Inside Out Woodturning X Crochet
Introduction: Inside Out Woodturning X Crochet
I recently attempted inside-out woodturning for the first time. It's a technique where you cut a shape into a set of blocks and then flip them so that the cut pattern is on the inside. With no goal or plan, I eventually just ended up with a thin walled ornament shape.
The idea to fill in the open faces with needlework didn't occur to me until I saw the knitting and crochet contest. I recently received a dremel set and just acted on the sudden stroke of inspiration. I eventually popped fairy lights into the final product to turn it into a mini lamp as well.
Overall, I'm happy with my result and enjoyed the process of figuring things out as I went :) It's a simple mixed media creation, to combine wood and fiber.
Supplies
* woodturning lathe
* woodturning gouges (I used a roughing gouge, spindle gouge, parting tool, and scraper)
* woodturning chuck
* wood glue
* hot glue
* tape and/or hose clamps
* Dremel or similar rotary tool, plus bits
* pin vise and drill bit
+ The size of your drill bit depends on how big your woodturned shape is. You want there to be plenty of holes around the windows so that you have places for the crochet to connect.
+ I used a 1.8mm drill bit
* crochet hook and thread
* The size of hook and thickness of thread to use depend on the size of the holes you make in your woodturned shape.
* I used size 20 thread with a #9 crochet hook
Step 1: Inside Out Woodturning: Part 1
The basic premise of inside out woodturning is that you cut a large block into a few pieces, rotate each piece so the insides face out, cut a design into this, rotate and glue the inside faces back inside (but now they have a cutout), and finally finish turning the outside. <PERSON> has an excellent video explaining how to do this; please use this as reference.
(apologies that I don't have many pictures for the initial bit of the turning process; didn't plan to do a tutorial when I started ;-;)
I started with a 4-1/2" square x 6" block of walnut and cut it into four 1-1/8" square x 6" blocks. I then rotated the blocks so that the cut faces now faced outward and put a drop of hot glue at the ends before gluing all blocks together. 812
Make sure you keep the same order of the blocks so that you put them together in the correct order too! You can write numbers on the ends as reference. I wrapped the ends with masking tape as secondary protection, and then even used a hose clamp as final security. With the blocks secured, I slowly cut a cavity shape until I was satisfied, and then sanded to 320 grit and oiled it.
I used a chisel to tap the hot glued blocks apart and rotated the blocks so that the cavity shape faced inward before gluing them in place. I wrapped the ends with masking tape to clamp the blocks together as the glue dried.
Step 2: Inside Out Woodturning: Part 2
Once the glue was fully dry, I mounted everything back on the lathe and carved the exterior shape. First make a tenon that you can mount into a chuck though, so that the clamping can further prevent the blocks from ripping apart.
Because we want to add crochet to this, keep in mind that the edges should be thin so you can drill through and manipulate a crochet needle in the holes (I kept mine in the ~3mm thickness range).
Once you're happy with the shape, sand and oil before parting it off the lathe!
Step 3: Drilling Holes
You'll need holes along the periphery of the windows so that you can connect your thread to the wood. Use your rotary tool to start these, and then a pin vise to make the final size.
The bits I used come from this amazon set; they're standard shapes that you can find anywhere for rotary tools though. These are only single cut since they were super cheap, but I'd recommend you pick a double cut set if you can since they'll last longer and cut better.
I decided the hole spacing arbitrarily based on what looked visually appealing (close together so that there would be plenty of anchoring points for the crochet, but not too close that the wood would be too fragile). The holes ended up being ~5mm spaced apart, which I marked with a sharpie first.
I used a cone shaped bit to make pilot holes (Important! Otherwise bits will wander and mess things up) before using a small spherical bit to plunge in and widen it. 56