So here is the finished little sumac bowl that I discussed in this earlier post. No coloring of any kind has been added to this piece; the wood is just that wild. I like the color against the little tangerines. Well, at least that’s what I still want to call ’em; I guess they call them “cuties” or something now. Anyway, they’re not full-size oranges, the bowl is 12 1/2″ long, 4 1/2″ wide, and 5 3/4″ high.
Sumac bird bowl
This crooked sumac trunk allowed for the rising neck and tail of the bird, and I also went with the flow of the grain from above. Bird bowls like this are fun to carve, combining elements of bowl carving and spoon carving. For example, the undercut hollow has to be cut largely with a hook knife while the piece is held in the opposite hand.
The bold grain of sumac, the color will continue mellowing over time.
I resisted doing any decorative carving other than the line of chips running along the wing edges. Decorative carving on a bold prominent grain pattern like this would be like writing on wrapping paper: hard to read.
By the way, they say sumac fluoresces under a black light, but I haven’t tried it. Must have left my black light at a rave.
I’ll pop this onto the website, and get back to a couple larger bowls in progress.
And how could I leave this out:
David Fisher, Carving Explorations 
Great looking bowl. Kermit has always been one of my heroes. Sold already… How does one get in line for one of these?
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Thanks, Paul. No line, but I’ll keep announcing new things here on the blog, because folks said they’d like to know when there’s something new available without having to check the website to see.
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Wild! I never thought I’d see ‘carved wooden bowl’ and ‘rave’ in the same article. Well pulled off 🙂
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The amazing thing is that I had even heard of a rave!
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Love it! I’ve carved sumac before, but the species we have in the South (Rhus typhina and Rhus glabra) are not as showy as your staghorn sumac. More of a muted grayish green rather than bold yellow-green. I think that color works perfectly for a bird bowl.
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Thanks. I didn’t know anything abut the appearance of the other sumacs.
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I have the strangest thoughts as I lie awake at night. Last night, I suddenly realized that I errantly referred to Rhus typhina as a sumac species that we have in the South, when I actually meant to say Rhus copallina (shining sumac). Rhus typhina is of course staghorn sumac. Anyway, I couldn’t let my error go uncorrected for fear of confusing future readers. OK, carry on 🙂
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Ha! Well, there could be worse things to think about as one lies awake at night. I hadn’t noticed the error, but thanks for the correction.
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