Funnels and what to do with them, if anything at all

[hughie]

I turned this one several years ago and have never really settled on what to do with it, and every once in while I look it over and put it back on the shelf. As it is a little chunk of Brown Mallee Burl dia 150mm, I'm kinda committed to saving it. With the shop being out of action for the foreseeable future. I have returned to it again and the only persistent thought is to do something like in the sketch, lift it up with a wine glass type stem and a tall skinny finial rising out of the bowl centre, probably in ebony or something similar, dark anyway. Like most of these ideas, nothing is exactly right and so the saga moves on. Eventually I just throw something on the lathe and see what happens, along the lines of the Picasso quote with my avatar.
Comments welcome

 

[Dean Center]

Hughie, judging from the limited info from the pictures, it seems like the form is too enclosed to get a lid out. Otherwise, that's a very attractive solution.

 

[Alan Weinberg]

Plug it with another piece of wood after making the funnel hole a little bigger. I tried it once—not a great result but I’m a newbie.

 

[Sam Fleisher]

Glue a flat on the bottom then turn the inside down to it so it looks like it was supposed to be that way.

 

[Daniel Bartlett]

Another idea

 

[Don Wattenhofer]

This is a birch burl that somehow ended with the inside extending into the tenon such that when turning the foot it became a funnel. The solution was to flatten the out side and glue on the segmented base.

 

[Doug Machin]

My daughter uses my funnels as flower pots.

 

[Bob Brown]

I remember a piece by Johnny Tolly ,that he flattened the bottom, and corrected the hole. He thin cut some walnuts and poured clear resin over them. Corrected as needed and polished it. Probably 15 years ago.

 

[hockenbery]

You can make a hole intentionally

Turning the opening for a seed jar split hollow form

.

 

[Mike Drake]

I turned one upside down and mounted the hardware for a hanging lamp on it, using it as the shade.

 

[hughie]

Hughie, judging from the limited info from the pictures, it seems like the form is too enclosed to get a lid out. Otherwise, that's a very attractive solution.

The idea was to have the finial rising out of the centre attached/glued etc to the stand. So the form would be suspended in mid as it were, no lid.

 

[hughie]

I remember a piece by Johnny Tolly ,that he flattened the bottom, and corrected the hole. He thin cut some walnuts and poured clear resin over them. Corrected as needed and polished it. Probably 15 years ago.

I intend to remove the foot and fill the hole with the stand and attach the finial to the stand and the form

 

[hughie]

I turned one upside down and mounted the hardware for a hanging lamp on it, using it as the shade.

Thought about that, but it would be a small lamp, as the opening is about half the diameter of the form.

 

[John Tisdale]

That is a beautiful piece as is. Only thing I would do, assuming you can put it back on the lathe, is remove the lip or tenon around the hole and then, if possible, plug the hole with a simple plug - that surface would be the bottom. Then finish with whatever "rub".
While the appeal of a piece made by a highly skilled woodturner appeals to wood lovers, simplistic natural beauty transcends that - as is, it would be right at home on any shelf in any bookcase.
You selected a small beautiful chunk and made a small beautiful piece - the fact that it's "wood" is secondary. The primaries are: beautiful and small, the first being the positive, the second the negative. If it were knocking on 50cm and in a high-end gallery, designers would be showing it as a component in a setting.
Always ask yourself: Will it be at home in the parlor next to the Steinway?
Of course, that just my opinion - I could be wrong.