Bowls

BOWLS

Oyster Platter,,,

Blue Mussel shell ,,,

Maple Salad Bowl

Teak Fruit Tray

Teak Long Tray

Teak Fruit Tray

This Teak tray has a beautiful rich grain with a light figure (crotch grain) on one end which runs out toward the other, well worth the effort to finish. The tools dulled very fast and the resharpening made the time to do this tray a lot longer to finish than the maple tray.
I wanted to have a tool textured finish in the hollow. The tactile and visual effect is in wonderful contrast to the high polish.
This tray is 30"x6 3/4"x1" with a hand rubbed wax finish. The wood takes on a mood with the changing of the light in the room.

Maple Long Tray

Maple Fruit Tray

Oh the features of this Maple!
This tray is a new design that I hope to repeat, though the wood will never be the same, the design is a good one I feel.

25 5/8 x 5 5/8 x 1 1/8 Maple

Maple Fruit Tray

This is a nice piece of wood and the grain has some very nice flash, though difficult to carve, was well worth the effort. For this design, I used a compilation of machine and carving, to get this long sleek low profile tray. I wanted to create a tray that would be subtle in it's stance yet dramatic in its figure, subdued in it's profile height, yet sharp and deliberate in detail. Simple elegance, was the aim.

This Cherry wood bowl features beautiful grain

I was given this Cherry tree as a gift with the words
"I know you can do something beautiful with this".
I created this bowl from a part of that tree, with this in mind.
The wood colours are wonderful. The hues, spalting and contrasts between the heartwood and sapwood I worked to feature these elements.

The end was the begining

I chose where to split the first piece by the colour of the end grain and the pattern I could see.
This is always a hopeful start, I wasn't disappointed.

Large Blue Mussel Bowl

This bowl is in Broad Leaf Maple 26'' Long

Cherry Trough Bowl

The sweep of the sides I decided to leave heavy and pronounced, then concaved the sides and beveled the bottom edge to give the bowl a sence of floating.

Twisted

The twist I think adds to the movement and flow of the lines and form an exercise in working "with the wood".

Bruises, = patina and caracture

There is a bruise in the fibers on each side that I found after the drying and the sanding process. This doesn't bother me as I am curious as to what caused it. It, like the darker heart wood, will darken as the patina develops. The sap wood will be a rich yellow as it ages.

Tall end view

This is a small cherry trough. The twist comes as a result of the natural twist of the tree.

Maple Valentine

The angle of the bowl was mostly determined by figure and grain and the perimeter of the log. Then the consideration is how to define and celebrate the figure, yet still end up with a functional bowl.

GO FIGURE

Flash! This bowl, carved from the crotch of a large Red Maple, had this dramatic figure I decided to run from end to end through the bowl.

Flash heavy

The bottom of the bowl shows the area closest to the outside of the flitch or tree. The challenge is to captivate the most flash as possible and not carve it away as the hollowing of the bowl shell is created. With this piece of maple it was relatively easy as there was an abundance of figure.

Cedar burl bowl

Carved bowls

Balance

This shallow Boxwood Elder bowl perches with one end tucked under in a stance, the other end reaches way out and curls down to just touch lightly with the rounded edge. The sides flare in an attempt to maintain the balance.
This wood has wonderful streaks of the red, typical of the elder, delicately embedded. A gorgeous discovery in this very finely textured wood.

Bevel Bowl

This Birch bowl is a design that is intended to create the look and feel of a marriage between Bronze and wood. The painted textured ring represents the patinaed bronze of other times. The wood is rich with hue. The ovaling of this bowl developed naturally as the wood seasoned because the bowl was carved "GREEN".

Bevel bowl carved from Birch

The shallow hollow with a gentle sweep is in contrast to the outer convex and concave form. The ring holds it together, though giving the effect that the weight has collapsed one side,,, This bowl was not turned. The angles I needed had to be carved and shaped by hand. Some wonderfull things happen when I work WITH the form by hand. This is where I get what it is I need from the piece regardless of the time it may take to accomplish it.

Wooden fruit bowl with painted rim

The spalted heartwood rising over the edge

SWEPT

The simple sweep of the Alder trunk gives me the first lines of the form. The long flowing line of the tree reaching for the sky.
The tension of the edge of the bowl. The contraction balanced by expansion like the action of reaching, stretching.

Alder fruit bowl

A simple alder bowl with simple lines was the aim!
The smooth warm texture of Alder well finished between the knots.
The end grain tool tracks left for the tactile surprise
under the ends of the bowl which form the handles.

Black Beauty carved from birch

Black Beauty
This fruit bowl is carved in Birch. It was split from a green log that had this marvelous twist to it. I carved the bowl and dried it before finishing the final shape. The experiment went well. The edges of the bowl reflect the natural twist of the tree. The light colour of the wood offers a great contrast to the fruit contained.

Painted birch bowl

The painted bottom of the bowl acts as a deep contrast to the light colour of the rest of the bowl. The black continues from end to end via the bottom also to offer a contrast to the fruit, in this case apples, yet oranges would be set off very well.
The idea is to present food in an appealing manner. Highlighting the beauty in the colours, forms and textures of the contents. The way a man would present his dance partner. For he is there to draw attention to the woman's beauty, grace and form.

The Comma Bowl

Yellow Cedar fruit bowl
With this Yellow cedar burl bowl, I went all out on the finish because the grain was so fine. It just shone like gold. The light burling was just enough to give a sweet accent.

Treating the senses

Here the depth and the shape of the bowl and it's elements show the commonality to how I use the EDGE to express and divide the line and flow of the form. Definitions to direct the attention, the eye, the hand the fingers, the tactile senses. The highly polished surface draws the eye to the depth of the grain. The fingers trace the ridges, and the hand is pleased with the smooth flow of the form,,, NOW to apply the finish, OIL and Claphams Wax. This is the moment it all comes together as the pop of colour comes and all the hours and days of prep work pays off.

Harmony

This bowl carved from Birch changed the whole idea I had about carving bowls. I challenged myself to see what would happen if I just went for it and carved a big bowl with this new tool I had just received from Lee Valley Tools, the Lancelot carving disc. Up to this point I had carved a few bowls by hand. Meaning NO power tools. This was my first power augmentation to the Hand carving. The Yin and Yang symbol sweep down into this bowl from each end. The birch of this carving was flawless and a total pleasure to carve.

Swept Up

Here is another time where I made an advancement in design, I feel.
The addition of the feet to suspend the bowl way up off the surface and cradle it, technically was an experiment that went very well. I didn't know if this bowl would survive the drying process (I carve green wood) as the shrinkage and warping caused by this process can create tensions and the potential to split the bowl.
With this new confidence I was again at a turning point.

Suspention

Carved from one piece of Boxwood Elder this was a successful challenge of every thing I knew of wood shrinkage and warping through the long slow drying period.

Further exploration of lifting a bowl and survival of the drying process. Bowls shrink and warp in the drying process from green wood to a seasoned bowl, a process that can take more then three months. I go through a little mental gymnastics such as "Will the carving of the rough shape leave me enough room to refine the form I have in my head? Did I leave enough room for the crowning of the end grain? Will the base hold together? Does the shape allow for the tension created in the drying to prevent checking? Did I carve it too thick or too thin in the rough form? Did I leave enough or too much wood in those critical areas of warp-age?"

Turtle Bowl

Funny name? Serious grain patterns, that are so pronounced all over this piece reminded me of those tortoise shell guitar pics.

Beauty in the Beast

The guy who gifted me this wood had bandsawn it to a circular block and had started to hollow it with a drill and bit, then stopped because he had reached the limit of his tools and was not sure where to go with it from there. Thankfully my place was his next step.
     I get this hacked up piece of gorgeous wood cut into a disc with a bunch of holes randomly drilled and different depths. I was thrilled!
     I started by hollowing out the mess and then turned it over to tackle the outside, the shell so to speak. I just had a blast discovering the different grain flash. I carved the different layers and levels leaving what I liked and just explored the maple burl like a kid in a candy store.
     The title then became easy.