This is a rare piece that I actually worked on a bit in summer, my non-woodworking season. However, a series of rainy days drove me into the basement to do a bit of turning. I had in mind a "decorative" container for the living room to hold some items, and the classic iron cauldron seemed sufficiently funky to fit the bill. Since the plan was to
use an opaque finish, the bowl portion didn't need to have a continuous grain, so I glued up pieces of lengths of 3"-square Maple into a hollow blank and turned that on the lathe. The legs were turned separately and the handles were also made separately and glued on. In both cases, they were blended into the body to create fillets by sanding.
I usually end up staining or just varnishing my woodwork, so painting the cauldron represents another rare occurrence. The idea was to disguise the original wood material and also to provide a textured finish reminiscent of a sand-cast iron cauldron. I used a black enamel paint which was textured by dabbing with a foam brush. There are some construction details
here.
| Material: | Maple |
| Construction: | Turned and carved |
| Finish: | Varathane Colors in Plastic, Black Satin 96 |
| Size: | 8.0" dia x 7.8" high |
| Time: | 45 hours |
| Done: | December 8, 2012 |
