The work you see here begins as a series of sketches defining the form, pattern, and colors of the desired piece. These are transforms into working scale drawings. Various pieces of wood are selected to best represent the desired colors and grain patterns for the piece.

The wood is carefully machined into precisely sized pieces and glued together to create the patterns you see here. Each piece may have hundreds or even thousands of individual pieces of wood. Where thin contrasting lines are required, strips of wood veneer are inserted between the larger blocks of wood, so that only the veneer's edge is visible.

The resulting rough assembly is then mounted on a woodturning lathe and shaped to the final shape. Each piece is sanded and finished with several coats of oil finish. Finally, each pieces is buffed to a high sheen and coated with a protective coating of Carnauba wax. Each piece is uniquely numbered and signed on the bottom.

A large variety of hardwoods are used in these pieces. Local woods, such as Maple, Walnut, Beech, Cherry, Sumac, and Butternut are often used. A variety of exotic woods are also featured, such as Bloodwood (S. America), Chakte Kok (C. America), Tulipwood (S. America), Blackwood (Africa), Padouk (Africa) and many others.

For those woodturners interested in the more technical side of "how I did it", I've put together some more detailed information on some of the construction techniques I've used. Click on the photos below for more details.