Apart from making spaceships and microscopic goblets, the lathe is good to turn pieces of wood into wearable art. This set includes a combination of birdseye maple, walnut and padauk. It takes several steps, including cutting and gluing the first two bits of contrasting wood together into a block, and then when dry, cutting it again to glue a third strip of wood into place. Then the block is glued onto a piece of 2×2 softwood to hold it into the lathe. With the gluing and drying, this preparation can take a few days before the object actually takes shape.
Once I start visualizing a form, it’s time for the turning, sanding, polishing to a shine, and finally removing the piece from its support block to finish off the back. For the set above, I copied the process with smaller pieces of wood to make earrings to go with the pendant.
Never one to stop at a single piece, I experimented with different combinations of shapes and wood. This array – made from bubinga, purpleheart, walnut, birdseye maple, padauk and quilted maple – was photographed swinging in the rain. What a wonderful way to spend a rainy weekend…
NANOTRAY 
I was lucky enough to be the recipient of one of these. They are truly beautiful. Thanks again! I have to say, though, that the Fiji fork was inspired.