During the decade from about 2003 to 2013 I spent the majority of my experimental creative time adapting found sticks and branches, from the forest floor, to my concentric ring technique. Early in this period I was using wood of known integrity such as sumac, lilac and aspen. As I gained expertise I graduated to less stable woods such as spalted maple and naturally stained red pine.
This vase is made from fallen spalted maple branches. (Spalting arises from the wood starting to rot. Wonderful patterns result from this process but integrity issues also become prevalent. Maple is not the only wood that can spalt. Spalting can also be found in other woods such as beech.) If this interests you there are some videos on my website that deal specifically with spalted maple 'stick' vases. Here is the link: https://www.jimlorrimanwoodturner.com/making-a-stick-vase.html