I have now been making bowls for over a year now. I have learned a lot of things, both from experience and from other bowl makers. However I have reached a point that I have become comfortable and I think it might be time to take a step in a more advanced direction.
I really enjoy making bowls without first creating a pre-cut blank. So I could easily switch to making that style bowl all the time. However, that would require a lot of tools that I have not yet acquired, though I am trying, to make the bowls as nice as I would like them to be. Plus, that limits the variety of bowls I could be making as well.
Another change I could start doing is to work the outside of my bowls. Currently I either leave them with a natural look or I just sand off the band saw lines and leave them smooth. When my mentor works on a bowl he first starts by hewing the outside of the bowl to give it what he calls ,"A more handmade" look. I have considered doing that or using my spokeshave to give the edges a rounder smoother look to them.
Of course the option of hand carving intricate images and designs is possible too, but that may be a little too much of a step into the more difficult range that what I want to do next.
Well regardless of what I decide to start doing with my bowls, I am sure I will be happy with my final decision and that many hours of experimenting will be needed to decide.
