Redwood Ceremonial Bowl

This piece of wood is probably the most beautiful I have ever worked with. It is Redwood Lace, from the mountains of California. It was harvested from the stumps left behind by logging in the foothills and mountains in the last century. As the stumps are mainly almost impossible to reach because they are on such steep slopes, harvesters are only able to take out chunks small enough to winch up to a road or lower into a canyon. Thus, although the stumps can be huge, the pieces being salvaged are of interest mainly to carvers and wood turners. the Lace refers to the pattern found rarely in the wood. In Canada we have a similar pattern but refer to it as birdseye, when it is found in Maple. The bowl has a band around the rim decorated with 23k gold leaf. The gold leafing was abused to give it the feel of an antique, well-used piece. It was then engraved with a dremel tool and the lettering filled with a mixture of tile grout and acrylic flexible paste. The whole bowl was finished with Salad Bowl Finish. Size is 21 inches in diameter by 4 inches deep.