These photos and their explanations should help provide an idea of the process I use to carve bowls and spoons.  To me, the process is just as important as the final product.  It allows me to work closely with nature and intuitively with my senses.

I suppose there are a lot of ways to make a wooden bowls.  This is the way I prefer to make them.

Using hand tools is really the only way to achieve the rusults I'm after.  Sculpting a bowl is a gradual process.  The bowl takes shape as I work, not as some preconcieved exact form that can be programmed into a CNC router.  The sensitivity of these edge tools allows me to sculpt forms with gradual and complex curves.  The tools also allow me to respond to the character and nature of each tree. 

Not only are these tools necessary to the way I work, they are efficient, and  a joy to use.  I can remove a lot of material quickly with a heavy swing and a sharp adze.  This same tool can later be used to remove whisper thin chips as I near the final surface.  On just about all of my pieces, I prefer to leave the final surface straight from the final slices of the tools. This "tooled finish" takes care and time, but leaves a surface with character.  People are often surprised at how pleasing it is to touch. 

If you'd like to try some of this out -- and if you'd like to, you should -- there's more on tools and techniques at the Links and Sources page.  You don't need many tools to carve a spoon.

The photos are basically sequential, beginning with bowlcarving then going on to spooncarving.  When you click on an image, an enlarged version with an explanation will appear.

For more about the process and plans for a bowl horse, visit the page A Horse of a Different Sort.

Be safe.  These tools can cut you badly.  Focus, think, don't work when distracted or tired.  Make sure you feel you can work safely before you proceed.