Scorched an coloured Hollow form

I thought it was time I did a bit of work on my blog and recently I put a Hollow form on an American Wesite and several members asked me how I did it.
So this is the way I turn and colour a Textured scorched and coloured Hollow form.

This is a bit of Cedar that has been kicking about for a few years .As you can see the grain is running the length of the wood and although you cant see it from this pic the pith is excluded.

 The blank is held between centres with a Steb centre and a revolving tail stock centre.

 First the blank is turned to a cylinder ready to be shaped.

 After initial shaping it is sanded to 120 grit nd the grooves are created with a point tool or a beading gouge.I have not used a beading gouge because I wanted the grooves to be a bit random.It is easier to do the grooving now before the form is reversed into the chuck jaws because this way the headstock does not hinder the gouge handle.

 Here you can see the grooving I have done wide deep grooves and then put a shallow groove on the top of each ridge.

 Here we can see the whole form grooved with the spigot on ready to be reverse chucked.

 Now the whole form is given a light scorching.It is important to do this before hollowing to minimise the chance of cracking due to the heat.

 The form is checked prior to hollowing.

With the form reverse chucked it can be drilled to help with the hollowing and a bit of tape is used to show the depth .

 To hollow this form I have used this very usefull hollowing tool from Crown tools because the is a small form this tool is perfect and because it has a small tip there is no chance of getting a catch.

 Once you start hollowing is is very important to keep checking wall thickness and dont forget to allow for the depth of your grooves.I also use a small torch to see inside

With all the hollowing completed Oronge spirit stain is applied with a rag or sponge with the for statonary on the lathe.I then go over the oronge with yellow spirit stain to tone it down a bit.

It is very important that you seal the spirit stain prior to applieng laquar and I use Acrylic sanding sealer follower by several coats of satin laquar

To remove the spigot the form is fixed between this shaped bit of scrap wood and the revolving centre.The rubber router matt stopes the form from slipping and protects the entrance hole.

The spigot is carefully removedwith a spindle gouge and the bit that is left is removed with a chissel.

This sanding arbour tidies up the bottom of the form

That is it finnished.but unfortunatly there was a small crack from the heat near the opening.I repaired the crack with super glue but was not entirely happy,As nothing goes out of my workshop unless it is perfect you can see from the next two pics how it ended up.

The hollow form graveyard

This is the crack .It is not a very good pic but you get the idea.
Thank you for looking.