Criss-cross bowl
My original concept of this bowl was to cut through from both sides at 90 degrees to one another to result in a latticework. Unfortunately, that was not possible with this particular piece because the timber tore too much. It was a cool idea, that I’ll circle back to in the future, with a harder timber species. Meanwhile, an ellipsoid hollow is cooler than I thought! Something about it feels right. It’s a shape that has been too much trouble to achieve before now. I carve these bowls on a CNC router, which is to say a computer-controlled carving tool. Computers don’t much care what shape they carve, but mathematically perfect ellipsoids are well within their purview!
These bowls were made from Oregon fence posts someone threw out in Lilifield, Sydney. The bottom few centimetres were rotten but the other 2 metres of each piece was completely sound. This is what’s wrong with our throw-away society. Just because stuff is not fit for the original purpose, does not mean that it needs to be put in landfill. The rust discolouring in this piece from the wrong screws being used in the fence enhances the bowl. Also, why did they use a softwood from North America that had been shipped halfway around the world for fence posts? It was always going to rot. Australia is full of native hardwood species that would have been far superior for this job.
I’m not complaining though. very happy to have the free, beautiful timber. I’ve used it with respect. Hopefully, my friends in New York and Massachusetts who I gave these particular bowls to will treat the bowls with respect and look after them for many years. It feels the right sort of circular to have returned the timber to the continent of its origin.