[caption id="attachment_193" align="alignleft" width="288" caption="Glen Crandall is a New Mexico wood-turner."]
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By Margaret Hedderman
This isn't a ceramic? - It's wood? Unbelievable, but true - Glen Crandall's intricately delicate woodturnings are so beautiful, it's hard to believe they're made by the hands of a mere human.
Glen Crandall didn't begin his artistic pursuits until 1994, after retiring from managing the carpentry shop at Fort Lewis College. A close friend gave him a lathe and, with no more than a wood-turning tutorial book, Glen began his second career. Glen was originally drawn to the West from Michigan by Native American and prehistoric artifacts, but though he is inspired by ancient Anasazi pots, the designs are his own.
[caption id="attachment_194" align="aligncenter" width="336" caption="Brazilian Cherry, Walnut, Holly and Tiger Maple Turning by Glen Crandall"]
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[caption id="attachment_195" align="aligncenter" width="384" caption="Tiger Maple, Walnut and Holly Turning by Glen Crandall"]
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The process of segmented wood-turning is highly labor intensive. Glen starts with a single ring of wooden pieces clamped and glued together.
Glen creates layer upon layer of rings - each with their own individual design. In many cases, he will glue different types of wood together to create the individual block, then glue the blocks together to create the "feature ring."
After hours upon hours upon days, he creates a series of rings that can then be glued together to from the pot.
After the glue has dried, the pot is placed on the lathe where it is turned on the inside and outside.
All together, Glen spends well over 100 hours (that's well over twelve days, working 8 hours straight...) on each piece.
Isn't it amazing that tiny little pieces of wood can be so meticulously worked together to create these beautiful pots?