Wood Wabi-Sabi Trending Home Decor 2018

Weeping Bottlebrush bowl, enhanced by “Kintsugi”

Weeping Bottlebrush Log.

​A few months ago a neighbor offered me wood from a Bottlebrush tree felled in his yard. I took a small log because the grain was interesting and I had never turned Weeping Bottlebrush (Callistemon viminalis).

​When I prepared (two) bowl blanks from the log I discovered the wood was in advanced stages of decay and decided to persevere because decay often produces interesting spalted patterns. This was the perfect specimen to practice the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi; embracing the flaws as a natural event, while giving wood further life by enhancing weak spots with inlay, similar to “Kintsugi” The Japanese Art of Repair.

​One blank I had to discard because it was too soft to safely turn. The other I mounted up and took a chance that it wouldn’t disintegrate. What emerged was a fascinating bowl with a blend of decay interspersed with sound wood. In some spots it was very spongy with colorful decay. Other spots completely rotted through; indicating hours of work to come.

Rough turned and stabilized.

Filled with inlay, rough sanded.

I stabilized the piece with wood hardener, which petrified the decay, making it stable enough to work through the sanding and finishing stages. The blue inlay is where the wood was rotted through; the golden tones are various stages of decay while the rust areas are sound wood, unaffected by decay bacteria.

After twenty sanding and finishing cycles, I was rewarded with a finish like glass, interesting spalting and grains enhanced by pools and veins of our proprietary inlay. This bowl was so much fun to work with, I'm saving it to my personal collection as inspiration for future wood Wabi-Sabi.
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