What do you do with all the bowls?

[Donny Lawson]

I'm just getting sucked in to bowl turning and it's fun,relaxing experience,but what do you do with all those bowls? Give them to friends,sell them,stack them up? For those of you who sell them do you have any pictures of some that you have sold and the price they are bringing?,and how do you determine the price to put on a nice bowl or piece of art?Also is there any type of wood that you just don't turn?
Thanks, Donny

[alex carey]

i give everything away and I will never again turn ficus.

[John Tomasello jr]

Donny some get used or displayed, most get chucked into a cardboard box.

[Tom Lewis]

I put mine in a local Artist Gallery. Last month 11 bowls sold.

[Curt Fuller]

I hope I never turn purpleheart again!

My wife makes candy and cookies to give to neighbors, friends, and family at Christmas time. It all goes in bowls and platters I've turned during the year. My question is what do the neighbors, friends, and family do with all the bowls ;).

[Bernie Weishapl]

Sell most of them, give some away and use some.

[Tom Lewis]

I will try to post some pictures.

[Eric Jacobson]

Great question. I've wondered the same thing about other people. I started turning last year.

If someone gives me a few logs, I'll make them a bowl or two. I've given away about 10 as gifts. About 15 bowls are sitting around my house. We eat from them, fill them with candy or dog biscuits, my wife stores jewelery in several. Some are stacked, hidden out of site in the basement (as reminders of how NOT to turn.)

My wife tells me we don't need any more bowls but I can't help it. I'm late for work nearly every day because I pick up a bowl in the morning and look it over in detail. They just haven't lost their wonder. I hope they never do.

[Ryan Baker]

I give a lot of them away, and have them piled up all over the house. At some point I will probably look into selling some, but I'm not ready to take that step yet.

Curt -- What's wrong with purpleheart? I love turning purpleheart. It turns well (though hard), and makes some great looking pieces. Inexpensive too, as exotics go.

[David E Keller]

I give most of them away, but I do occasionally sell a bowl or box. I get most of my joy from someone else enjoying a piece I've turned... the money seems secondary. I sell a lot of pens, but I barely cover my costs with most of them. Also, donating turned items to local charity auctions has been pretty rewarding personally. I do it for the fun of turning, but there's nothing wrong with selling something for profit either.

[Wally Dickerman]

In 70+ years of turning I guess that I've turned thousands of pieces. In the early years I didn't put out a lot of bowls and managed to give 'em all away. Then someone offered to pay me for some custom work. Then I tied up with some galleries and have sold hundreds of pieces through them. I don't turn nearly as much as I used to but still manage to sell most of what I turn. I still give some away. Trading can be fun.

It's nice to have had a life long hobby that more than pays for itself. I even get to buy a new tool once in a while without feeling guilty.

Wally

[David E Keller]

...It's nice to have had a life long hobby that more than pays for itself. I even get to buy a new tool once in a while without feeling guilty.

Wally

I thought you were talking about wood turning up to the point where you said it more than paid for itself.:D

[Mike Hinrichs]

I just bought a Purple Heart 8x8x2 blank off Ebay. Why don't you like turning it? Is it too hard on the tools? Thanks, Mike

[Wally Dickerman]

I thought you were talking about wood turning up to the point where you said it more than paid for itself.:D

Ha....Well David, it's true. I won't tell you how much I've made in just teaching turning the past 20 some years.:)

My other long time hobbies were golfing, hunting and boating...I sure didn't make any money on any of those.

Wally

[Reed Gray]

Once the local charities find out that you are happy to donate for their auctions and raffles, they will contact you in advance. Empty bowls, the Raptor center, Mozart society, Waldorf school, Children's hospitals, Rocky Mountain Elk foundation, churches, home less shelters, just to name a few. I do sell way more than I make though. One good thing about shows, is trading, and bowls are easy to trade.

robo hippy

[Karl Card]

I havent made enough bowls to sell yet but am building on that. Pens I have sold quite a few. I am also starting to do chess sets. I am going to only do a couple to 3 at a time on those because basically they are going to be high dollar pieces. I am getting ready to do local flea markets and have gotten more for my pens locally than on ebay. I also am signed up for some art shows and crafts shows. From my experience pens and the such bring more at art shows than craft shows...

[Steve Trauthwein]

I do three or four shows a year to help support the addiction. My problem is keeping the wife from gloming on to the most recent turning. A week or so ago I showed her a freshly finished piece and she said she wanted it. I told her I was going to put it in a show and she replied that she didn't have any of my turnings. A quick walk through the upstairs and I counted 23 pieces!

I am going to check into galleries as the shows are getting harder to do. I have had mixed success turning catalpa, it chips and flakes like crazy but can be attractive when you have success.


Regards, Steve

[Donny Lawson]

What would be a "Good" average size bowl to turn?8"x3" maybe? I've got alot of bowls drying right now(at least I hope there drying and not cracking) and I try to make each one different a little. Now, what's your favorite wood to work with?
Donny

[John Keeton]

Donny, being new to this game, I have little to offer except that I am trying to get my 5 kids to take some of these things before I run out of room!

I do appreciate you posting this thread though, as I am enjoying reading the responses. It would be good to get some ideas on pricing, marketing, etc. Sounds like the gallery ideas are popular, but I guess pricing is so "market driven" that it will vary considerably.

Hope you get some more great ideas!

Oh, for size, I have enjoyed all the bowls and forms I have turned - to varying degrees, but I do like the larger blanks a little better as they allow me more leeway on form. Just bought a 12" chestnut blank that I am excited about.

[Bill Bulloch]

I have just been turning for a little over a year and the bowls keep accumulating. I give them to family and friends: everytime someone says, "I like that", I say "take it". I have them all over the house, in every room, and that is after boxing up some for storage back in January.

But turning is so much fun -- an excellent hobby that keeps me busy during my retirement. This is why I started doing Segmented Truning back in November. Instead of turning a bowl or two a day, I now spend a week or two on one segmented piece. And, I find segmenting to be a bit more challenging.

I put some of my work in the local Art Center for sale in their Gift Shop. They sold a couple of my bowls that my wife had enhanced with her paintings (probably sold for the painting rather than the bowl),. What sales the best for me their are the Ornamental Bird Houses. I have sold over 40 of them at prices that range from $5 - $40.

Oh, and all the bowls that I am not happy with go in the fire place (Walnut smells the house up).

[Tony Pridmore]

What would be a "Good" average size bowl to turn?8"x3" maybe? I've got alot of bowls drying right now(at least I hope there drying and not cracking) and I try to make each one different a little. Now, what's your favorite wood to work with?
Donny

You just double hi-jacked your own thread. :D

My guess would be 8"-12" if you are talking about what size bowls folks want to put in their houses. Robo Hippy can probably give some great insight to this one. Turners that sell a lot of bowls often comment that the larger bowls, say 14"+ don't sell that frequently.

Favorite wood? Bradford Pear!

Addressing the original question... I don't get to dedicate enough time to turning to really generate a lot of pieces. To this point everything has been given to family, friends and charity. Someday I will try to sell a few along the way to help offset [part of] the cost of this addiction.

-Tony

[Curt Fuller]

I just bought a Purple Heart 8x8x2 blank off Ebay. Why don't you like turning it? Is it too hard on the tools? Thanks, Mike

I guess I should qualify my opinion on purpleheart by saying that some pieces of any kind of wood can be tough to turn. But in my own experience, the purpleheart I've turned has been hard and splinter prone, to the point I had to wear a glove for both the heat of the shavings and the splinters. And it disappointingly turned brown later anyway.

As for my favorite, I'd say any kind of burl. The mishmash of grain direction in burl wood seems to eliminate most the problems of tearout associated with endgrain. At least for me, I notice much less sanding when turning burl.

[GLENN THOMAS]

Some of my bowls have found there way into a smoker with a slab of ribs, a Boston Butt, or maybe some chicken. Especially if they are cherry or oak. Some, If I don't like them, get cut in half. I like to see how well inner and outer curves relate to one another. Some times the good ones are given away as gifts, but most of the time my wife gets her hands on them and keeps them whether they should go into the smoker or not. Fortunately as I get more and more practice less make there way to the smoker or burn barrel.

GT

[Reed Gray]

The 'average' bowl does not exist, or I like a bit of everything.

Small shallow ones in the 3 to 6 by 1 or 2 inch deep inch range for buttons, stuff you have collected in your pocket, and small snacks.

Soup/cereal/rice bowls, which are deeper, in the 6 or so by 3 inch deep range.

Meal bowls, generally flatter, about 1 to 1 1/2 inch by 8 to 10 inch range. Serving bowls to go as part of a salad bowl set come in around this size.

Individual salad bowls for salad lovers, 3 to 4 deep by 8 to 10 inch wide.

Smaller family salad/serving bowls, up to 12 inches. Family salad/serving bowls, 12 and bigger. Anything over about 14 inches gets into the party/entertaining bowl size, which is more of a specialty market.

It is interesting to watch people pick up the bowls and fondle them. How a bowl feels, both in shape and texture is probably as important as color. there doesn't seem to be any rule that works here as every one likes some thing different.

My favorite wood is Pacific Madrone. Pretty dense, lovely pinkish/reddish/maroon colors, and it warps spectacularly some times (10% thickness rule for twice turned bowls does not work here). Mountain Mahogany for deep reddish colors, and because of its density, it is really silky. Fruit woods sell well. Honey locust is nice, but black locust doesn't sell well when it has the green color, but when it has aged, it looks really nice. Osage draws a lot of attention, and usually sells quickly, but I tell folks that it will go amber over time, which does deter some. The maples are great with white and brown streaks, but some of it ages to a more grey color, which doesn't move well. Sugar maple feels better than soft maple. Walnut sells in spurts. Some times you can't keep it in stock, and other times you can't give it away. Oak just does not sell for me. Being from Oregon, I have to have Myrtle, especially for tourists, and people from here who are traveling and want to take a gift. It has beautiful color and texture. Catalpa just feels too light and doesn't sell for me. Kind of the same thing with Alder. Every thing sells eventually.

robo hippy

[Allen Neighbors]

Donnie, pricing bowls just about always depends on the market you have for them. Robo has given you about the best sizing reference I've ever seen for making bowls.
I turn all year, selling occasionally from my home, with just word-of-mouth advertisement, and every August we go to a one-week craft show, and just about sell out everything that I have left that I've turned throughout the year.
In my depressed part of the country, I can get 20 bucks or so for cereal size bowls, depending on the beauty of the wood. 10 to 12 inch bowls will bring 30-40 apiece. I get 75 - 100 for 14-16" bowls, and larger than that I can sell for 150 dollars, or so, each.
People in most other well-populated areas of the country can double my prices, easily.
I'm talking about ordinary utility bowls.
I love turning Cottonwood bowls for utility use... they're light, and very usable. But just about any wood will work. I have some Black Walnut utility bowls in my house, and my travel trailer, that we use for everything... including Cheerios and Oatmeal. :)
I guess that just about my favorite wood to turn, for just about anything, is Bois d'Arc... also known as Osage Orange. After exposure to light for a month or so, the bright yellow color changes to a beautiful chocolate brown. And, for me, it sells like hot cakes. That may be because I'm always talking about the history of Bois d'Arc in Texas.
Art work... if I could be so blatant to call it that... is priced much higher than utility stuff.
My bowls, biscuit cutters, and coffee scoops have paid for my Oneway 1640 and my little traveling Vicmarc VL100, so I am blessed! :D

[Donny Lawson]

Allen, Thanks for your comments and pricing.That helps out when someone like me has never sold a bowl and has no idea about prices.Hopefully in the future I can finish my bowls(when they dry) and maybe sell a few of them because I went to the woodcraft store this morning and I saw a nice big Jet 14"x42 I think that would be nice to have.It's about $1,250.00.I need to sell alot of pens and bowls for that new toy(I mean tool):D.
Donny

[dennis kranz]

My wife says I will never sell a bowl because I am to picky about the way they look. I think I am getting better at my finishing but I am not where I want to be. So I have a lot of things in boxs waiting to be fixed. Dennis

[Gary Chester]

More shelves, more friends, more donations...