In some trees, such as oak or maple, spalting is rarely black-line often resulting in vague, amorphous, blotchy black or dark-gray areas. On rare occasions, spalting may cause colorful changes other than black. ​​

When nature gifts Bob with an interesting piece of wood that nature has spalted, it makes a rare and particulary beautiful yarn bowl. He usually sets these specimens aside for up to a year to encourage more spalting. Then, when his wood supply is depleted and with no fresh wood on the horizon, Bob will turn 2-4 highly spalted  bowls at one time. Once these uncommon yarn bowls are finished, the spalting process stops, embedding artful designs into the wood.

​On rare occasions Bob finds some fresh “green” hardwood (Cherry, Pecan and Maple to name a few) from a fallen tree or local tree trimmer. And, although turning green wood bowls on a lathe is easier because it’s in a soft state, the necessary drying process that ensues is risky!
 
After a fresh wood yarn bowl is turned, it is set aside to dry. Depending on the current weather conditions (like relative humidity, barometric pressure and temperature to name a few) the drying process takes one to three months. As the hardwood dries, it has a tendency to warp and crack. Warping usually adds nice character to the yarn bowls; however, Bob feels that cracking; which is easily repaired in the finishing process, is an undesirable feature in some of his collectible art bowls. As his partner, I try to respect those high standards while at the same time viewing the cracks that ensue as the final word from nature!
 
Too often, I’ve watched Bob throw a beautiful yarn bowl into the recycling bin and felt that his lack of control over a few small cracks deprived a fellow yarn crafter of a unique and naturally beautiful piece. After some whining on my part, Finally, Bob acquiesced and started finishing these natural wonders when the occasion arises. Now, I’m able to offer a distinctive piece at deeply discounted price.
 
There’s a lot of value in our “Perfectly Imperfect” Yarn Bowls. Each one takes ten to twenty hours (at the least) to make –the same amount of time it takes to create a first quality bowl. For those who may not be able to invest in our first quality yarn bowls, I consider these pieces to be a special offering from Heckathorn Turned Wood as they are all authentic gifts of nature!

One of the hottest sellers at our new Etsy shop has been my Segmented Pine Yarn Bowls. With demand for these bowls in mind, I created the new shooting star groove design as an alternative to the standard (J) hook design. It just seemed more artistically harmonious and gives easy control of the yarn, while the stars points allow the yarn to be pulled in different directions in a controlled manner.

I use no stains or dyes, sanding each piece to a fine finish so your yarn won’t snag. Choose from small, medium or large with one-of-a-kind variations in wood grain and star groove placement. Each piece is signed and numbered.