I decided to make a yarn bowl as a gift. When planning out the bowl, I wanted the bottom surface of the bowl to have a continuous grain pattern. To do this, the bottom was built out of wedges cut consecutively from a single board, This produced two sets of wedges, the ones facing upwards, and those down wards. Since I ended up with two sets I decided I should make two bowls, one for yarn and a second traditional bowl.
On segmented bowls I find it best to roughly sketch out the design in CAD (Fusion360 this time around) to make sure I glue up enough material to work with. Throughout the process I inevitably make some deviations from the plan, but it’s good to have a starting concept figured out before launching into the project.
I wanted to add some interesting detail to the second bowl, so I laminated strips of maple into the glue up with the main cherry segments. The end effect was a band of “brick” pattern through the middle of the bowl.
On the yarn bowl, the cutout for the yarn was a bit of a challenge. I initially cut the slot with a coping saw, which produced a very rough surface. To clean up and refine the shape I went back with a Dremel tool and some files of varying shape. I finished the slot with several tedious hours of sanding with strips of sandpaper using a tooth flossing technique.
Both bowls have some commonality in general size design and method, with a nice variation in use and details. I’m happy with the set, and the gift was well received.
