Mulberry bowl and a questionable embellishment

[Jeremy Leasure]

Since I've gotten a few decent pretty ordinary no frills bowls under my belt I wanted to started adding in embellishments. This is a super easy, simple one, but I'm not really sure if it adds or takes away. I guess if I don't love or hate it that it must be neutral. I'd like to try beads next but I don't have beading tools and need to learn the skew and spindle gouge work.

This is also my first mulberry bowl. It hasn't been roughed out long at all, but I did boil it and it was in the round for about two years. Got pretty light, pretty fast. I got some checking inside and out while finishing it up but I think that may have been heat checking from sanding.

http://i.imgur.com/vHnEE.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gW3rU.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/gsMRz.jpg

[John Keeton]

I kind of like the embellishment, Jeremy, and the wood is very nice! You should try the beads - a beading tool isn't necessary. You have a skew and a spindle gouge and that is all you need. It will be a good way for you to learn both of them.

[Robert McGowen]

I think that the groove adds to the bowl and gives it a nice touch. I cannot tell from the photo if the bottom of the bowl is perfectly flat or not. If it is flat, then I would suggest that you make the next one with a slight concave to the bottom, so that it is resting on the outside edges. This will help keep the bowl more stable if the wood moves. With a flat bottom, pretty much any movement at all is going to leave you with a wobbly bowl.

[Jeremy Leasure]

You're right John, it's just every time I go out to the shop I walk by the large pile of wood that should be rough outs, and the longer I put off roughing them out the longer it'll be till they dry and...So it ends up being me roughing all the time. I am getting pretty quick at that at least.

Robert, it is indeed slightly concave but you can't really see that unless you get at a specific angle with the camera.

[Jim Burr]

I'm up for the bead idea, but a flange/rim about 1/8" and 1" tall. You didn't mention the dimensions, but it looks 8-10" wide? Aside from that...it's a good lookin' bowl...holder of many M&M's!

[Jeremy Leasure]

About 10" I think, Jim.

Decided to go ahead and finish another one out. This rim I actually like instead of being neutral on.

http://i.imgur.com/kPohK.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/C61rC.jpg

[Scott Conners]

I like the ring on the first bowl a lot, but it doesn't feel quite right to me. I think it is a bit weak visually, and if it were mine I'd either darken it (ink, paint, burn etc) or deepen it (to give more shadow and darken it). I'd probably lean towards burning it, maybe even with something like a nail head in an overlapping pattern to give very slight texture. Or put it back on the lathe (just friction chuck it) and use some wire to burn it.

The second one has a nice curve, and I really like the rim. Well done!

[Dennis Ford]

The groove on the first bowl looks fine to me, I did not care for that bowls shape. The second bowl has a really great form and its rim treatment goes nicely with that fantastic shape.

[Ted Evans]

I really like the second one Jeremy, nice form and finish. What finish are you using?

[Michelle Rich]

do you have a bedan? If so, beads can be turned with that tool also..very easily

[Jeremy Leasure]

Scott: I was really close to burning it, but I didn't have any wire big enough to fill the groove and was afaid I might not be able to make it look right by using a small wire and building up to a wider line with it.

Ted: On both of these I sanded to 280, applied a liberal amount of boiled linseed oil, sanded with 400. After that I buffed it with clean paper towels until I stopped getting oil on them. Then I moved on to the Beal buffer. The second bowl (bradford pear) got both red and white compounds, the mulberry bowl received only the red. Both have a coating of renaissance wax. The wet sanding works nicely to fill in tiny defects or pores missed after all that sanding, but I think the BLO needs to be thinned down in order to not clog the paper so quickly. I'll try that next time.

Michelle: I don't, but it's on the list.

[Thom Sturgill]

Jeremy, I like the form on the second better (smaller foot) but the rim on the first better. Either the skew or a wide parting tool can be used to create beads and I would probably have rounded the bottom of the top section above the groove and darkened the groove. You can cut a wedge of hardwood and use friction to burn the groove while on the lathe or a sharpie now that it is cut off.

[Pat Scott]

I think the rim detail on the 1st bowl is fine, but I agree that darkening or burning it would make it stand out more. Either way is fine. The foot is way too big, it makes the piece look "heavy". Make a smaller foot, and do something on the bottom other than a plain flat surface. A slight recess, groove, something to show that you spent time on it. A smaller foot lets you create more of a curve to the sides as well.

I like the 2nd bowl, I can tell the foot is smaller and the curve looks nice. But I don't like the bead detail on the rim. I think it's too small and needs to be bigger/wider. The proportions don't look right between the small bead and wide rim. If the bead were twice the size that might be about right.

Good job on both bowls. One more suggestion might be to slightly angle the rim towards the inside instead of being flat. It helps guide the eye inwards.

[Bernie Weishapl]

Good job on both. I think the foot on the first should be a little smaller. I agree with making some grooves or recess would make it stand out. Keep experimenting.