Hot Cross Buns – $69
Hot Cross Buns Side View
Hot cross buns,
Hot cross buns,
one ha’ penny,
two ha’ penny,
hot cross buns.
Remember that old children’s song? I didn’t. Not until I was making this piece. I usually work up pieces that it takes two hands to hold, but a client wanted a series of pieces that you could hold in one hand. So I started out making things about half the size I normally make. The problem was that the surface treatments I was using, cyclone fencing, baling wire, fence staples, upholstery tacks and screws were all perfectly scaled for larger pieces, but imperfectly scaled for smaller pieces. What to do?
I had a nice piece of cherry wood, so I started this small piece and then stood back and looked at it. It didn’t have any special grain to it, so I cut the shape where it was interesting in itself, but it needed some surface treatments. So I took a round burr in my dremel and randomly attacked the bottom half and decided that I would drill a series of holes in the top for some twine in a cross pattern, much like the hot cross buns. I wanted them to be perfectly spaced, so I used the lathe’s indexing feature to get it just right.
Hot Cross Buns Top View
A note about Hot Cross Buns: ‘A hot cross bun is a sweet, yeast-leavened, spiced bun made with currants or raisins, often with candied citrus fruits, marked with a cross on the top. The cross can be made in a variety of ways including: of pastry; flour and water mixture; rice paper; icing; two intersecting cuts. They are traditionally eaten at Easter but in the UK they are now sold all year round’. Google it if you want more info.
I treated the outside of the vessel with some Lamp Black Oil Paint, I let it dry for a day, then took a series of rags and rubbed as much of it off as I could. This left a remarkably smooth finish with the black sort of blended into the grain, leaving it a warm blackish brown or brownish black, depending on how the light hits it. A fortunate happy accident.
I took some white paint and filled in the holes along the bottom but tried several pieces of twine to try and get the crosses at the top to look right. Nothing worked. Then I remember what my fellow artisan over at Long Hollow Leather had told me about working with rawhide. It’s as stiff as a piece of wood, until you wet it. Then it becomes like a cooked spaghetti noodle. Almost too noodle-like really. I mean have you ever tried to push rope? It’s the same principle. So after soaking in water for a couple of days, the rawhide was ready, but not so willing.
Long story short, I “coaxed the wet rawhide into the holes marked for the crosses, but I couldn’t tie them off, and knots were out the of the question in such a small confined space. So, on the inside, I tacked them down with superglue. A tedious process. Once the rawhide dries, it’s as hard as a drum skin, so I think all of the hard work paid off. The light cream color of the rawhide accented the brownish black (or blackish brown) finish perfectly.
I’m a happy man, and the finished piece looks gorgeous. Good enough to eat!
