Finding Passions.
I’ve always found it essential to pursue things I feel passionate about. When passion is involved, anything becomes more engaging, enjoyable, and easier to dedicate effort to. Woodworking has been one of my passions since middle school. Whether it was building backyard furniture with my mom or making tennis ball launchers in Science Olympiad, I’ve always loved creating things out of wood. In college, I began crafting higher-quality, more refined pieces, building upon the skills I had already developed.
Turned Bowls.
I discovered my love for turning bowls late in my freshman year of college. It quickly became one of my favorite hobbies. Very few woodworking techniques offer such a free-flowing sense of craft. The best part of turning wood is uncovering the beauty in each unique piece and creating a form that expresses the natural elegance of the material.
Process.
I’ve learned that making a bowl can be as simple, or as complex as you want. Cutting up and making patterns in blanks is where one aspect of complexity can come from. This is where making a bowl can go from taking an hour, to taking a few days. I often find the more complex the bowl, the more rewarding.
I find shaping bowls on the lathe to be very therapeutic. Removing material allows hidden grain structures to guide one to create the final form. It’s almost as if one can listen to the material itself to shape design intent in real-time.