Mary Martin Gallery

I was playing with wood in my Grandfather's shop as early as I can remember, and my first paid job was "sweeper" at Peters' Wooden Toy Factory. After 2 years at the University of Colorado, and 3 years in the United States Army, I enrolled at Colorado State University, receiving a B.S. with honors in Wildlife Biology and a M.S. in Watershed Science.

These degrees didn't keep me out of the woods. I was employed in industrial, commercial, and residential construction before starting my own cabinet and furniture shop in 1980. Chair making and repair led me to the lathe; obsession followed. In 1994 I co-founded the Rocky Mountain Woodturners, in Fort Collins, Colorado, and served as president for the first three years. I continue to support the club as program director.

I am also a member of the Front Range Woodeturners in Denver, Colorado, the American Association of Woodturners (AAW), the Woodturning Center, the Collectors of Wood Art, and the International Wood Collectors Society. I am a part-time faculty member of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts, Gatlinburg, Tennessee, and the John C Cambell Folk School, Brasstown, North Carolina.

I use the lathe to create a "form" from a single piece of carefully selected wood, most often, non-figured and tight-grained, but occasionally, highly figured burl. Concentric beads are then cut to conform to the developed surface. The valley between each of the beads is friction burned with sandpaper while the piece spins, further defining the concentric line. Next, the indexing wheel on the lathe is used to locate a spoke, a pencil mark approximately every 10 degrees around the form. In the case of enclosed forms, the hollowing is now completed.

In the second phase, after the form has been removed from the lathe, I use my specially designed burning pen to define the marked spokes and the additional radial lines (one approximately every degree). Large platters have 40,000 separate burned marks. This hatch work of concentric lines and radial lines creates a circular grid pattern, the "wooden canvas", and gives the impression of a woven basket. Now is the time I make the final decisions about the design. The form may influence the design or the design may have defined the form.

The third phase is applying the dye. After calculating the numerical layout of the pattern on round graph paper, I use fine point felt tipped pens with light-fast alcohol dye of various colors, applied to the individual rectangles, to create the design and further enhance the illusion. Influences for many of my designs come from Native American and African basketry and Middle Eastern patterns. I am always looking at the world around me; stimulated by visions in nature, architecture and art of all media.

My signature work is the "basket illusion." Using rare non-figured woods, I turn, burn, and dye to create the visual and tactile impression of a woven form. A subset of this work is the bodydrum, a decorative functional instrument. "The Corn Mother Series" combines the basket illusion and detailed carving.

I have been involved in numerous exhibitions over the past thirteen year history of the basket illusion series ( resume), including the prestigious BYU exhibition “Beneath the Bark-Twenty Five Years of Woodturning” and have been juried into the best national art/craft shows, including: “The Smithsonian”, “The Philadelphia Museum of Art”, “The American Craft Exposition” and the “Washington Craft Show”. I am represented by del Mano Gallery at both the New York and Chicago SOFA shows (Sculptural Objects & Functional Art). I have also been invited to participate in national “basket” shows where I invariably evoke the question…“what is a basket?”

I have been invited to teach this work at the AAW national symposium, the Utah Woodturning Symposium, several regional symposia and local clubs all over the US, Canada, and England, giving back some of knowledge I have gained from artists that initiated the surge in wood art today.

My work is in many private collections and museums. I am represented by Fine Art Galleries throughout the United States.

David Nittmann  has worked in commercial, industrial and residential construction. In 1980 he opened his own cabinet and furniture shop. The construction of chairs led him into lathe work which quickly became an obsession. He is a founder of several woodturning clubs and is a member of AAW. He is on the faculty of Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and the John C. Campbell Folk School.

"Basket illusion" is David's signature work. He uses hard non-figured woods which he turns, burns and dyes to create the visual and tactile impression of the woven form. A sub-set of his work is the "body drum" - a decorative and functional instrument. "The Corn Mother Series" combines the basket illusion with detailed carving.

David has been involved in many exhibitions and has taught his work at many AAW national symposiums, the Utah Woodturning Symposium, regional symposiums and local clubs all over the U.S. and England.

Morning Session:

David began with a discussion about learning and assimilating ideas of others and altering or changing them to produce "your own thing." He continued with a very detailed power point slide presentation of his work and the techniques used to produce his pieces. First he showed his "basket illusion." Many examples were shown. All David's designs are original and his ideas are obtained from many sources, primarily museums. He uses several lathes including a Stubby and a Nichols. He uses an old chest type freezer turned on end to dry his blanks. It has two 25-watt bulbs in the bottom of it for heat which dries by convection.

A blank was trued up on the band saw, was put on a faceplate and then placed on a large Nichols lathe. David explained that he brings the speed up to wobble then backs it off. He uses a tailstock initially. He emphasized that a sharp tool is essential. He hand sharpens and does not use a jig. He then trues the piece up and forms a spigot for the Vicmarc chuck. David uses a dedicated tool to shape the spigot. A negative rake scraper is used for final shaping of the platter's bottom. Then sanding sealer is applied to support the end grain fibers. David uses Mylands sanding sealer and lacquer thinner in a 50:50 ratio. Beading tools are then used. The outer edge or rim of the "basket" is formed with the three-eighths inch tool. This gives the rim a thicker appearance. All other beads are formed using a one-quarter inch tool. Beads are developed from the outside toward the center. The tool is always perpendicular to the work. Shavings indicate a clean cut. If you get tearing you can reapply the sealer, let it dry and re-cut carefully.

Once the beading is completed the valleys between beads are burned with the edge of 150 grit paper-backed sandpaper. The paper is trimmed to fit the curve of the work. Once all the valleys are burned the piece is ready for indexing. David uses an indexing wheel that he designed. He uses a 36-hole wheel so lines are drawn on the piece every 10 degrees. In order to get straight lines he uses a flat steel plate to rest his pencil on rather than the tool rest. The piece is then reversed and placed on the Vicmarc chuck. The interior of the platter is then formed starting at the rim. Thickness is frequently measured. Consistency is necessary when measuring (top of each bead). The beads are turned from out to inner - several at a time. These are "burned" as before. Even though kiln dried wood is used it can still "move" so as much mass as possible is left in the center areas of the piece. Thus beads are formed in stages toward the center. The center bead is cut to form a bulls-eye. Very shallow lines are cut to plan the beads from the center bulls-eye outward to the last bead formed. This area is then beaded. Some minor cheating may be necessary to give these final beads a pleasing and consistent appearance. Then all the beads are burned and the interior of the platter indexed to match the lines on the other side. The piece is then removed from the chuck and a jam chuck made so that the bottom can be completed. This jam chuck is actually the next platter that will be made. The jam chuck has to be quite accurate so that the piece can be precisely centered. (Beads cannot be "feathered in" like the bottom of a bowl can be feathered.) Once this is established, beads are formed in the center of the bottom. Before this is done the jam chuck is taped to the piece. It is essential that the tape go across the piece and around the circumference. (David uses nylon reinforced strapping tape.) The lathe is turned on with the tailstock in place - then slowly the tailstock is backed off to be certain that the jam chuck will hold. The center is turned. At this point the piece is removed from the lathe and is ready for burning, then coloring. A Detail Master is used for burning (Excaliber). The indexing lines are burned over each bead. Overburn is cleaned with a flap sander. The design of the platter is then determined. Color combinations are decided upon. Some colors are more effective on certain woods. Many designs were shown including "Bodydrums," baskets and vessels. This completed a very detailed and informative slide show.

Afternoon Session:

David began the session turning a David Nittmann signature tool handle using only a skew. A three axis technique was used. The piece was rounded between centers. A ferrule was shaped on the headstock end and that end was refined to fit the user's hand. The tailstock center was then changed by one-quarter inch. When turning the first offset the shadow line was removed. When this is done a straight line should be achieved. You don't go all the way to the end of the handle. A third center was then used - one-quarter inch to the other side of the true center. Now only one-half of the shadow line was removed and again the end of the handle was not turned. The handle was then sanded and parted off. Nylon string was then wrapped around the ferrule and the handle signed with David's spider logo.

Next David placed a screw center in the small Vicmarc chuck. A piece of two-inch thick, eight-inch diameter maple was placed on the screw. The bottom of the piece was shaped using a Glaser gouge. The cut was made, the tool handle being fixed to David's hip. When the edge of the piece was approached the tool handle was raised. This gave a smooth cut and prevented the tool from skidding off the piece. The reverse side of the rim was then trued. This assured that the outside or edge bead will be true. A tenon was then formed on the bottom of the piece to accommodate the chuck. The center point was identified and marked. Before placing on the chuck the shape or form of the bottom of the piece was made "right." A negative rake scraper would be used to clean up the wood and the wood would then be sealed to harden the end grain fibers before beading. It is important to use the same brand sealer that will be used to finish the piece.

When the beading tool is used it travels in two directions: #1 lateral and #2 handle up. Before actual beading the edge of the piece is formed. The edge bead is done with the larger tool. The remainder of beads are done with the smaller one-quarter inch tool. When forming the first one-quarter inch bead, the left edge of the tool goes into the lower recess formed by the larger tool. When each bead is completed all the color created by the sealer on the surface is no longer visible. When each bead is made the left edge of the tool is in the bottom valley of the previously made bead. The beads in the center of the bottom are not completed at this time - that is done later after reversing the piece. Now the grooves are burned with the sandpaper.

The beading tool is ground at 40 degrees. After grinding honing is done on the sides of the tool so that the points are very sharp Most of the cutting is done on or near these points.

The piece was then indexed using 24 lines (every 15 degrees). David feels that the best wood to use initially is soft maple, i.e. silver maple, kiln dried, two inches thick. Other choices can be holly, cherry and mahogany. The inside of the piece would be turned as described in the morning session. At this point the bottom was completed in preparation for design, burning and coloring. The indexing lines were then burned. Each type of wood requires a different amount of heat to produce a constant, uniform line that can be formed quickly. The burner tip is rolled over each bead along the indexing line (a 4-c tip was used). After all the lines are burned the flap sander with mixed grits (150 & 180 - alternated) is used. This removes over-burn but leaves detail. Each bead is hand sanded. The design then must be determined. Graph paper to match the piece is generated on the computer. Then the design and colors are decided on, all before a coloring pen touches the wood.

David then discussed the origins of his designs, which come from numerous sources. One idea leads to another until a satisfying one comes up. A color compass can be an excellent guide to deciding which colors are best suited to the design. If a mistake in coloring is made it can be cut away with a small knife or simply changed to another darker color. When coloring a pattern it is best to first do those colors that can be colored over with another, darker color.

This completed a very detailed, informative, interesting and lively demonstration. A lot was covered. For anyone interested in the many details of this demo the tape will be available in the club library.

--Bob Gunther