Wood Vases & Vessels
by Dean Yonkovich
“My vases are handcrafted from downfall, distressed, or bug-killed trees found in the Lincoln area, primarily Rocky Mountain Juniper, Quaking Aspen, and different species of pine. The natural decaying process produces the expressive coloration in these vases. The insect trails, stress cracks, bark inclusions, and knots add character to the vases (sorta like life). Shaping and hollowing distressed and decaying wood is a challenge due to the fragility of the wood.
Shaping the contour of a vase is mostly a free-form style, to create a design that flows with the grain and how the wood wants to be shaped. When working with compromised wood, it often takes many hours spanning multiple days to create a vase. To get just the right look on each piece requires lathe resets during shaping and hollowing. Next comes sanding and artwork, then applying a final finish and - the final step - buffing. Most vases are hollowed out by hand with a scraper on a lathe. This takes patience and courage, since the vase is spinning at 900 to 1500 revolutions per minute. Since I cannot see inside the vase while doing this, it is done by feel. One catch with the cutting tool on a knot or a bug hole can shatter a vase, destroying hours of work, and causing me to dodge projectiles of wood.
For the base or rim, I sometimes use exotic woods such as redheart, purpleheart, hickory, walnut, bubinga, etc. I sometimes use these exotics in segmented vases where strips of wood are glued together, then turned and shaped, and then hollowed. When the wood grain yields an open face, I like to wood burn and/or paint something, as long as it contributes to the overall scheme of the vase. Sometimes a colored mineral inlay such as turquoise is appropriate for some irregular stress cracks. With distressed wood, no two vases are alike, each is a one-off vase. My vases are not intended to hold water, which is contrary to the idea of a vessel, but these are for décor use only. Some vases lend themselves to artificial flowers or dried grasses.”
Dean Yonkovich
Lincoln, Montana