Original Contemporary Hand-Turned Wood and Copper Wine Bottle Coaster

Description

After I created this design I found that it has some similarities to certain English designs from the 18th and … more After I created this design I found that it has some similarities to certain English designs from the 18th and early 19th centuries. I guess there's nothing new under the sun, as they say. Those were in other materials such as silver and wood or papier-mache, however. The Philippine bayong of which it is made is a very dense wood with a natural dark red-brown color streaked with black and with a rich metallic luster. Each coaster is hollowed out and shaped on the lathe from a solid block of wood. I decided to add a copper disc to the center of the inside as an accent. The copper is polished and treated using a technique called "suaka" (素赤 ) that I learned from traditional craftsmen during the 45 years that I lived in Kyoto, Japan. It gives the copper a stable red-brown color tinged with rainbow hues. Dimensions are 4 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches in height. This is large enough to accommodate almost any wine bottle on the market. The thickness of the wood of the sides and bottom is about 1/4 inch. Each piece is finished in a durable hand-rubbed varnish-linseed oil finish. less