Anyone using Google's Nano Banana for planning?

[David Stranz]

A photographer friend of mine has been using Ideogram and more lately, Google's Nano Banana image generators to synthesize images and modify real photos. I just started experimenting with carving, engraving, and embellishing bowls with color after attending live demos with Mark Gardner and J, Paul Fennell at my local AAW chapter (BAWA) meetings. I have a bowl in progress that I am trying to decide how to complete. I have it to the point of mostly turned (top is complete, bottom is mostly turned but still attached to a sacrificial block and the chuck). It's African mahogany and will finish out at 12" D x ~2" high. The central bowl is 6" D.

I incised the upper rim using an Automach engraver, then painted it with black iridescent acrylic (which turns out to be more bronze in color). I'm now trying to decide whether to leave it as is or go into Stewart Furini mode and take it too far . So the first image is the bowl as it stands now. The second two images are the result of uploading the original and asking Nano Banana "Using this image of a wooden bowl, color only the outer rim black" and "..., color the outer and inner rings black, but do not modify the middle ring".

Anyone else doing this? Any comments on which looks better?

 

[Bob Franklin]

I use gemini to replace backgrounds in pictures to a better more attractive setting / background and had not thought about using it as a design tool. I think thats a great idea to help see what things would look like before taking the leap. Anyhow to answer your question personally i like the bottom pic with black rim and bowl

 

[David Stranz]

Thanks for the reply. Fixing up backgrounds is a good idea.

I also liked the bottom version best - much more dramatic. Unfortunately, she whose opinion matters more than mine vetoed any further embellishment, so I finished turning the bowl this afternoon as shown in the original photo. However, since this was mostly intended as a practice piece to try out some new techniques, I think I will turn a second one I can embellish as I like.

 

[Bob Franklin]

yep, time to make another to play with, and let she who's opinion matters have that one! Been in that spot,lol

 

[Roger Wiegand]

I prefer the top one, but then I work in wood because I like the way wood looks. It has a nice balance between the painted decoration and natural wood. There are better/easier substrates to use for painted objects, eg with more uniform and controllable surfaces, better dimensional stability, and easier replication in production among others.

That said it's only a preference of mine which certainly doesn't make it right in any way!

 

[David Stranz]

I prefer the top one, but then I work in wood because I like the way wood looks. It has a nice balance between the painted decoration and natural wood. There are better/easier substrates to use for painted objects, eg with more uniform and controllable surfaces, better dimensional stability, and easier replication in production among others.

That said it's only a preference of mine which certainly doesn't make it right in any way!

Thanks for your comments. I generally do not embellish my bowls with either color or texture, preferring to let the wood and form do the talking. This was mainly meant to be a technique development piece, something to see if expanding into other means of expression would be enjoyable and create something appealing. Looking through the AAW Photo Gallery pages, many of the works there have been embellished in some way, and I think one could argue that some forms of segmented work count as that.

I'm not a professional turner so production replication isn't a concern. I don't sell my work either, so pleasing a commercial audience isn't much of a concern either. However, I do live with a critic whose opinion matters

 

[Roger Wiegand]

Don’t get me wrong, embellishments can be wonderful and I quite like your bowl— the first level of embellishment really enhances it for me. I’ve tried some with much less success!

 

[David Stranz]

Don’t get me wrong, embellishments can be wonderful and I quite like your bowl— the first level of embellishment really enhances it for me. I’ve tried some with much less success!

The iridescent paint is interesting because its appearance varies greatly depending on the lighting / viewing angle. The dark engraved lines are actually filled with the paint, but the grooves seem to trap the reflection somehow.

Here's the bowl shot from nearly straight down from above, where the light doesn't reflect so much off the painted rim. I think it looks a bit drab. That was the first photo I took, and what prompted me to ask the AI what other enhancements might look like.

 

[Roger Wiegand]

Wow, that’s quite different!