Calm Carving | Making A Chawan (Asian Tea Ceremony Bowl) From A Black Walnut Log Using Hand Tools

Hello everyone, I am back again with an exciting Calm Carving project. Here, I make a 'Chawan' - an asian tea bowl that is used during matcha tea ceremonies. I had the rare opportunity to research tea ware during tea ceremonies whilst visiting Japan. I was mesmerised by the sense of ritual and also how each item was celebrated and given time to be held and admired. The tea ware and bowls that I was able to hold were beautifully sculptural and so very gestural and also full of texture and art. So for this carve, I thought it fitting to document my first, initial take on a tea bowl. I wanted to paint with the axe and knife and really take my time to reveal this piece from the last larger diameter log in my wood pile. From the first split, the wood was tough - a lot dryer than what I have been used to. The 5 weeks in Japan really was enough time for this wood to dry and solidify a lot! Still, I persevered and managed to saw and split a billet to clamp in my cup horse. I set out to first work out a hollow of this nature... Steep walls are hard to hollow, especially when they transition into the base sharply. I first used my adze to create a rough hollow and remove mass, I then found my depth with the twca cam and then blended this into the side walls. To create the harsh transition, I used a custom loop knife made by my friend Miguel at Belzeboo Crafts. He's awesome and I have had the pleasure of working with him on some fun loop knife shapes over the past year or two. The hollow was draining and took a long time to get right! It may be hard to portray this on the video, but the hollow alone, took me about 5 hours to develop and sculpt. That was day 1 Day two saw me refine the hollow in a better light, then I axed the outside. Similarly to the hollow, I am was not familiar with this shape. I applied the same order of making as I usually give to my cups, and this seemed to take a long time, but worked out well and provided some sort of familiar method, despite working with a rather alien shape. The more I split out and axed away the larger pieces of wood, the more intuitive it all became. I had a loose idea to leave behind some axe marks on the outer surface so I sharpened my axe, listened to the rain and began to just create paint brush strokes and art with my axe, leaving a lovely rhythmic texture behind that documented the journey of this wonderful hand tool. Before making the finishing axe cuts, I peeled away the bark to reveal the natural, wavy cambium bark layer that danced along the lip of the cup and it was here that I could really see this form coming alive! I axed away until the light faded which concluded day two. On. the third and final day, I worked with my caring knife, I sculpted the crude, axed blank and refined the shape. I began with the foot, creative a nice, stable and neat base for the cup to sit proudly. I then blended this to the side walls, creating a ridge before bringing the top lip of the vessel down to meet the harsher axe marks. I got here a first glance of the juxtaposition of the knife facets, meeting the ones caused by the axe. It was like standing between where the sea meets the shore. I loved it. Two different hand tools, two different sounds, body movements, feelings, gestures. I kept refining until I felt like it had soul. I then took my detail carving knife and chamfered the inner top lip so that it is more comfortable for people to use and then I finally made some last minute touches before calling this piece finished. Three days is a long time to spend on one piece, but it is in these moments that I can really grasp a sense of learning and developing as a maker. I am a production carver, I make to sell so it may seem strange taking a lot of time off to play with a shape, but without allowing these times to develop concepts and push the limits of my capabilities, I will not be able to flourish as a maker and develop and grow. I am very happy with this outcome and I am already busting with new energy and ideas for new works. One thing that I particularly like is the sharp ridge between the base and the axe marks. As I say in this video, it feels as if I am holding the feeling of the axe. Thank you all so much for watching and for your support and encouragement - it really means a lot to me! Please let me know in the comments sections what you think and if you have any questions. Bye for now, Samuel x Tools used in order of appearance: Axe: Thorn Wood Forge - Merlin Axe Adze: Josh Burrell - Radii Adze Twca Cam: Nic Westermann 50mm Double Edge Loop Knife: Belzeboo Crafts - Custom Knife: Hewn and Hone - Turning Slojd Detail Knife: Dave Cockcroft - Detail Knife Chapters: 00:00 Intro 03:23 Split and Prep 05:25 Hollow 08:05 End Of Day 1 09:29 Day 2 10:37 The Axe Work 13:20 End Of Day 2 14:29 Day 3 The Knife Work 19:08 The Finished Piece 19:43 Project Debrief and Thank YOU!