Contemporary Scottish Targe

This month saw the release of the March issue of Woodturning which also features my 1st Woodturning article.

I made this piece some time ago and it feels great to see it finally published in the latest issue.

Here are some additional images of the completed project:

It goes without saying that my Friends and Family have given me a lot of support throughout this process and in general, and I am truly grateful for their continued support and encouragement.  I would like to state a special thank you to my Friend Mark Sanger, who has been encouraging and supportive of my endeavours since day one.

Additional thanks go to Mark Baker, Chief Editor at GMC Publications for giving me the opportunity to write for the worlds leading woodturning magazine, an honour I never thought possible but is now a reality.

I hope to continue to write for Woodturning and look forward to producing more articles in the future, in the meantime may I thank all those persons who have supported my blog, website and work.

Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk

Form of Karma

Awhile ago I made a 5 piece collection for an esteemed gallery and this is another follow up piece to that collection.

With this piece I was interested to see what an increase in scale would do to it's asthetic and kinetic movement.  So a much larger rear finial of 8" was created.

The finial needed to be robust enough to support the upper bowl form in Sycamore, which measures 9.5" across and 2" thick.  This piece needs approximately 2 feet of surface to gently role round and round on.  It has a very gently but purposeful movement to it and it is fascinating watching it come to it's own perfectly balanced point.

The pyrography work is done in my own live, unplanned and organic fashion.  I love the thought of risking the piece before applying the pyro work.  Each design is spontaneous and therefore free flowing, loose and impressionistic.

A simple coat of boiled linseed oil gives a natural lift to this lovely wood, gently buffed it highlights the occasional ripple.

Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk

2012 - Bring it On!

2011 has been a very challenging year and I am happy to be at the beginning of a new year.  Hopefully it will bring many new challenges and exciting ventures.

I am looking forward to being published in Woodturning Magazine.  The proof has been signed off, the February issue is advertising my article for March and I can't wait to see my work in the magazine.

There are a few people that I would like to thank but I will do that in person.  They have been a strong and encouraging group of supporters and when things appeared pointless or depressing they have helped me through these difficult times and given me the boost required.

I will be starting of the year by submitting photographs of new work for a contemporary mixed media exhibition.  My creative mind has been working in overdrive trying to narrow down the ideas and concepts but I need to remain focused as the submission for digital images is 14th January!

I am also working on some updates to my website.  An additional page to support my magazine writing and general visual changes to ease navigation and add a little style.

Meeting the challenges of this year will be one of my top priorities and I am hoping that I can manage the various creative and professional elements of a Turners work.  There may be the prospect of providing production work for a furniture maker which will help to improve my skills and tool control while providing some much required finance to improve my working environment.

Due to the changes expected this year I am likely to be less involved in forums than usual.  They have been a great resource in the past and I have enjoyed making contributions but the time has come to focus on pushing my own enterprise forward and growing in the process.

I am also looking forward to cementing professional and personal relationships and enjoying the Friends and acquaintances I have met in the Woodturning world.

All the very best for 2012.

Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk

Roughing Out

Back in August of this year when I had the pleasure of visiting Mark Sanger, we worked on quite a few projects together one of which was preparing and roughing out bowls from green wood.

It was such a pleasure to work with the wood in it's green (wet) state as the tooling is often easier and the cuts are far more efficient.  Anyway, I have been seasoning a couple of pieces that I roughed out at the time and spun them on the lathe today to true them up and trim down the thickness.

The are now sitting in the house adjusting to the warmth and finishing off the last of there drying process.

Here are a couple of photographs of the forms at this stage of the process.  Not long now before they can be turned to a finish.

Cherry - Approx. 7" x 4"

Sycamore - Approx. 5" x 4"

Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk

Google+/Google-

For those of you who use Google+ or are considering using it:

!!DO NOT DELETE ANY PHOTO ALBUMS FROM GOOGLE+ BEFORE READING THIS!!

Recently while browsing the folders within my Google+ profile I thought I would arrange some of my photos in an album, and possibly upload some new photos too.  However, when I viewd the photo albums in my Google+ profile I noticed I had another folder with 100's of images!  Strange I thought, I haven't uploaded that many photos in Google+.  So, I opted to delete the album as I didn't agree for it to be within Google+.

And yet, there was a little screen with some small texts stating that deletion of the folder would delete images from other Google products.  But I did not upload the photos to Google+ so safely went ahead and deleted the album.

Later in the day I checked my blog only to notice that all my images have gone and been replaced by an 'missing image' icon.  Turns out that the folder in Google+ held all of my Blogger photos and I have just permamnetly deleted them!

Well, thought you may wish to know if you attempt to look through my blog archives.  I have updated the most recent posts with their respective images again but I don't have the time, patience or inclination to do them all.


Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk

Abstract Sculpture III - Top O My World

Every so often I feel the need to exercise the more abstract part of my thinking.  In order to do this I tend to create abstract sculptures, they allow me the creative freedom to go anywhere without the restrictions we often impose on ourselves at times.

Below are some work-in-progress pictures of my recent sculpture, Top O My World.

There are some further developments as parts have to be made and constructed yet, so I don't have images of this section.  But, the final piece will be on a matching stand and there will be LED lighting involved too!

Apologies for the picture quality, I will re-post my final shots once the piece is complete.

Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk

Contemporary Clock

This piece is a gift to my Sister and Brother-in-Law for Christmas.

The clock mechanism has been mounted into the wood and will be covered with a matching False Acacia plate, only a little smaller than the front.  But it will help to tie the front and rear design together.

The piece has taken quite a bit of time and is almost complete, just the rear cover plate to finish off and it will be ready.

 I will update with news of the completed piece with additional photos of the rear, which also has a simplified carving too.

Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk

Digital Inspiration

No doubt we all look for inspiration in many different ways and in many different places.  I have always used my PC and associated software to crop, correct and generally enhance my original DSLR images.  Recently I have been using Picasa to mess around with my original images to create interesting alternatives, some of which lead to ideas for future projects.

So, I decided to take this a stage further and have been playing with a simple piece of 3D rendering software to create interesting organic shapes.  The software uses simple polygon wire frames that can then have texture applied.  Once rendered by the software they produce quite realistic, organic forms, many of which promote inspiration and creative thinking.

I have included a few of these images below in the hope that you may find some inspiration and possibly promote new ideas and forms for your own future work.

Thanks for visiting. www.leerobertsneddon.co.uk