Comments for Northern Spalting

Comment on New Techniques by Dr_Spalting

Dr_Spalting — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:26:13 +0000

Work for sale will either be at the Michigamme Moonshine Art Gallery (link under ‘Shops and Galleries’) or direct from this site. Eventually all my work moves to Michigamme, as that is my main gallery outlet. Unfortunately I’ve yet to put the photos back up for Michigamme that were lost during the hack. Hopefully I can do that this weekend. Until then you can call the gallery and ask what pieces Fredrike has with particular colors.

At one point the gallery had three or four bowls with this new washing on them. I believe they may have all sold, but you could always check. The bright colored bowls don’t stay available for very long.

Comment on New Techniques by Nancy Bergdahl-Birondo

Nancy Bergdahl-Birondo — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 22:20:36 +0000

I absolutely LOVE this green! I’ve never seen anything like it. How do I get one of your works of art? Nancy

Comment on spalting presentation in Sweden by Dr_Spalting

Dr_Spalting — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 11:54:39 +0000

Sorry for the delay in reply – the new site is still being migrated and occasionally goes down.

Spalting is actually sold a number of places in the States, so I don’t know why its so under-marketed here in Canada. I know Haliburton Research Forest will be carrying it soon, as I’m working with them on getting reverse kilns operational for mass spalting.

In answer to your question – contrary to popular belief, kiln drying won’t kill fungal spores on wood. The fungus will die when the wood has been dried for several weeks, with our without a kiln, but there is little that will kill the spores short of a pressure cooker. Its only the surface fungi (which are not responsible for spalting) which may potentially be a problem, and you can kill off most of them by spraying the surface of your wood several times with 91% isopropyl alcohol (no lower concentrations, and readily available at Wal-Mart). You can also spray a 10% bleach mixture on the surface, then wipe off. Those two are what we use in the lab to keep things sterile, and they do pretty well.

Can’t wait to see photos of what you do with your spalted wood!

Dr_Spalting

Comment on spalting presentation in Sweden by nancy cooper

nancy cooper — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:26:10 +0000

Thanks for your enthusiasm etc. re. spalted wood. I am CRAZY about spalted wood – I have a whack of maple that I got a sawer friend to saw for me, and I plan to use it as wall covering in my kitchen. It was from a dead tree Quebec Hydro cut down on my land. I wish I had asked for it to be sawn thinner – one piece is 2 inches thick! But spalted amazing. hues of orange, black ink lines, curly stuff – it is wild. Probably nobody would sell wood this degraded. But I love it.
I will be in Toronto next Mon-Tues, but alas, am heading to Calgary to look after my nephew so can’t attend the spalting workshop. I didn’t know there was much interest in spalting – you rarely see it sold anywhere.

Nancy

Question: I have been airdrying and stickering my wood for a year or more — is there any health concern about not putting it in kiln?