In the 1988 movie Beetlejuice, Winona Ryder, as Lydia, professes her strangeness with quiet self-assurance: “I myself am strange and unusual.” About a year ago I was asked to incorporate that line into a piece, and the idea developed in stages just recently.
This shrink pot began with a twisty curvy section of a birch tree. In order to hollow it out, I began by boring a hole from each end. The holes were at different angles, but met somewhere in the middle. Then it was some gouge and hook knife work to shape the interior. The facets on the outside were carved with a drawknife at the bowl horse.
For the lettering, I put some yellow Frog Tape over one facet. This was after a base coat of green paint. The tape allowed me to draw the lettering, erase, smudge, whatever without messing up the surface of the pot. Once I was satisfied with the layout, I carved the letters right through the tape, but not quite to a finished state.
When I remove the tape, a good deal of detail work and touch up remains. That’s easier to see and do once the tape is gone.
After the lettering was finished, I put a second glazing coat of darker green over everything. It reminds me a bit of the strange and unusual shapes of zucchinis that are so plentiful this time of year. Maybe that’s what led me to this green. Or maybe I only made the zucchini connection afterward. Memory is a funny thing. I do know that I started shaving the facets without a plan for the color, lettering design, lid….Trying to plan out every aspect of a piece ahead of time can be paralyzing — and presumptuous.
The lid is a wood I had never worked before, sent to me by a friend. It’s paulownia, a section from the root flare at the base of the tree with lovely figure. The finial was split from a hickory branch crook. The slide show below has some additional photos.
This one is already in the hands of its new owner. But I’ve got some other pieces underway.
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 
Truly spectacular, as always!
(When I saw the first image and the Beetlejuice reference, my mind immediately went to a different quote from the movie: “this is my art and it is dangerous!”)
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Thanks, Wes. Another good one.
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Another WOW piece of art, Dave! Your work is always inspirational. Thank you for the time you take to share your artistry with the rest of the world.
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as always, you make something unique and unusual (in a good way)!
Dan C
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Such artistry married to such humor! A triumph!
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That’s an incredibly cool piece!
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wow this is fabulous–you are imagineative in your skill. Yours is the only zucchini I would accept with fixin’s of course.
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This is one of my favorite pieces you have made, Dave. I immediately thought of zucchini too (also plentiful in France right now).
I’ve never carved paulownia either, but interestingly, I just bought an electric guitar – hand made in the Netherlands – whose body is made of paulownia. It’s incredibly light weight!
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Thanks, Roberto! That’s interesting to hear of the paulownia guitar body. My son tells me one can never have too many guitars!
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I used to think that was true – one can’t have too many guitars – but I hit a threshold. There IS such a thing!
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I used to think that was true – one can’t have too many guitars – but I hit a threshold. There IS such a thing!
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Dave, your work is unbelievable, I love that font for the wording. Always like you lettering.
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David, another inspiration! I need to stop burning my bent birch cut offs! I need to try one of these.
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Knocked that one out of the park David, amazing work and, with a tricky shape to hollow, brilliant!
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That is cooler than the other side of the pillow! 😎
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Outstanding work David. Thanks for sharing this with us.
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New owner of this awesome shrink pot! My husband had this commissioned for me for my birthday. I absolutely love it. It’s my favorite gift I’ve ever gotten. I knew when I had it half open and saw the lettering it was a DF, once i opened it I was so shocked. I started crying. It’s so cool. It’s the most amazing thing to have someone’s work that is this level.
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