Red Beech Burr Sun Disc

I had this great red beech double burr (burl if you're American) which I had been procrastinating on for some time. In the past I'd had two similar ones, and had made two No. 8 Infinity bowls out of them. The first sold for almost 2 grand, and the second is for sale in Kura Gallery in Auckland (details on my web site), but I had this yearning to make a burr disc, similar to the greenstone ones you see in the tourist shops from time to time. I know if I cut the big one off, it alone would make a $1000 bowl, but I didn't have any other decent burrs to do my disc with, so it was with my heart in my mouth that I firstly cut the big burr off, and then put the chainsaw straight throuh the middle of it! Howver, it all worked out (trust your intuition!) as, I think you'll agree, it not only made a pretty good disc, but I got an amazing platter, and a wicked bowl (that I've added a bit of paua to) off each side.
I got a phone call from Delvine Wallace in Arrowtown. She and her husband Bruce already own a few shops there, and are currently setting up a new gallery. They had travelled the length of New Zealand, and had seen my pieces in Kura Gallery. They said that they hadn't seen anything else like my pieces, and wanted some for the new Gallery, which is to be called "Te Huia".
So I've sent them these three items: the disc, the bowl and the platter, and am currently working on some more pieces for them. It's going to be at 38 Buckingham St. Ph (03) 4421355. If you're in Arrowtown any time, check them out. They should be open very soon.

Finally got it - and Wow!

This is a photo of my daugter Tash taken in March 2005, when she was pregnant, sitting on a piece of red beech driftwood I tried to get off the beach for about 5 years. This was one time we tried to get it. Another time, I took my brother-in-law down to try and get it, and we actually towed it along the beach, but it was just too heavy to get it up on to the trailer. It weighed a ton! Finally, earlier this year, I met another man was a woodie, and as he was off work, and getting bored, so next time I was going fossicking I asked him if he'd like to come too. He jumped at the chance. We came across this piece again. It's amazing how a piece so big and heavy shifts around the beach so much. Those waves are very powerful! You an see in this photo it's high and dry. This time it was down at the water's edge, but was at least on the hard. We got some other bits of driftwood and levered it up until it was high enough to winch it on board. At last! Another stroke of luck is that he happened to have a brother with a portable mill, and he lives in the country, so we set it up in the paddock next door, and after water blasting to get any salt, sand and stones off it, we managed to cut it into five slabs. He got two and I got three. It has wicked grain in it. I have made a coffee table out of the middle piece. The little girl in the photo is my gorgeous grand daughter Ashley-Rose, who Tash was pregnant with in the first photo. She's now 3! The end slab I was going to make a dragon coffee table out of, but I decided to turn it around and make a whale, "The Guardian of the Deep". So I still have another raw slab to play with at a later date. The coffee table and the whale are for sale now. Contact details on my web site.