Yin-Yang Bowl

[Eric Holmquist]

Yin-Yang inspired bowl made from Sweet Gum. Design incorporates a series of three of the teardrop shaped symbols that form Yin-Yang chained around the bowl rather than interlocked. Finished with Bush Oil. Around 7" (18 cm) across. Made this as a public demo at The Woodworking Show when it came to West Springfield MA. Currently a matte finish, trying to decide if it should have a more gloss finish. My first turning of 2012.

Got the basic idea here from someone who recently posted a hollow form with a single teardrop

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[Jim Burr]

I like this Eric! Shape is pleasing and the size make it a little faster to finish, for those of us with turning ADD!

[Nate Davey]

Very nice Eric. I don't have the patience you do.

[John Keeton]

Lotta work in this one!! Nice piece, Eric. I just turned a sweet gum platter and I hope the color is as nice as your bowl when finished.

[Scott Hackler]

Very nice work. I like the patterns you chose for the piercings.

[Baxter Smith]

Great job. I like the patterns!

[Robert McGowen]

Very nice, Eric. I bought an entire piercing setup some time ago and it is still in the box! Youe bowl makes me want to actually open it up now.

[Sid Matheny]

Sure a great looking piece Eric. Am I seeing pencil lines on the inside or is that something else?

Sid

[Bernie Weishapl]

Really nice Eric.

[Kathy Marshall]

Looks great Eric! I think it would look good with a satin finish.

[Richard Jones]

I agree with Kathy, satin. IMO, that piece wouldn't look as good glossy..............

And very nice form, by the way...........

R

[Michelle Rich]

astounding work!

[Eric Holmquist]

Thanks everyone, this was a lot of fun to make. I had been on vacation, away from my shop for six weeks, so it was extra fun to get back in my shop and make something. Doing almost all the piercing as a public demonstration was a bit distracting, but quite fun. I had several people interested in the technique and some of them may join one of the two AAW chapters that were sharing a 20x30 space at the show.

Nate - I actually don't find that this sort of thing takes a lot of patience, it is fairly theraputic. I enjoy doing it, and while working on it, I have to really focus on the task at hand, and all the rest of the world fades away for a while.

John - This is actually the blandest piece of Sweet Gum that I have ever turned, so you should get great results with your platter. For some reason, I've never had much success with Sweet Gum platters. All the Sweet Gum I turn is still green, and for some reason the platters all crack on me, I rarely have that problem with bowls. For some reason, Sweet Gum moves on me more than any other wood as it dries.

Jim - The small size did help, I did 95% of the piercing at the show while talking to folks walking by and showing them how to do the technique. I was at the show for 16 hours, and was left with maybe 10 minutes of piercing to finish that aspect of the piece at home.

Robert - Time for you to break out the piercing tool and put it to good use!

Sid - The lines are woodburned, I often use a skew / spear tip on the woodburner to provide crisp lines around my designs.

Kathy / Richard - I think you are right, satin will work better with this piece, the matte is too flat, and gloss would be too much

[Steve Schlumpf]

Good looking bowl Eric! I agree with your idea of a satin finish - should look great!

[Steve Mawson]

I like the piece and add me to the satin finish folks. Not sure my air tool has enough power to do something like that. Guess I need to find out cause that is nice.