The fine art bowls featured on this page were created using a wood lathe, hand carving tools and various power carving bits on a flex shaft. Oh . . . and lots of sandpaper. Most of the work is done off the lathe and one piece may take one hundred hours or more to complete. Here are the steps I go through. I start with a square block of wood that is cut into a circle using a band saw. The wood cylinder is secured to the lathe by a waste block of wood which is glued to the art piece using cyanoacrylate glue (super glue). A face plate is attached to the waste block using screws, then the face plate is attached to the wood lathe sideways so the open part of the bowl will be facing the back of the lathe. The wood is "turned" starting at a low speed and using very sharp scrapers until the piece is running true. The speed is turned up and the bowl is shaped with gouges and scrapers at around 1000 rpm. Basically I'm working on a blur. The shaping of the bowl only takes a few hours and when I get it the way I want it, I use coarse grit sandpaper (100 grit) at a very low speed and work my way up through the finer grits, 220, 320, 400 and 600 to achieve a mirror like surface to the wood. I can also apply oil or wax while the piece is still on the lathe. If I will be carving the piece I don't worry about the sanding until later. The hand carving is very tedious work and sometimes it helps to have the initial design created on the computer, then printed out and penciled onto the bowl. Too add the glass work, I draw out the pattern on paper and then cut each piece of glass individually and grind it into shape to fit perfectly. The glass is copper-foiled around the edges and attached to the wood with loops of leaded copper foil secured to drilled holes on the edge of the bowl and soldered together. If you'd like more information about woodturning, you kind find it here The American Association of Woodturning Special thanks to Frank E. Cummings III, My teacher and friend who has inspired me to produce some of the best work of my life.