bowl

i love it when i can look at the photographs i've taken of my work and actually watch it progress. i made something! so, we started with the chunks of tree from the two trees my dad cut down for me. and i just looked and realize that i never posted about it! i posted some photos on flickr, but never on here. i think that would be good to do.

so, this is the first bowl in a series of them that i am making for my woodshop class. i'm taking the wood from my home and hand turning it on the lathe into a bowl. a receptacle. i'm kind of taking the concept of home and its meaning for me. which is largely a receptacle for memories and love and my growing up and my life. it still holds me there, despite the fact that i am not living there anymore. so, bowls.

since i'm turning these green (not dried yet, still full of moisture), i have to keep them in plastic bags and let them dry slowly before i can finish them (sanding, treating, etc.). i just want to make it beautiful right now! as it dries, it will warp and maybe crack. that's why i'm turning it green. i did a ton of research looking up other bowl that were turned green and the warping can be so beautiful. i just hope that any cracks that form don't crack the bowl in half. there's already a crack in this bowl, as you can see. the crack is from the carving process. when i carved out the inside, the friction produced heat, so the inside started drying out while the outside was still more wet. boo. oh well, i like it if it doesn't break.

P.S. the chunk of wood on the bottom that doesn't look like part of a bowl... isn't. it's just the part of the wood that has screws drilled into it (to attach it to the piece that i put on the lathe), so i can't turn there unless i want my chisel to collide with metal screws. ouch!!

it will be a bowl shape, plain and simple like the antique dough bowls i was inspired by, but it'll have a little foot and such. we'll see.

can't wait to start on my next one!