Decorating Old Wooden Bowls

Spent the day with my Sister yesterday, and had a good time.  Watched Super 8 and ate chips. 

 One of the things I like doing is finding old wood bowls and decorating them up.  Unfortunately these are the only ones I have pictures for.  This Brazilian wood bowl was salvaged from a junk shop.  The building was cold and dirty, as was this bowl. It had many layers of blackened finishes.  Once it was stripped and sanded it looked beautiful.  Petunia's were chosen to accent the bowl as the dark areas and reddish hue of the wood complimented each other.  A food safe finish was applied to the bowl and wah-lah! This piece has a new life. 

This pestle and mortar was turned out of pine.  I found it in a vendor market place.  The bowl was quite thick at the bottom and around the edges.  I put mortar back on the lathe, centered it and deepened the bowl, thinned the sides and created a vee on the side.  The pine is full of pitch and didn't turn well. Next, I wood burned a design around the edges.  The final touch was to add a food safe finish and this piece was ready to mash up herbs in the kitchen.

If you have a wood salad bowl set or other wooden bowls, that sit somewhere in the recesses of your kitchen cupboards, think about giving them a new life.  For suggestions, or to have your bowl refinished for you, feel free to contact me.

 

- Take Care -

Finds - Telephone table

I thought it was cold yesterday (-14 F) - This morning it is -21 F. Yikes! I haven't been able to get into the shop in a few days, my heater won't take the chill off with these temps.

One of my favorite things to do is to Recycle wood pieces. Taking an old grungey piece and refinishing, refurbishing or repurposing it is so satisfing. The first piece I did was this telephone table. I pick it up at the Salvation Army for ten bucks. The top was split and the front was warped so badly you could slide your hand into the drawer while it was shut. It took months to get the warp out of the top and sand off the blackened layers of paint, stain and old finishes. The original drawer pull crumbled to pieces as I unscrewed it from the drawer front. It was in bad shape.

I carved an apple blossom fron pine to replace the drawer pull. The top and front were burned with apple blossoms. The rest of the piece was layered with polyurethane. I sold it for $65.