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As you can see, I used some smaller diameter cherry stock to work out the transition from the bottle top to the mushroom, but I’m not happy with the result. The bottom section fits beautifully into the bottle, and the length gives it the bulk needed to balance the piece on top. But I like the wider base of the first piece, and its shorter stature. When I placed the second piece in the bottle, it seemed to be too tall.
So for my next attempt, I’m going back to the two inch stock, I’m going to maintain the flare at the base and I’m going to keep the overall length of the piece down. Also, I want to remove a little more of the wood on the neck so make the piece more delicate. I’ve toyed with the idea of cutting a groove to fit a rubber o-ring in an effort to seal the bottle, but I tried out the first mushroom last weekend, and the wine was fine the next day. I can’t imagine needing it to deal the bottle longer than that.
By the way, we have a great book, “Carving on Turning” by master carver Chris Pye on shopwoodworking.com. It would be a nice title to place on your gift wish list.
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Forget the mushroom top … carve an oak tree 🙂
I believe the appropriate description of this form is “shangie.”
The second mushroom looks more of what the first one would look like as it falls through the event horizon on its way into the Black Hole (i.e. Alice’s rabbit hole). The first one definitely looks better.