Every wooden bowl starts with a tree. Corin works primarily with western maple which grows around Nanaimo where he lives. Most of the trees he uses are removed from urban areas due to disease, age, hazard or development. The logs are cut into slabs, rounds are cut from the slabs, rough turned and cored. Coring uses a special tool to cut one or more bowls from within another. After the drying process, the rough bowls are turned to their final form and finished.

“I like process – the small details that make my work flow, whether it’s eliminating a step, making a better tool or mastering a technique. To me that’s the craft, and when it flows, when technique, tools and body come together time slips away. The shavings stream off the gouge as it arcs through the blur of spinning wood. The movement is smooth, poised, in balance, hands light on the gouge, eyes on the curve as it bends off the tool, revealing the bowl’s form.

If you consider purchasing a bowl, know that to me, they are about more than the object. They are about fostering community, treading more lightly on the planet, creating a more sustainable economy, preserving hand skills and making things that last. In doing something I enjoy, in a small way, I hope to bring joy to you. – “Corin Flood