Woodland Bowl

This 'Woodland Bowl' is one of two pieces, where I have engaged in an effort to work with paper mache, as I usually do, but to make the finished object look as if it was carved from wood.

The inspiration for this piece came from the tree mushrooms I gathered at my sister's home in Connecticut many years ago. Tree mushrooms are unusual things: in their living state they feel and smell much like the mushrooms we are all familiar with. But when they dry, they are as hard as any hardwood--and you have to treat the pieces just as wood. The mushroom-like shapes at the base of the bowl, are the actual tree mushrooms (they look like giant Portabellos). I had to configure a way to attach one to another so they would form a stable base for the bowl.

One of the additional challenges of this piece was to use the found objects from my hikes: twigs, branches, pieces of wood and pods and the like. A rather sturdy branch, that had outgrowths that looked like they would beautifully and securely support a bowl shape, forms the stem of the bowl.

The actual bowl is made out of paper, and then the edges were sculpted using paper pulp to make it look as if the piece was carved out of a solid piece of wood. The leaves were made out of paper, the smaller mushrooms out of paper clay.

Unfortunately, I am unable to capture the exact look of the finished piece in the photographs. Without flash, there is a slight green tint to the piece that gives a metallic appearance; with flash, the color turns a much brighter 'chestnut' than the actual object. The actual bowl looks like it was made from walnut, with a dark stain.

I must confess I am quite happy with this piece.