Folks often wonder where ideas for pieces come from. I don't understand the question. Ideas are EVERYWHERE. And here's yet another example.
Wondering what the hell these things are? Read on.
I'd come out of Barnes and Noble with a hundred bucks worth of magazines and books and was hungry. So I stopped in the Indian Fast Food place next door (Yes - there is such a thing as an Indian Fast Food restaraunt. Yes, I live in California).
Anyway, the young fellow behind the cash register had a lifetime supply of tattoos - and - had a half inch diameter cylinder of what appeared to be ebony in each ear lobe. Being curious, an at times probably a bit rude, I asked if they were two pieces each or not. He removed one, verifying that they were each, in fact, one piece and about half inch long as well. The "ear plug" was pretty primitive - a turned cylinder with a slight "pinch" to it in the middle, the ends of the cylinder slightly and crudely chamfered.
Hmmmmmm - never turned one of these before!
"Got a pencil and paper?"
"Sure. Why?"
"Trace that puppy for me and I'll make you a couple of new ones."
"Can you do a hole through them?"
"Sure."
Big Smile.
Came home, chucked up some bubinga, or it might have been cocobolo and turned two - roughly the size of the tracing. Sanded things smooth, burnished with shavings and applied a couple of thin coats of shellac - while on the lathe.
Back to the Indian Fast Food restaraunt for some critique - ing.
More Big Smiles.
These things are interesting to turn. You don't have much room to get really wild but interesting enough to play with. And it's like potato chips - you can't do just one. The dark ones in the back are bubinga - or maybe cocobolo and the lighter ones in the foreground are olive. Here's another shot - with a quarter and a dime to give you an idea of their size.
I suspect there's a market for these things - albeit a relatively small one. Probably wouldn't sell too many at a church sponsored crafts show - but hey - in the right venue . . .
addendum: stopped by a "Piercing Studio". These things go for $40 to $80 a pair! Takes me about maybe an hour to do a pair. I just might be onto something here.