
Only 2 grits were used to sand - 180 and 240. The rest was left to Chestnut Cut and Polish paste, which is similar to Yorkshire Grit but does not require sanding sealer first. (Yorkshire grit is oil based, and the oil soaks in to unsealed wood. Applied with safety cloth - kitchen roll can scratch the surface. Finished with microcrystalline stick wax
The piece was parted off with the cut at an angle, creating a conical base to the finial, which will fit onto the glass ball. A little tricky to execute, but it doesn't need finishing as it will be glued out of sight.
The top was turned after the break, following similar process to the finial. Once parted off this top was hand sanded to a satisfactory finish, and then attention was turned towards fitting the non-wood items.
The string of lights was threaded into the ball. Abut 20 seems right. The lights are switched on and off by a small switch, and run on a small disc battery, which will give a decent amount of illumination time, and are fairly cheap to buy as long as you don't go looking for Duracell.
Ribbon was threaded through the top turning to hold the bauble - not recommended to hold on the LED wire.
The glass balls being handblown are not likely to be perfect spheres, and the glue joint between ball and wood needs to be flexible. EVO-STIK Serious Glue appears to work well, though silicone would probably also do the job.
A generous amount was advised, which Emma admitted was difficult to say being a Yorkshire woman!
The bottom finial was glued on first. Hand held long enough to set, then the top the same - it takes a little patience, but it is a fairly fast setting glue.
Excess glue can be cut off with a craft knife, but wait until it has set. Any attempt while still drying will result in a sticky mess.
Obviously different wood, different shapes can be tried, based on the same techniques and glass ball at the centre.
More from Emma
For sale stock by The Tiny Turner
Exhibits by The Tiny Turner
Kit for sale from The Tiny Turner
Snowman alternative
Christmas decoration by The Tiny Turner