Playing with filling imperfect wood

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MDVolle

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Joined
Mar 10, 2023
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Location
Lake Elsinore CA
This was made from a very water damaged piece of log from a pond - looked really interesting but didn't actually yield much usable material - most crumbled when cut. A few pieces dried out solid enough to try making a blank - but with lots of voids and bug trails through it.

Tried using Turquoise and Copper as inlay material in the voids - first attempt at using powder materials with CA - its imperfect but encouraging enough to continue playing with the idea

Inlay testing.jpg
 
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That will make a gorgeous pen! The copper doesn't stand out much in the picture (maybe more in hand?), but the turquoise really looks fantastic.
 
Great looking blank. I haven't tried any materials like that for filling voids, but I have been happy with Australian made Timber Mate wood fillers for handling bug/worm holes and other small imperfections. I either use a dark, contrasting color like ebony for holes or I match up the Timber Mate color as best I can to the wood and then tweak it with a set of wood-toned Sharpie type markers to help it blend in. This process has worked great for me so far, but since I've started casting I've thought about trying to mix a little pigment powder with CA to fill small voids with a pretty color like you did. - Dave
 
I like the contrast of the two materials that you used.

I have turned a lot of antler and when I drill out my blanks I catch the drill shavings/dust and use that as a void filler with CA on occasion. I have also heard of people getting brass dust from key makers and also using coffee grounds for an infill material.
 
Todd in PA said:
Great work.
I'm interested in your photography setup. The barrel really stands out and looks crisp with that reflection.
Click to expand...
The setup is a variation on one commonly used for shooting small parts - the object is set on a piece of glass but the back side of the glass is painted black - I'll do a more detailed response when I get back to my desk - its a cool technique but fairly easy
 
sorcerertd said:
That will make a gorgeous pen! The copper doesn't stand out much in the picture (maybe more in hand?), but the turquoise really looks fantastic.
Click to expand...
The copper will take some work - without light catching it, it looks fairly dull, even with a good polish - so very dependent on viewing angle and lighting (frustratingly) The turquoise adds color and really works in any lighting -

Disney background? I see you sorcerer logo... Spent 20 years with Imagineering
 
MDVolle said:
The setup is a variation on one commonly used for shooting small parts - the object is set on a piece of glass but the back side of the glass is painted black - I'll do a more detailed response when I get back to my desk - its a cool technique but fairly easy
Click to expand...
Placing an object on glass gives you a really clean reflection - but you get a reflection from both the upper and lower surfaces of the glass - painting the back side of the glass black (spray paint is fine) removes the second reflection from the bottom surface of the glass -

The "Magic" part of the set up is the reflection - you light the object the way you want it on the glass - lots of options - but with the camera looking at the object and the glass, the surface of the glass takes on whatever is behind the glass and lit - the reflection of the vertical surface behind the glass becomes the surface of the glass - can be a black piece of foam core (unlit) like in the pen photo or a brightly lit white card - lit in a color, or a pattern or anything you want to see reflected as the surface the pen is sitting on - because the object blocks the reflection but only exactly where it is sitting, you don't get background color on the object or have to mask and add a background (an option that wasn't available without a lot of hand work before computer imaging) - I shot the fountain pen with a lit blue background standing behind the glass about three feet - to insure that noting about the foam core or the lighting would be in focus and it would be completely uniform. The pen in the forest is just to show that the background can be anything - this was just light on a large print - but I shook a dusty rag over the glass so you can see the surface plane of the glass - if its clean, its invisible.

Small objects can be done with a small piece of glass and a small background - in this case the glass is 16" x 24" - Large objects need bigger pieces of glass and I've shot on 6' x 10' glass but that also requires a larger background surface and more distance for it to be out of focus - so lots of space - but the small objects can be set up on a simple table top space.

Porsche on blue.jpg


dirty glass photo.jpg
 
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