First Bowls of the Year............

 

.......cone 6 fired.   Japanese inspired hakeme exteriors, glazed interior.

Japanese Inspired Tea Bowls...........

 ......cone 6.   Exterior is Barnard and porcelain slip.   Interiors glazed with white.  Roughly 2.5 - 3-inches high.

A few of my favorite bowls....

 

Empty Bowls.........completed........

 ....This represents about a month and a half of work in between other things.   Ended up with about 80+ bowls and cups to donate to the local Empty Bowls sale coming up next month.   It's been fun, but I think I'm burned out on bowls for the time being ;)

That time again.........

The QC manager examining work in progress.

The first bowls of the year.

The second firing.

I have another 40+ bowls ready to glaze, so you'll be seeing more of these.   This is the annual push to create bowls to donate to the local "Empty Bowls" fundraiser for a local foodbank.   It's kind of fun to create something functional and not have to deal with the sales of the items.

Bowls...bowls....bowls......

 

Wood ash glaze on the upper portion.   

Wood ash glaze on the left piece.   Porcelain slip on the right.

Black slip & porcelain slip decorations with white liner glaze.

....created to donate to Willamette Art Center's "Empty Bowls" fundraiser for a local food bank.   This year I have put some thought and effort into the glazing of these.   I've settled on several basic glazes and combinations.   I'm also playing with a wood glaze using ashes from the fireplace.   I prefer a glazed interior with the bottom of the exterior left unglazed.   This is a good overview of the 40+ bowls fired thus far.   

Bowls, bowls and more bowls.......

 .....created for donation to the Willamette Art Center's "Empty Bowls" fund raiser for the local food bank.   More in progress, but I'm off to a good start.

"Artifact Bowl #1"......................

...........handbuilt bowl, roughly 10-inches in diameter, 5-inches high.  Raku fired. 

Earth Bowl #7.................

..............crater glaze with Copper Sand raku glaze atop.  Fired to 1850-deg F, pulled and reduced.

New bowl musings.....

Finally got around to repairing my lathe (bent head stock shaft due to a very bad jam while turning far too large a chunk of wood).  Had a walnut tree cut down this past year and salvaged this from the firewood pile.  So far so good.....

Busy busy.............

in the Shop.  New black walnut bowl on the lathe....

And "Time is Murder" in progress....early days.

Turning....Round and ..............

..........round.  New bowl on the lathe finally - black walnut.  And is going well at this stage.

Burl bowl...............

....emerges from a chunk of wood. Uploaded three views since the grain changes with slight rotation of the bowl. I'm pretty happy with how this came out - it's the best one so far this year. I'm not positive, but I think this is Pacific Madrone. Bowl is roughly 7-inches in diameter and 4-inches high.

Myrtlewood..............

.........bowl. 7-in diameter x 4-in high. Oil/wax finish.

Spun.................

.......off the lathe - first bowl of the year. Dogwood. Roughly 7-inches in diameter, 5 inches tall. Linseed oil, turpentine and wax finish.

Dogwood.......

bowl. 8-inches x 3-inches. Finished with linseed oil/turpentine and wax.

First Bowl..........

of the year. Black walnut. 7-inch diameter x 4.3-inches high. This has been on the lathe since November....so I think it was time to finish it.

New burl bowl

I received a large chunk of an unknown burl last summer. This weekend I took the chainsaw to it and whacked out a few blanks. It appears to be a bit unstable in as far as voids and cracks, but after a few tries, I managed to get this bowl. Diameter is 8-inches. Watco Teak Oil finish with wax.

Lathe Lore Continued

Yah! Mesquite bowl. Roughly 4.25-inch diameter x 4-inches high. Watco Teak Oil & wax.

Turned down through the log. Managed to keep some of the bark and yet show the incredible richness of grain available in this wood.

Yet Another Bowl Redux

Myrtlewood. Roughly 4.75-inch diameter x 4-inches high.

I LOVE myrtlewood - the grain is always fascinating and it cuts relatively smoothly. The heartwood seems to deteriorate quickly, however, judging from every piece of it I have and that poses problematic issues when turning down through the wood (as opposed to turning through the wood). I always have to inject a filler, else I end up with cracks at the base. I suspect this is due to the age of the wood I have (not that I'm complaining).

I'm happy with the finish now that I've switched to Watco Teak Oil. I think it's the varnish in the solution -- it penetrates the pores and allows for a smoother over-all feel. A coat of beeswax completes the bowl.