Halloween Bowl

For a birthday

I know Halloween is over now, and everyone has already moved on to Thanksgiving and Christmas, but I made this bowl as a gift, so I couldn't post it until now!

My Aunt's birthday is on Halloween, so I thought I could make a bowl that would work on both levels (a birthday gift, and Halloween décor). I conveniently had black stain and orange dye, which seemed quite Halloween-y. Ok, let's make a bowl!

I glued up a sandwich of Maple and White Oak. I chose Maple because it would work well for both the black stain and the orange dye I was planning to use. I'm not a fan of staining darker woods, and I didn't think the orange dye would have the vibrancy I wanted if I used a darker wood. I was hoping the White Oak would add a bit of interest without being distracting.

The picture above shows the progress after turning the blank round, flattening the bottom (the right side of the picture), and putting a mortice (recess) in the bottom. I then turned and finished the rest of the outside of the bowl, which you can see below.

I used a black gel stain, which always goes on nicely and looks great, but getting it to either dry or seal is always a real pain. I'm open to suggestions if you have any!

Those of you with a keen eye might have noticed I used a faceplate on this bowl in place of my typical wood worm screw. I did that because I accidentally drilled my hole for the screw the wrong size!

After turning, sanding, dying, and finishing the inside, here's what I ended up with: