Ornaments

As one migrates from one area of woodturning to another, the experiences, sights, and people we encounter will influence what we make and how we make it. My journey into the world of Christmas ornaments began when we still lived up in Maryland and I was active in the Capital Area Woodturners and the Chesapeake Woodturners. There, with the help and inspiration of good friends, I began to make a variety of ornament styles, some of which you will see displayed below.

This globe style ornament is made by hollowing the globe and attaching the finial and icicle. Here is a picture of one with a hollow ambrosia maple globe and oak icicle. The finial is walnut.

One of my favorite ornaments is this traditional birdhouse ornament. This style was popularized by Bob Rosand and it is made by many other woodturners now. The roof has been marbled with acrylic paint.

A year after we moved to Burnt Chimney, Virginia, I attended the 2003 Ohio Valley Woodturners Guild near Cincinnati and I returned for 2005. I saw the sea urchin ornaments of Bill Noce and admired them. Don Riggs did a demonstration for the Smith Mountain Lake Woodturners - this visit was instrumental in my incoprporation of sea urchin shells into my work. Don not only gave me an urchin ornament but also the encouragment to give them a try. I have since made urchin ornaments from pink, green, purple, sputnik and Alphonso urchin shells. In the summer of 2008, I taught a class on making ornaments and boxes at the John C. Campbell Folk School in Brasstown, NC, which included urchin ornaments.

Sea Urchin shells can be paired with turned wood to create intriguing designs. Bob Rosand wrote about me making this style of sea urchin ornament for the Fall 2007 edition of The American Woodturner in an article entitled “Icicle from the Sea”. The article included a picture of a purple sea urchin ornament with an ebony finial and icicle as the one below.

After making urchin ornaments with the large hole of the shell at the top, I experimented with inverting the shell to make ornaments in the parachute style. By combining the concepts of the different style ornaments, I started making what I call Sea Urchin Mushroom Birdhouse Ornaments and Mushrooms using Alphonso sea urchin shells. These were introduced during my presentation as a Professional Demonstrator at the 2008 Virginia Woodturners Symposium.

Recently displayed on the Ornaments page of the WoodCentral Message Board

As my work continues to expand and grow over time, I look to add more styles to this portfolio of turned ornaments.