CAPE GIRARDEAU, MO. ? After working with wood for 25 years, retired Cape Girardeau physician Dr. Joe Tygett has become somewhat of a connoisseur. Like someone who knows and loves fine imported beer or wine, he speaks a language that most would find alien.

Words like ziricote, morado, canary and cocobolo are a regular part of his vocabulary. They are the exotic woods from Africa, South America and Central America he uses to create his colorful wood vases.

“This one is made from morado and cocobolo,” Tygett said as he proudly displayed one of his vases with a rich dark color (that’s the morado). “I don’t use hardly any domestics. Domestics don’t amount to much. There’s no color to them.”

Rich, bright colors and wood-grain patterns with dark accents are the hallmark of Tygett’s vases. The colors run the gamut from almost pure white (one of the only times he uses a domestic wood, aspen) to the rich darkness of morado to the brilliant red of redheart.

Of course, the use of imported wood makes his pieces more expensive to create, but Tygett isn’t thinking about the price when he makes his vases.

“No domestic wood approaches this stuff,” Tygett said. “There’s just a lot of grain and color.”

‘So unique’

With all this color, it would seem like a sure bet to say that Tygett uses stain on his pieces. That’s not so, he said. The color is all natural.

“There’s absolutely no finish on these,” he said. “It’s just clear gloss enamel.”

Those who know about the craft of making decorative wood vases have decided Tygett’s work is quality. He was selected by artists to be part of The Best of Missouri Hands, and gallery owners who display his work seem to agree.

“They’re exceptional,” Linda Bohnsack, owner of Garden Gallery, said of Tygett’s wood vases. “They’re really well done.” She’s the one who first told Tygett about the organization and encouraged him to submit his work and try to get accepted.

Joe Tygett of Cape Girardeau, Mo., holds a morado wood vase that he made in his workshop. Tygett mostly uses imported woods for his work. After working with wood for 25 years, Tygett, a retired Cape Girardeau physician, has become somewhat of a connoisseur.

“I felt like he’d have a very good chance of getting in because his pieces are so unique,” Bohnsack said. “I’m so glad he followed through, because I felt like he was worthy of that title.”

Creating exotic-looking vases — many look almost like artwork originating from Africa or South America with their strange wood patterns and colors — is something fairly new to Tygett compared with his overall woodworking experience.

He has only been making the pieces for eight or nine years. Before that, he made furniture, much of which is in his home, and wooden replicas of antique locomotives, trucks and fire engines. But then he met an artist who made such vases at an arts and crafts fair. He purchased a video showing the technique and bought a special machine called a Ring Master.

Right angles

To create the pieces, he cuts rings of wood at different diameters and angles, glues them together and sands them. However, the cuts must be precise, or the rings won’t fit together correctly, making a vase of poor quality — if it can even be constructed.

“If you don’t get it at the right angle and it doesn’t fit well, then you can’t sand it out and make it look right,” Tygett said. He figures out the correct angles with a protractor before making his vases to ensure they’ll stand up to his exacting standards. But that doesn’t mean they’re always perfect.

In his workshop, Tygett has examples of projects that went wrong somewhere between cutting the rings and sanding the finished product. He holds up a vase with a cracked lip. “Every once in a while you destroy one,” he said.

Altogether, the process takes about four or five hours, he said, but he doesn’t do it all at once. For one part of the process, interruption simply can’t occur.

“I use super glue and it dries quick,” Tygett said. “You don’t want to be interrupted while you’re gluing. If the phone rings you just let it ring.”

‘It’s good’

Some of his pieces are displayed in galleries, such as Bohnsack’s gallery, the Arts Council of Southeast Missouri Galleries and The Painted Daisy in Eureka. But most of what he has made either stays at home or goes to friends and acquaintances.

Tygett has given away dozens of pieces to people he knows and keeps a log of everyone who has his work.

“It’s nice to know there aren’t very many people who do this,” Tygett said. “I’m one of the few. When I give one to somebody, they’re very pleased because it’s unique.”

Water is a no-no for these vases, as it would swell and crack the exotic hardwoods that are used to make them. With each one he gives out, he also gives detailed instructions for its care, such as keeping the vase away from sunlight and frequent cleaning. The wood may be hard, but it’s much more delicate than one would imagine.

If handled with care, the vases can last for years, standing as a testament to the skill of their creator. With all the acclaim over his work, Tygett could have some reason to be boastful, but when asked what it’s like to be juried into an exclusive artisans’ organization, he’s nothing if not understated.

“It’s good,” he said.