Nebula!

Here is something a little different and a bit bolder and/brighter than what I have been doing of late!
 I treated myself to some quality airbrush paints, I got some water based ones called 'Wicked Colors' as I had seen them being used in a few youtube videos and the colours looked to be as vibrant as solvent based colours but with less toxicity and easy clean up!
 I've got to say I'm very impressed with them, both in how they colour and the way they spray. All this despite the limitations of my cheap 'ebay' airbrush (may have to treat myself to a quality one......).
 As the title suggests(I hope) the design is based on a nebula or more specifically the star forming region of a large nebula where the gases coalesce to create new stars.
 

Blue Bottle

I'm still playing around with this teardrop shaped vessel and finial combination. This piece like the others is made from Sycamore and is five and a half inches tall.
 Rather than carve, blast or texture the vessel, with this piece I decided to use a decorative colouring technique I have been experimenting with to create this stone/marble look.
 The colours are plain old artists acrylics and the finish is a lacquer that doesn't dry too flat and shiny which makes the piece feel nice in the hand and not 'plasticy as some high gloss lacquers tend to. 

Horse Chestnut Burr.

This little hollow form is the first piece from some Horse Chestnut that I was kindly given around eighteen months ago. The tree had blown down in a garden just up the road from me and the nice man who owned it called Paul came and asked if I would like some. I had a six foot trunk section that Paul kindly helped me slab up with my Alaskan mill which has a lot of nice burr in and several smaller burrs from other parts of the tree. This is from one of the smaller burrs that has dried out nicely in my wood store. As Paul would not take anything for the timber I am going to give him this little form as a thank you. It is just under five inches tall.