Thanks guys. I'll try to find some more pics of other bowls and stuff.
The Saturn Box was not my idea, I saw where someone had made something similar long ago and so I tried it myself. I used a single block of tiger/bird's eye Maple, about 6" X 6". The hardest part was trying to part the lid and get it holloowed and put back together, keeping it round, and matching the grain. You can't help but lose a minimum of 1/8" so I parted off an extra 1/8" in length and used a cardboard, 1/2 circle template to bring in the final shape. I also had to leave another 1/8" off the bottom half to keep it a uniform ball. I won a blue ribbons for this piece and the vessel at the Orange County, CA county fair
I entered the fish sculpture too but they didn't like the fake kelp. It's titled "Airquarium". Oregon Myrtle w/walnut stripe, ash/walnut eyes, and purple heart fins. I sytle it after a fresh water aquarium fish, the Chocolate Cichlid. I did win a $50 prize for the process I used to cut out the fish in American Woodworking magazine. I made a lightweight, sacrificial box about 60% deep. I then set up and leveled the laminated fish block on wax paper and filled in around it with expanding insulating foam. Once set, this allowed me to cut out the unusual, rounded shape (2 dimensions, horz & vert) on my bandsaw with complete acuracy and safety. I broke it out when I was done shaping it.
The Wedding Goblet was a gift to a friend. A single piece of Japanese Yew w/captured rings. One of the tricks I learned is to use a flash light to get even thickness when opening up a hollow vessel. The Goblet was only about .030" thick and glowed under the light! I used a cigarette for comparison to show the thickness of the stem. This was pretty nerve racking...
On hollow vessels, I leave no more than 1/4" maximun thinkness.
The finish on the Spalted Maple hollow vessel is Super Glue, if you can believe that!. A freind at my Woodturners Club told me about it and I gave it a try. About 50-75 applications, flooded and activated with a fixer (Zap stuff) sanded after each to acheived a glass-hard like finish. Afterwards, I polished it with my 8" buffing wheels in Tripoli and White Diamond compounds w/ a Carnuba wax finish. Be sure and wear a mask when working with, and sanding Super Glue.
Sorry to go on and on, but every project has a story, if you know what I mean...