Part of the answer involves the challenges that come with various kinds of wood, the various tools, and what seemingly are an endless variety of things to use or simply admire. It is also true that as woodturner I never know what is to be found inside a turning. Or is also “outside”? Turning salt and pepper shakers out of 2x4 pine timbers meant revealing awesome grain patterns. Such ordinary wood, easily thrown away, becomes the stuff of art.

Lidded boxes are also a delight to turn. The grain pattern can extend and connect the lid to the bowl. What will they hold? The possibilities are endless.

Turning birch from boards about an inch thick had its own challenges because creating a plate that’s about 1/8th of an inch thick and holding it on the spinning lathe requires great care and forethought. Reaching for my wood burner opens up a world of images to grace these plates.