Matthew Hatala

The main thrust of my work if form and not function. The materials that I use are mostly wood, rare and domestic woods from all over the world, The rough material is mounted on the lathe, a machine that spins the work in a circle on a horizontal plane. Then the process of truing the form begins. I use hand tools to shape the outside as it spins, and then excavate the insides. The form is then roughed out to a thickness of _ and left to dry for 3 to 9 months. Then remounted and removing the distortion that is the results of drying is turned off and finished turned to desired thickness of 3/16 of an inch. The piece is sanded to a scratch less surface and then a high gloss finished is applied. Then a signature handle is fashioned.