Harvey Meyer

Basket Illusion Part 1:

In part 1 of the demo, I will Explain the overall process. Next,  turn a small platter, about 7-8” diameter. While turning the platter, I cover both sides with 1/8″ beads from rim to center. I’ll explain the beading tool and how it can be used to get perfect beads every time. Then I’ll show 2 ways to quickly burn the valleys between the beads. After that is complete, we’ll reverse the piece to remove most of the tenon, and add a few more beads to the back of the platter.

Basket Illusion Part 2: We’ll begin part 2 using the dish turned in part 1. I’ll show how I design the “woven” pattern using polar graph paper. We’ll go over some examples and photos and also talk about where to find inspiration for patterns. I will show how to index the piece using my homemade index wheels in order to divide the platter into as many segments needed for the pattern I’m using. In this demo, I’ll likely do 120 segments. Then I’ll start burning the radial lines over each bead. Normally this takes many hours, but I’ll only do a small portion to show the technique. I’ll then switch to the rim of the dish and demonstrate how I burn a weave pattern around the rim. We’ll only do a small portion of the rim. Then I’ll switch to a prepared piece that has all of the burning finished and I’ll show how I dye the “woven” pattern into the wood. The dying/coloring phase will only be partly completed as it also takes many hours for completion. Finally, I’ll discuss how to finish the piece and fix the colors.