Walt Sepic

“Natural Turnings” is a joy I’ve had for 35 years. I love to turn wood! Its such an amazing medium. Woods are selected carefully, while still in the ‘tree’ or whole state. Usually lying on the ground or standing dead or in my firewood pile, I will notice some aspect of the wood that will make a geat turning. I only work with ‘dead’ wood since nature does amazing things to wood after some time, particularly spalting, and dead trees are easier to find and aquire. Spalting is the dark lines in wood caused by fungus and moisture. There is so much dead wood around, there’s no need to bring down a live tree just for turning. I try to include some natural elements in turnings like bark, worm holes, spalting, hollows, live or waned edges, etc. When this is combined with a fine finish, the contrast can be stunning. The imperfections anchor the finished piece to its source and remind the observer from whence it came, connecting them to nature.