From Burr to bowl - Holly

From Burr to bowl - Holly

 A while ago I found this small but very dense growth on the side of a fallen Holly tree, hanging over the stream it was just crying out to become a bowl;

 After just a few days drying time the surface had taken on this stunning and very unusual green patina, there was a small band of rotten wood that had to be removed but the burr itself looked very strong so, on with the turning!

Mounted on the chuck and ready to go, the burr was very unbalanced and the weight can cause massive vibration so a very large 'roughing' gouge is used to round it off.

Once it's near round I can start to get a better idea of the shape and grain I have to work with. When I stopped the lathe I was very happy to find these signs of disease standing out from the white grain. The actual fibres are structurally sound, they have just gone through a colour change. 

I usually try and keep the shape as close to the natural shape as possible, ie: once it's rounded off I try not to remove anymore than is necessary, in this case I left a large flat on one side, not the normal thing to do but it can have some interesting results and removing it would also have lost a lot of the striking grain. 

And finally the inside of the bowl is hollowed out to a shape that should blend in with the outside, this is always the hardest part and because of the bark and knotty inclusions I decided to keep it quite chunky - rather than risk breaking the bowl.

 Completed bowl, oiled and ready for use;