Nice to step outside and feel some cooler and much less humid air, here, as a s-l-o-w moving cold took it's sweet time moving through a couple of days behind schedule...finally taking the strong afternoon storms with it.
Equally as slow moving has been 'yours truly' getting a few new flutes photographed. Recent hot, humid weather has made putting on finishes problematic with my set-up, but at least these three are finally done.
(click pics to enlarge, as always)
First up is my first flute in Papua New Guinea Walnut, a very light tan wood that in this case has some very nice figuring in it. Fairly light in weight, as well, even as a larger-sized key of low E-flat. The block came from an end section of a piece of Manzanita burl I used for the Mourning Dove flute block at the end of this post...as I looked at it's odd tall-ish shape, it took on the appearance of a whale breaching backwards out of the (natural Manzanita) water, which they commonly do (from the water, not the Manzanita!).
The head had some significant chunks of wood missing, so I used Malachite and Chrysacolla to fill in those voids, which fit in nicely with the design.
Everyone has their own opinion on how a flute should 'look'...I have never been one to add leather wraps, as the ultimate owner can add those if he/she wishes...and in the case of these woods, they are so beautiful unadorned I left them 'plain'...adding other designs or inlay might have taken away from the wood's beauty, and raised the cost even more,
2 things I was trying to avoid.
My top priority has been and will continue to always be about the most beautiful, clear tuned sound possible...all else being secondary or tertiary. Each of these three sounds rate at the top, and I'm very pleased with the quality and workability of this walnut.
I posted pictures of the next two flute blocks about a week ago, and have finally mated them with their flute bodies. The Mourning Dove flute is made from Yellowheart (aka Pau amarello, Yellow Boxwood), this piece having a stunning, swirling grain pattern.
Yellowheart is a very dense wood, which makes for a nice bright , hollow sound...and a tad more hefty. That also means taking twice as long to sand to a mirror-like finish given its hardness...but well worth the extra effort!
Speaking of hard to sand, the Dove itself took me far longer to smooth down than I had anticipated, especially given the numerous almost-impossible places to fully reach with my big fingers and even small sanding tools.
Lastly for today is the heaviest of the 3 new flutes, Bloodwood. It was especially hard to accurately record the deep reddish color tinged with orange, but I got close enough. The spacers in the flute are Ebony, and such items add a good bit to construction time. For whatever reason I had this idea to do a Black Widow design somehow, and at first thought of an inlay...long story short, I opted to nestle a large female black widow (made in Ebony) into a 'nest' made from a tip of an Ironwood log...
The other part to the story is that after I did the hourglass inlay in red coral, that ended up definitely pink, I decided not to paint a bright red over it...and for the record, this former Biology teacher knows that the hourglass should be on the underside of the abdomen, not on the top...I just wanted the effect, so I tell people to simple 'deal with it'!
With the change in our weather, I should be able to get back to the business of more flute making, which has been greatly slowed of late for various reasons. After a nice long weekend up in the NC mountains, I picked up some of that needed inspiration that heretofore has waned a wee bit.
Equally as slow moving has been 'yours truly' getting a few new flutes photographed. Recent hot, humid weather has made putting on finishes problematic with my set-up, but at least these three are finally done.
(click pics to enlarge, as always)
First up is my first flute in Papua New Guinea Walnut, a very light tan wood that in this case has some very nice figuring in it. Fairly light in weight, as well, even as a larger-sized key of low E-flat. The block came from an end section of a piece of Manzanita burl I used for the Mourning Dove flute block at the end of this post...as I looked at it's odd tall-ish shape, it took on the appearance of a whale breaching backwards out of the (natural Manzanita) water, which they commonly do (from the water, not the Manzanita!).
The head had some significant chunks of wood missing, so I used Malachite and Chrysacolla to fill in those voids, which fit in nicely with the design.
Everyone has their own opinion on how a flute should 'look'...I have never been one to add leather wraps, as the ultimate owner can add those if he/she wishes...and in the case of these woods, they are so beautiful unadorned I left them 'plain'...adding other designs or inlay might have taken away from the wood's beauty, and raised the cost even more,2 things I was trying to avoid.
My top priority has been and will continue to always be about the most beautiful, clear tuned sound possible...all else being secondary or tertiary. Each of these three sounds rate at the top, and I'm very pleased with the quality and workability of this walnut.
I posted pictures of the next two flute blocks about a week ago, and have finally mated them with their flute bodies. The Mourning Dove flute is made from Yellowheart (aka Pau amarello, Yellow Boxwood), this piece having a stunning, swirling grain pattern.
Yellowheart is a very dense wood, which makes for a nice bright , hollow sound...and a tad more hefty. That also means taking twice as long to sand to a mirror-like finish given its hardness...but well worth the extra effort!
Speaking of hard to sand, the Dove itself took me far longer to smooth down than I had anticipated, especially given the numerous almost-impossible places to fully reach with my big fingers and even small sanding tools. 
Lastly for today is the heaviest of the 3 new flutes, Bloodwood. It was especially hard to accurately record the deep reddish color tinged with orange, but I got close enough. The spacers in the flute are Ebony, and such items add a good bit to construction time. For whatever reason I had this idea to do a Black Widow design somehow, and at first thought of an inlay...long story short, I opted to nestle a large female black widow (made in Ebony) into a 'nest' made from a tip of an Ironwood log...
The other part to the story is that after I did the hourglass inlay in red coral, that ended up definitely pink, I decided not to paint a bright red over it...and for the record, this former Biology teacher knows that the hourglass should be on the underside of the abdomen, not on the top...I just wanted the effect, so I tell people to simple 'deal with it'!
With the change in our weather, I should be able to get back to the business of more flute making, which has been greatly slowed of late for various reasons. After a nice long weekend up in the NC mountains, I picked up some of that needed inspiration that heretofore has waned a wee bit.
2 comments:
very beautiful flutes, bob. a suggestion, if i may? Concerning the breaching whale flute, you could also choose a string that more closely matches the color of the wood to tie it to the flute. I am also glad the rain is over. Lori
I'll go back and look again, Lori...I put all the various colors to the block/flute, as I always do, and I didn't like the dark color overall, for some reason...maybe I was tired! Thanks for the idea!
Post a Comment