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Lobelia
mfoster

Lobelia

Inspired by a photo of a giant lobelia I got from National Geographic. The plant (and this piece) exhibit spirals (in 2 directions) that conform to the Fibonacci series. There are 13 spirals in one direction and 21 in the other. It's incredible the number of examples that th Fibonacci series shows up in nature.

Walnut
4 1/2" x 6 3/4"
Mike, this piece is stunning!

POD 08-09-08
AAW Home Page Photo Of the Day
 
Thanks all for the kind words and thanks for the POD Kurt, didn't really expect that.

Dave, this was mostly done with power carvers with some work with hand tools. I have to admit that I'm a dentist and used some old dental power tools for this as well, but not the high speed variety that a lot of turners use for pierced work.
 
Michael:

An absolutely outstanding piece! Any hints as to how you laid-out the Fibonacci spirals? BTW - above 13 or so, the "Golden Mean" ratio is approximated by successive Fibo-numbers (i.e. 21/13; 34/21, 55/34, etc.). Many plants follow this sequence due to pre-programmed cell-division planes and daughter-cell proportions in their apical meristems. Many cacti have their tubercle patterns in this Fibonacci spiral (orthostichies vs. parastichies), as do some gastropod molluscs in their shell spirals. I also enjoy imparting nature motifs into my turnings.... Cheers, Rob Wallace
 

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