Collection: Charred

In 2019 and 2020, I created a series of eight 3-legged bowls and vessels. The wood for these pieces came from a silver maple tree in Charlton, NY. The tree was taken down by a homeowner and I acquired a few pieces of the trunk. 

At the time, I had been doing a lot of experimenting with shou sugi ban, the Japanese technique of making wood (traditionally, cedar) fire and insect resistant with a treatment of fire. I decided to try this on sculptural vessels, and this collection is the result.

The treatment causes a lot of warping and cracking when done on wet wood. I embraced this and even tried to force it and accentuate it. The cracks are stable at this point and will not grow. These are finished with several applications of tung oil.