Category Archives: bowls

Applewood Bowl — Finished

A few months ago, I wrote a post about the early stages of carving this little apple bowl. After it dried, I was trying to sort out how to go about carving the leaf design on the side panel. I … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, patterns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 14 Comments

Article in the Works

I’m going to do an article on the Bowl-from-a-Plank with Fine Woodworking Magazine. It’s been a little while since my last article, so I’m especially looking forward to it. Everyone at Fine Woodworking is a pleasure to work with, and … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, layout, patterns, Uncategorized, writing | Tagged , | 20 Comments

Windblown Bowl Heading East

I love to watch tree branches dance in a breeze. If the wind really gets up, even the heavier limbs rock and sway. What a ride it must be; one that can shape the limbs themselves over time. This bowl … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, cherry, events, finding wood, holding, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments

Working Small in Apple Wood

A couple weeks ago, a friend brought me a length of clear apple tree trunk, about 6 or 7 inches in diameter. Apple is relatively hard and dense, even when it’s green. Then it tends to move a lot as … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, drying, finding wood, green woodworking, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Amy Lowell’s Green Bowl

Ever since encountering Amy Lowell‘s Imagist poem The Green Bowl, published in her first poetry collection in 1912, I had wondered about it. Was it inspired by an actual bowl? If so, does it still exist? Who was Roger, the … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, historical reference, nature, paint, patterns, Persons, quotes and excerpts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 15 Comments

Bowl from a Plank Part 3: Handle Pattern

I had to put this bowl aside eight months ago, unfinished. I finally returned to it last week when I brushed off the dust and focused on the handles. This bowl was carved from a dry walnut plank. I documented … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, historical reference, patterns, Persons, Uncategorized, walnut | Tagged , , , , , | 19 Comments

I Remembered How!

It had been several months since I had roughed out a bowl from a log, the longest period of time in the last 25 years or so. There’s still plenty of settling-in to do here, but I was able to … Continue reading

Posted in adze, bowls, cherry, holding, tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 12 Comments

Bright Bowl

Saw a king fisher on a tree over the water. Does not its arrival mark some new movement in its finny prey? He the bright buoy that betrays it! Henry David Thoreau, Journal Entry, April 11, 1856 As I was … Continue reading

Posted in bird bowls, bowls, nature, paint, quotes and excerpts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Drawknife Fun With a New Bowl

I began sketching an idea on this page of my notebook last September, then added a bit here and there since then. Nothing revolutionary, just some thoughts on a design with rising ends and an underside that goes from convex … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, sketch, tools, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 10 Comments

New Bowl Horse Plans and Tutorial

Over twenty years ago, I designed and built my first bowl horse and it has been an important carving partner for me ever since. I use it for every bowl, but also for shrink pots, spoon blanks, and all sorts … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, carving, events, holding, patterns, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , | 22 Comments