Mulberry Signature Bowl by Jim Gale

Jim Gale

As a botanist and now a wood turner, I delight in revealing the hidden beauty of trees, both inside and out. Each piece of the tree is first mounted on a Jet 1620 lathe. I then use my favorite gouge to slowly peel off each surprise story, layer-by-layer. Shavings of wooden ribbons, very wide or angel-thin threads, fly across my studio. I continue to stand in awe of the continued beauty of trees in each new form. I avoid cutting live trees. Each piece has been pruned or recycled from dead or down trees intended for other uses and shares the tree’s message of the resilienceof life. Mulberry Signature Bowl This bowl records about 65 knots, one for each new tree branch. Empty spaces indicate where branches were never surrounded by more growth before they were pruned. Locating solid wood without spaces is a turning challenge, to avoid it flying off and hitting the artist at 30 mph.