Silver Maple - St. Vital - 14"

Why this one exists

The last of eight. Four curbside logs became eight bowls, and this one closes the series. Silver maple is terribly fibrous and, honestly, not enjoyable to carve, but if you treat it well the subtlety of its grain repays the fight. Here is a maker's truth: light-coloured bowls struggle to find buyers, however lovely the wood. That is what pushed me to black leather lacing, and it became its own aesthetic. The dark line against pale wood makes the bowl read as if an artist sketched it rather than carved it, one confident stroke around the rim. I started doing it for the market. I kept doing it because I love it.

It stood here

Driving up St. Anne's Road, I spotted ten or fifteen logs stacked at the curb in that universal spot that means the garbage trucks are coming. I pulled in immediately and loaded four of them. Somebody's silver maple, hours from the landfill, became eight bowls instead. The pin marks the curb where I found them.

Every side of it