Ort Brothers

[Steve Doerr]

The Ort Brothers—A while back Mike Stafford posted on WOW a couple of ort bowls that he had turned. I liked the shape and thought I would do some research on these bowls. To start with, I thought ort had to do with Native Americans, either the name of a tribe or the shape of the vessel. After many attempts at trying to find the tribe or any relationship to Native Americans, I came across the definition of ort and found that it meant leftover or scrape. With a little more research I found that an ort bowl was placed on a table during mealtime and was used for collecting bones, fat, gristle, or other pieces of the meal that people did not want to eat or leave on their plate. So much for any ties with Native Americans. Now all I need to do is find out what calabash means:-D

The largest turning is spalted oak burl and is 7”W x 8 ½”H. The next sized turning is chestnut (not sure if it is Chinese or Japanese) and is 7”W x 6 ¼”H. The smallest turning is spalted pecan. It came from a tree that was over 200 years ol and is 7”W x 5”H.
342667

[daryl moses]

Very nice pieces. I love the shape of them. Some very nice grain and your finish is great!!

[John K Jordan]

The Ort Brothers—A while back Mike Stafford posted on WOW a couple of ort bowls that he had turned. I liked the shape and thought I would do some research on these bowls. To start with, I thought ort had to do with Native Americans...

Beautiful wood and shapes!

Mike S. told me once he sold all the ort bowls he could make to embroiderer and needlepoint people to keep their little thread scraps while working. (He had to explain too me what an ort bowl is.) Some people evidently turned into ort bowl collectors since they bought more bowls than they could possibly use! Or maybe it's an ort bowl cult in eastern North Carolina.

Ort bowls for the dining table sound like what we see all over Europe, except they are made from metal or ceramic. I believe the bowls Mike makes for the thread ends are usually considerably smaller.

The Kind Sir Stafford sent me one of his ort bowls (from cedar, about 3" in diameter) and one of his excellent boxes. Yikes, does that make me a collector now too?

BTW, Here's an article Mike wrote about his wife Gail, a Master Craftsman in the Embroiderer's Guild of America:
http://www.woodturnersunlimited.com/index.php/eclectic/lifestyle/68-gail-stafford-master-craftsman

JKJ

[Tom Wilson66]

A calabash is a type of gourd, which was used as a bowl. I believe they were used in Hawaii and placed in a lei to keep it from rolling over. I like your ort bowls, by the way.

[Aaron Craven]

A calabash is a type of gourd, which was used as a bowl. I believe they were used in Hawaii and placed in a lei to keep it from rolling over. I like your ort bowls, by the way.

No, no, no... calabash is a totally wonderful way to fry popcorn shrimp. :D

[Steve Doerr]

Thanks for the replies and comments everyone. I guess I'll have to try a calabash bowl one of these days and see how it turns out.