Wood flowers

There is a wonderful Japanese turner called Yamabiko, whose YouTube videos taught me to make these. Mine are a work in progress. One of the secrets is to choose the right piece of wood - not too seasoned, but not too green either. These two are at the extreme ends - the white one (holly) was too wet, as it was on a tree about a week ago, and is already cracking up; and the other one, boxwood, is very dry, and will not distort much as it dries. The 'stem' and 'flower' are meant to warp and distort to give the piece a plant-like look. Amazingly, Yamabiko has only been turning since 2018