Description
Faux Pottery Bowl is Manzanita wood that captures the organic feel of Native American clay pottery. The size is 8 diameter by 4 inches deep with a walnut oil finish. The wood color is natural as are the voids and crevices that form in the root ball.
Process
These burl root balls contain rocks and sand which makes the processing a difficult and time consuming task. It is a battle to make the form and to keep the tools sharp. Each piece has special challenges and I commit to not working with this wood again. This changes when the piece is complete and I see the beautiful wood. I will continue to make new items with this wood.
Each burl has its own unique character. In the raw form it is very ugly and it is difficult to imagine something can come from this material. My theory is that the uglier the wood the better looking the final piece.
Manzanita
I buy manzanita from a California logger who has a license to harvest Manzanita after wildfires destroy the trees. There is a limited supply of this material. It is both expensive and highly sought after by wood artists.
The Faux Pottery Bowl shown here features the many challenges in working with Manzanita. There are bark inclusions and voids that break off can become projectiles from a fast spinning lathe. Here is another example of a beautiful Manzanita piece Sedona Sunset.
Gift Ideas
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Studio
I design and produce all of my work in Montvale, New Jersey, USA. Every piece is made with love to provide years of enjoyment in my Montvale, New Jersey, USA studio. My primary tool is the wood lathe. I refine each piece at the studio bench with secondary operations.