Spalted Elm Bowl

I make all my bowls from solid wood. There are enough things to worry about without having to contend with glue lines which eventually always fail. Even solid wood will split over time. If you have ever examined glue lines from antique furniture you see that glue failure is common.

We have lots of dead elm in Vermont. It is due to the Dutch Elm Disease which has been here for a long time. Trees get to a certain size and then they just die. The wood has not been favored by woodworkers. When fresh it has an odor that some feel is offensive. When dry this is no longer present. The wood is very hard and makes good firewood but farmers don’t like it because it has interlocking grain which is very difficult to split. Therefore it is yours for the asking. Not so with the maple and ash which split so easily.

Spalting is a decay process caused by a variety of fungi whose spores are everywhere. If we did not have the decay process then every tree, branch and leaf that has ever fallen would still be with us. The trick is to get the spalting in the early stages. The bowl above was a log discarded at the county dump. You can see the black pigment (which is melanin, the same pigment in our skin) in one area of the bowl. Not only does the fungus produce pigment but it also changes the color of the wood in more subtle ways scuh as you see in the lover front outside of this bowl. These color changes I find most interesting and visually appealing. Wood boring larvae have been at work and you can see their holes in the back right part of the rim. This also adds visual interest, in my opinion. So this bowl is nature at work returning the elements of the wood to simpler form. This bowl is 10 X 5 inches and is $160 plus shipping.