Craig Daymon
I have a project that is drawing near completion and I keep coming up with things I'm tempted to add. How do I reign in these extras? Anyone else have similar tales?

This a box/lidded bowl. Quilted Maple, dyed blue. Top of the box/bowl is rippled and the lip extends beyond the edge. The bottom is rounded, so it will rock (give a greater "on the ocean" feel).

The lid is carved like a scalloped shell from end grain Alder, the rings accenting the shell fan. (Think pith almost at the base of the shell fan.)

I have a piece of Curly Maple that is less than half of one of those turnings Neil Scobie described in the AAW journal, where each side is turned offset and the result is a ring with a fat bottom to it. (I think he carved his into horns in the article.) I have painted it with tea and fumed it for 24 hours and it will be the trunk of a palm tree that will also serve as the handle for the lid.

I turned a 1.5" shallow bowl from Holly and carved the palm leaves out of it, dyed it green.

I have some small Bocote sticks that I think will make for nice coconut stock.

That's about as far as I let the idea run initially, but as this is a gift for my brother and he and his wife like the beach and loved their trip to Hawaii, I'm also thinking of adding 2 tiny lounge chairs and a small table with some coconut cups. I have some Holly scraps I could turn to insert into the center of the cups to give that white interior look they always have in the movies.

Did I mention the parrot on the top of the palm that would also serve to help attach the palm leaves to the trunk?

Does the AAW have an 800 number set up for this sort of problem?

Yes, I will post pictures. I think the original idea was to do a piece, same ocean bowl, and have the Jaws shark as the lid, which then had the shark with the air tank in its mouth as a multi-axis turning. Was going to call that one, "A Bigger Boat?". May still after this is done...and a couple of others in the queue.