Learning to make spinning tops on the lathe is often one of the first projects new woodturners work on. It’s one of those forms that can be as simple or as sophisticated as the maker can accomplish with infinite variability and embellishment options.
Sometimes, it’s helpful to explore options within the constraints of a specific object, and the spinning top is ideal for such experimentation because being small, tops are quick to make.
I have been making tops for years here and there, selling them at markets or giving them as gifts to parents who use them to entertain babies at dinner time.
Recently, I made a bunch for the family-oriented Wood Fest, where I demonstrated how I turn them on the lathe.
One thing I like to do is spin two tops at a time and see which one spins the longest. It’s a game that has helped me learn which design features work best for making well-spinning tops. For example, a low disc and narrow stem will win over a top with a top-heavy thumb holder.
I like it when tops have a little wobble in their spin, or some indication that the top is spinning aside from just appearing to float, but that’s a personal preference. This wobble occurs when the density of wood has more variability across the disc from a knot, or from sapwood/heartwood inclusions.
I was recently asked to make some specific tops for a collector who found me through social media. He asked me to make large tops that included cyanotype prints of ferns.
The size was the first challenge for me to figure out. Because most tops that I make are from one piece of wood in the spindle orientation (where the grain is parallel to the spinning axis), I would need to start with a large chunk of wood without flaws, and much of it would end up as shavings on the floor. Making the tops in more than one piece for later assembly meant I could use wood where the grain runs perpendicular to the spinning axis to make the disc. The issue here is that it does not make a good quality point at the bottom for spinning.
The plan that I devised was to make the tops in three pieces. The disc is 3 1/2” diameter and made of basswood. Then I used walnut to make a strong point to spin on and the upper handle.
Lastly, I made the cyanotypes using ferns from my garden. It’s a photographic process that I learned in art school and picked up again at home making prints of botanicals.
Then is was just a matter of finishing and assembly.
You can see more of my botanical blueprints at BotanicalBlue.com.
On September 17, I will be teaching a workshop on the cyanotype process at Bethany Arts Community in Ossining, NY. No artistic skills are necessary to enjoy this craft that can easily be done at home. Sign up and you will go home with your own prints and the knowledge to make more!
I am enthralled by your botanical blueprints, and I love that you were able to incorporate them on a top Fantastic work!
I love these, they are so pretty.