I made a Large (16" dia. X 10" deep) salad bowl for my sister out of
Mesquete, she loved it and so did everybody else. I made note of the tree
rings (maybe 150+) and during the conversation of how beautiful this bowl
was, it was brought out that I could make some of these and sell at the swap
meet; I just said "people that go to swap meets can't afford things like
this" and left it at that. I also told my sister that this was to be used
and not just looked at. So it will indeed get used and not abused because
she knows now how to care for it.

Mike

"A Lurker" wrote in message
...
Last year this time I started on a slippery slope making some tree
ornaments on the used Jet lathe I picked up on a good deal with some other
equipment. Well now a year later, I'm running out of room on the
breakfront
for bowls so I decided to give some as presents to family and friends. So
these are ~12" bowls from spalted elm finished with shellic or Waterlox
and
then Beall polished. Presented with sprigs of Xmas tree greens, holly and
a
candy cane inside. Smooth as a baby's bottom with some nice spalting
lines.

So now the question .... do I have idiots for friends and family or do
people say things like this to you also?

"Is it microwaveable?"
"Is it dish washer safe?"
"Can I wash it in hot soapy water?"
"Will (various foods) hurt it?"
(all comments by different recipients)

Do I have all practical utilitarian friends and family who don't see any
artistic display value (these were really nice bowl forms with nice finish
...REALLY ) or do you get comments like these also? The only other
bowls
I've given out, were to people who gave me the wood and got some of their
tree back in return. They seemd to view them as a display item.

Jerry