This is an Aromatic Cedar live edge ceremony bowl, 10-1/2 inches across, over 4 inches high, and finished with food grade Tung Oil. Weighs in at one pound five ounces.

The two through cracks are from the bark being squeezed by competing branches. It was a bit of a trick keeping him from flying apart while turning him. The history of his growth which is not visible is well worth it, and there is a bit of glue judiciously applied to keep him sturdy for you.

I have been making quite a few ceremonial bowls. The craftsmanship differs from normal woodworking in several ways. A relationship with the actual piece of wood is part of its identity; no purchased or commercial woods are considered. Each piece is found and kept until it ‘calls’ to be shaped into its final form. Each is attended to during a specific season and often the specific moon phase appropriate for the species, part of the tree, and source of the wood. Unlike my other creations which, as sculptures, carry names, a ceremonial bowl is to be named by the possessor who becomes its guardian. One part of its journey is with myself the craftsman, and an equally important part of its journey is with you, the caretaker.

Ceremonial bowls will have cracks, holes, and other characteristics that I normally cull from my sculptural bowls. I even allow carving and machining marks, as you can see in some of the pictures: they provide a history of the wood’s path, and there is no need to 'sterilize' the design. Things to be used in ceremony are properly gifts; you are not purchasing the bowl (it is a gift), you are purchasing my time and care in preparing it for you.