Mary Martin Gallery of Fine Art

The ornamental turned objects in which the artist specializes are designed and created with strong influences from a study of world architecture, using influences as varied as Texas courthouses, the onion domes of Russian Orthodox churches and the pagoda roofs of Japanese Shinto temples. The ornament is carefully chosen to support and enhance the architectural flavor of the piece. Though functional as perfume bottles, atomizers, boxes and clocks, these objects are miniature collectibles with an almost jewel-like quality, in the same vein as the Faberge and Japanese netsuke work. Rare woods, gemstones and meticulous craftmanship are combined to create works that are one-of-a-kind unique examples of this rare woodturning technique that is more like a combination of machine work and jewelry making than traditional plain woodturning.

                Designs are also inspired by the organic forms of the natural world and by a careful study of the best work extant in various media; often the wood itself provides the best inspiration. Utilizing over 60 species of exotic and domestic hardwoods, finely executed traditional and modern designs are fashioned in a variety of handcrafted wood items. Some unusual local hardwoods, not available commercially, are milled and dried for use. The aim is to capture the limitless figure and grain of wood with a thoughtful and well-executed design which results in a finely crafted, museum-quality work of art.

•Technique

        Plain turning, which has produced virtually  all of the lathe-turned objects with which we are familar, is accomplished by mounting the workpiece on a lathe by means of a work-holding device called a chuck, and then holding a stationary tool against the rotating workpiece to form the desired shape. The basic practice of ornamental turning, on the other hand, is a technique in which the workpiece is held in a chuck in a fixed position by an indexing device on the lathe and an external rotating tool is brought to bear on the stationary workpiece to produce the desired ornamentation.

•History

        Ornamental turning reached the height of its development in Victorian England (ca. 1880) with the ornamental turning lathes produced by  the firm  of Holtzapffel & Co. The Holtzapffel family refined the techniques and apparatus to produce ornamental turning and published a 5-volume set of books describing such turning  in great detail. Between 1790 and 1900 several thousand lathes were produced, but not all of them had the full array of complex apparatus necessary for ornamental turning.  Such as still exist are considered collector’s items and are quite expensive.  The  craft of ornamental turning was con-sidered a hobby for the nobility and wealthy of Europe because the lathes and attendant accessories were prohibitively expensive, costing well over £1000 more than a century ago. With the coming of the machine age of  mass production around World War  I, the practice of ornamental turning fell out of favor and the Holtzapffel  firm went out of business.

        In 1950, a group of English enthusiasts formed the Society of Ornamental Turners to perpetuate the craft of ornamental turning. Today only those with considerable financial resources are able to afford an antique Holtzapffel lathe. When they do come up for sale at auctions such as Christie’s of London, prices over $40,000 have been realized for ornamental lathes in good condition. Modern lathes have been designed and built by two US machinists in the past decade and about two dozen modern ornamental lathes have been produced as a result of their efforts.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       

•A Modern Adaptation

        As a craftsman with over 25 years experience—spent building hardwood furniture, cabinets, boxes  and plain turning—I first became interested in ornamental turning

in 1987 because of the seemingly inexhaustible possibilities of decoration that  could be applied to ornamentally turned objects. I have adapted a metal-turning lathe to perform  ornamental turning operations using a motor-driven flexible shaft power source to power the external cutting tool instead of the treadle-powered overhead belt and pulley system used on traditional Holtzapffel lathes. Indexing is accomplished by means of a spring-loaded detent which drops into a hole on an index  plate mounted on the lathe headstock. This plate consists of six concentric circles of holes, with 84, 96, 108, 120, 144 and 192 holes per circle, respectively, from the inside to outside circle, giving the possibility of placing up to 192 evenly divided cuts on the circumference of the workpiece.

        Since the cut produced by the tool in ornamental turning will be the final finished surface, a very hard, dense material is required for the workpiece. In the 1800’s, ivory was used extensively, but today synthetic substitutes and various hardwoods, such as African Blackwood, must suffice. The cutter must be honed to a high polish using diamond  sharpening compound of about 14,000 mesh, or 1 micron(0.001mm) in size to remove any nicks in the cutting surface which would cause scratches in the cut.

•Design Philosophy

        My personal focus as an artist is to utilize ornamental turning techniques in making boxes, perfume bottles and atomizers, clocks and writing instruments. Most of my designs are inspired by architectural  influences drawn from a study of Oriental, Western Classical and Byzantine  architecture; some incorporate semi-precious gemstone cabochons and brass, aluminum and precious metals. Designing an ornamental turning is a delicate balance between surface ornament which complements the overall design and the desire to allow the natural beauty of the wood to make its statement.

        Ornamental turning is a technique which is capable of producing exquisitely detailed small objects which evoke the delight of the viewer in a similar sense to that experienced when contemplating Japanese netsuke or the work of Faberge. My aim is to create objects of beauty with unusual surface patterns counterpointed by the exquisite figure of fine hardwoods. Since this craft form is so rare, we few craftsmen working in this field are creating unique collector’s artworks which will only increase in value and, in so doing, are keeping alive this very complex and unusual art form.

Saving the Tree of Music
Pacific World, a New Zealand magazine
March 1999
by Noeline Gannaway

A spiny member of the rosewood family is the focus of a joint action by Tanzanian botanist Sebastian Chuwa and Texas woodworker James Harris to secure its future. African Ebony, Blackwood, Dalbergia melanoxylon, or Mpingo as it is known in its native Tanzania, produces heartwood that is eminently suitable for tools, utensils, traditional carvings and musical instruments. Tanzanian woodcarvers of the Makonde tribe produce a wide range of objects for sale to tourists - from decorative combs to candlesticks and religious statues.

The density and fine texture of Mpingo wood make it ideal for woodwind instruments like clarinets, as it can hold the metal fittings and does not absorb water. It is also used for piano keys and the fretboards of guitars. International trade in musical instruments brings in $1.5 million annually to the local economy.

Besides being the premier wood in the world for ornamental turning, Mpingo is a vital element in the East African ecosystem, its roots supporting a specialised bacteria which increases soil fertility. But heavy commercial harvesting, encroaching desert and increasing population pressures with their associated set-fires and livestock grazing could lead to a scarcity of African Blackwood in several decades. Professional woodturner James Harris became aware of the threat to his prized medium through a 1992 BBC TV nature documentary, The Tree of Music (aired on US PBS television) from which he learned of efforts by Tanzanian botanist Sebastian Chuwa to replant the Mpingo into its natural habitat from seeds he had collected in his travels over East Afiica. Sebastian was paying local villagers to water and care for Mpingo seedlings planted in recycled cans until they were sturdy enough to be planted out in the wild.

Sebastian's words in the documentary mark him as a realist with a vision: "My 200 Mpingo seedlings are obviously not enough to make much difference compared with what is being lost. But next year I hope to have 20,000 seedlings to plant. It is vital for me to act now rather than wait until the future when things have reached a crisis." Impressed by the film, James set about tracing Sebastian, and eventually established contact. Letters were exchanged and plans developed for the long-term conservation and renewal of Mpingo. The African Blackwood Conservation Project (ABCP) was born. Contributions in response to 180 fund-raising letters sent out by James in June 1996 enabled the project to begin. A bank account was set up in Austin, Texas, to serve as a clearing house for donations in the USA, and a foreign exchange account was created for the ABCP at the National Bank of Commerce in Arusha, Tanzania, to convert US dollars into Tanzanian shillings for the project in Moshi, forty miles south of Mt. Kilimanjaro in northern Tanzania.

The first year however did not bring sufficient fimds to realise Sebastian's original wish-list which envisaged a one-acre donated plot, fenced, with a shelter built and irrigation installed. So a scaled-down version of the project began at Moshi before the beginning of the rainy season in February 1997. Basic tools were purchased and Sebastian began clearing a smaller fenced area donated by a friend of the project. He held a training session on Mpingo culture for interested people. An attendant, Mama Mariamu, was hired to tend the nursery.

A seedbed was prepared, mulched, then carefully watered and tended. By April the tiny seedlings were transplanted into pots. Over 500 seedlings were potted in this initial stage of the project. These plants need to be carefully protected from depredation by insects or animals, watered and fertilised until they are about 15 months old, and able to survive when transplanted into the wild. It is hoped eventually to replant every year the 20,000 Mpingos estimated to be harvested annually, "so that the song of the Tree of music will not go silent."

Noeline Gannaway has been writing for Pacific World for many years