I have been playing with abstract segmentation again.

I am generally happy with the results.  Combination of colors and grain accomplish my aim, but I want to add another element and I haven’t pinned it down.  The attempt is to create abstract expressionist wood turnings.  The abstract is ok, the expressionist needs help.  What I have so far is available here.

I have added two bottle stoppers and a pen to my shop on Etsy.

The bottle stoppers are part of a series of asymetrically segmented pieces that I have hand turned.

Stopper 17

Stopper 18

The pen is a Civil War replica twist syle pen.

Civil War Pen 29

The top is a full sized replica 58 caliber minie’ ball used during the Civil War in the Model 1861 Springfield Rifle Musket.

The clip is a replica of that same musket.

The tip is a full sized replica of a 44 caliber 1860 Colt Army revolver bullet.

Body is Redwood Burl on the ends and imitation ivory in the center.

Bottle stopper turned from ebony with a maple insert. Ebony is a beautiful wood with at times strange grain patterns. Known primarily as pure black, it more commonly is a combination of black and brown to white stripes.

Front and back

From the top.

Detail. Can be purchased here.

Detail photos of the 2005 painting “The Wild West.”

First of a series of asymmetrically segmented pens. As an abstract painter, I am drawn away from order and toward the unique and unbalanced. This pen, and the others in this series, marks the beginning of an approach to pen making that I hope to explore.

non-linear, asymetrical

There are brass elements added to the pen to add some visual interest.

It can be purchased here.

An abstract painting from 2005.  “The Wild West.”

A buckeye burl pen for sale at etsy.com. Buckeye burl (Aesculus spp.) is a beautiful exotic wood. Regular buckeye tends to be cream to white in color, but the burl is colored by minerals to give black, grey, and blue swirls.

The pen mechanism itself is a 24k gold Gatsby pen that uses Parker style refills.

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