For those of you that recognize what that is: no, I have not turned to turning.  My turning experience is limited to doing a little spindle turning, mainly on the spring-pole lathe.  But I did make the easy hour-and-a-half trip to Pittsburgh on Friday to check out the work at the American Association of Woodturners International Symposium, and I brought that little piece home with me.

There were two main rooms, one for exhibiting the works, and another for vendors of tools and such. My experience in the room of exhibited pieces was pleasant and contemplative.  The work was stunning, and I enjoyed some enlightening conversations.

In the trade show room, I felt a bit like a fish out of water as I meandered among precision-engineered lathes, computer-guided routers and a turning tool that featured a laser light.  But then I spied a basket full of these.  As I mentioned, I’m not a turner, yet there was instant recognition — cores from bowls turned on a pole lathe.

These cores were part of a display by the Center for Art in Wood (located out east, in Philadelphia), formerly part of an exhibit and collaborative project that featured the “waste” cores from Robin Wood’s bowl turning.  It was a pleasure to talk with CAW’s representative, Levi, and he threw in one of the cores when I purchased a book about the project.

An object like this tells a story and provides much food for thought.  As I ponder it in the shop, I am putting the finishing touches on a big walnut bowl I mentioned a few weeks ago in this post.  I’ve worked on it much more including carving a design around the rim.  I should be posting the final results in another week or so.