Wood Turning

The apple itself is a straightforward piece of turning. Using a bowl gouge, I turned a chunk of maple burl down into a rough apple shape. This piece of burl had some interesting knots and pits in it, but I wanted to go a little further.

To make the apple look a little spookier, I added Lichtenberg Figure accents using the machine from Conestoga Works. These figures burn the wood and look like lightning — or, in this case, like lines of rot or infection. Spooky. I finished the maple with some Transfast dye to give it a deep red color.

To make the stem, I cut a piece on the bandsaw and then used the oscillating spindle sander to smooth it out. This part is fairly straightforward and just requires patience and a good eye.

The cap or lid turned out to be the bear of this project. My first attempt exploded dramatically and gave me a bit of a scare! But all of my fingers were still intact afterwards, so there was no real harm done. My second attempt looked like Lego hair.

Third time’s the charm, as it turns out. This attempt had the dripping, oozing quality I was looking for along with a pleasant amount of asymmetry. Some Transfast flat black dye made it look more poisonous. I attached the stem by drilling a hole and using glue — easy as pie.

The apple was finished with many, many coats of spray lacquer (I lost count, but more than 15). I left the cap flat black and I enjoy the contrast it provides.

In the end, I have a piece that is spooky, but still appropriate for children. I didn’t want to do anything too horrific, so this piece from a classic fairy tale seemed like a perfect compromise.

What do you think? Let me know in the comments! Thanks for watching!