calabash

Osage Orange calabash form with three Wenge pewa. I carved the interior, coated with two layers of India ink, and then painted a ton of tiny dots with Acrylic paint. The idea: Vessels are so common and important in societies across the world, I have a hard time imaging that extraterrestrials...

Two miniature calabashes of different styles. The taller bowl is 15/16" diameter x 3/4" tall. The low calabash is 15/16" diameter x 3/8" tall. Betel nut is an interesting and challenging material to work with. Every nut has different patterns inside. Pretty wild! These have no finish, aside from...

Black Locust end grain calabash that I fumed with 10% ammonia for around 8 hours. Black Locust has a high tannin content, and as such responds well to ammonia fuming. It looks very similar to Wenge, but has a slight yellow cast. This is also a fairly small bowl at 2 5/8"h x 2 7/8"d. I made this...

In between projects that require a lot of embellishment or otherwise off-lathe time, it's really satisfying to turn some bowls. These are a few calabashes that I've turned recently, and they represent some of my favorite native Tennessee hardwoods. Moving clockwise: The upper left is heavily...

This small walnut bowl was inspired by this months AAW Forum challenge to turn a low calabash bowl. I had roughed this one out about a year ago. I instantly thought it would be a great opportunity to play with some more sandblasted black-on-black effects. I was working on this while we were...

The name is a bit of nonsense, but fun. "Fake palm" because to me the texture has the appearance of an endgrain Black Palm bowl. However, the wood is Black Cherry. I created the texture on the exterior with a sharp woodburning tip applied mostly in an upward stabbing motion. I also added a lot...

9.5 x 8.25. Finished with Seal a Cell, Arm-R-Seal, and Ren Wax.

Natural edge walnut calabash on a walnut stand. In Transition measures 10" wide on the long axis, 8" on the short axis and stands 6" high. The average wall thickness is 3/16" and weighs 9 oz. This piece is currently on display display at the MFA Gallery in Annapolis, MD...

This one is part of my personal collection. The wood looks a little like Mahogany, but it is native to Hawaii. The bowl is finished in shellac and bee's wax. 3 1/4 inches in diameter by 2 1/8 inches high. As always, questions, comments and/or critique invited.

Milo is a BEAUTIFUL hardwood native to Hawaii, and very prized. I was lucky to get this and several other fairly substantial pieces on one of my trips there. This bowl is 6 7/8 inches in diameter by 5 1/2 inches high. The finish is nothing more than oil and bees wax, much like a native...