'laminated cup'

i’d seen a couple of woodturners at the club experimenting with laminated forms—taking small pieces of different woods, carefully preparing the surfaces, gluing and clamping them together, and creating something that would reveal a completely different character once turned.

i was intrigued.

as i’m still very much on a learning curve with woodturning, it seemed rather remiss not to have a tinker with the process myself.

the idea is relatively simple: select the pieces, prepare the surfaces, glue them together and clamp everything tightly before allowing the block to become, hopefully, something worth turning.

for this cup i chose ash, padauk and mahogany—all small pieces that had gradually found their way onto my wood storage shelves, including some from alan’s collection.

the process is surprisingly time-consuming. it requires careful preparation and, more importantly, some thought about what will actually be revealed once the piece is turned. the arrangement of the laminates can create wonderful patterns, but without planning, all that effort can result in something rather less interesting.

that is something i’ll explore further.

for this piece, i also set myself another challenge: to make the walls thin and maintain a consistent thickness from the rim down through the form. it became as much an exercise in control and accuracy as an experiment with laminated construction.

and then, just as i thought i was nearly there, one of the laminates decided to ping.

a small moment of panic.

fortunately, some careful ca glue reconstruction brought everything back together, allowing me to complete the final finishing and give the surface a polish with carnauba wax.

it isn’t a perfect piece—and that’s rather the point.

it was an experiment, a little bit of tinkering, and another step along the learning curve.

i can already see myself returning to laminated forms.

next time, i’ll plan the pattern a little more carefully.

and hopefully, nothing will ping.

dimensions: height 8cm diamter 11cm