Introduction

You've arrived at a gallery of ornamental turned lathe work by woodturning artist, James Harris. However, I am not constrained solely by this category of creative expression, so there is also some plain turning and freeform work here, and even some photography—another of my interests. See the Recent Work page for links to the latest work added to the gallery.

You can view some of my varied woodwork in this medium we'll call OT, for shorthand, including boxes, perfume/scent bottles/atomizers, hollow vessels and other assorted objects. I first created a website of ornamental turning in 1996, and this site has been carried over in the archive. From that site are some reference materials germane to this craft of ornamental turning, including a history and bibliography.

With a varied career as a woodworker since 1972, I have been concentrating on ornamental turning since 1988. OT is a specialized form of woodturning in which various processes are used to apply decorative effects to the work piece. This usually involves dedicated tooling, especially adapted to the particular type of ornamentation desired. It is intricate, precise and highly exacting work, not for the impatient in nature.

My wife, Bette, and I have been self-employed woodworkers since 1976, calling our business Synergistic Woodworkers. We take particular satisfaction in our conservation work on behalf of African blackwood, or mpingo, the premier wood for use in OT. Through the African Blackwood Conservation Project, which we founded in 1996 in collaboration with Tanzanian botanist Sebastian Chuwa, this nonprofit organization has helped plant many thousands of new mpingo seedlings, as well as other valuable trees species, in Tanzania.

The craft of ornamental turning has been a challenging and inspiring journey of discovery for me, and I am pleased to share that interest in this site. There is a contact form to follow up on price and availability of any pieces of interest. Check the navigation bar above to access all the contents of this site.

For those interested in trying their hand at this craft, check out the Lathe page for links to sources of rose engine machines.