Cassiar Jade Bowl Progression--Fairfield Workshop '08

These are some pictures of my Cassiar jade bowl progressing from a thick slab at the Jade Festival, to almost done. Most of the pictures were taken by my teacher, Deborah Wilson. I was a little busy…..

The slab of Cassiar Jade is to the left of the corner of the table.

Using a 10-inch water-cooled saw to remove the excess.

After the first grinding, the spiral is marked in white. It would be days before I actually got to carve it.

Using the big wheel to grind the outside and getting soaked despite the waterproof apron.

Grinding these marks off was more work than I thought it would be, but made a huge difference in the overall shape.

Showing hints of translucence even before it's hollowed out.

Deborah marked the area I should start hollowing. I was surprised at how thick the walls were at this stage.

I was supposed to grind in with the skinny wheel and pop pieces out, but it was taking forever.

Using a larger bit on the die grinder was a lot faster.

Interior is mostly hollowed, thanks to the big bit.

At last, I get to carve the spiral! That micro-motor was really nice.

Working the outside with silicon carbide on an expandable drum.

Finally! Ready to stick!

The rough stick Deborah gave me smoothed the inside pretty quickly.

At the end of the 6 days of the workshop.

The more I stick this, the thinner and more translucent it gets.

May 10th, 2009 | Tags: Jade Bowl | Category: Design, Progressions, Workshop

6 comments to Cassiar Jade Bowl Progression–Fairfield Workshop ’08

• Hans van der Pluijm

  May 18, 2011 at 6:04 pm

  Hi Chris,
  Awesome to see the whole process, incredibly beautiful elegant bowl!
  Cheers, Hans

• Mark Mendoza

  November 15, 2009 at 5:21 pm

  Hi Chris.

  Awesome bowl! Excellent jade selection, design and polish. Looks like your on the way to the top!

  Thank you for posting the link on the Jade Society.

  Best Regards!

  Mark

• Kip Nixon

  June 4, 2009 at 5:47 am

  Chris, You did an absolute beautiful job creating your bowl. The piece is absolutely stunning. It was hard to imagine that something so artistic and creative could have come out of a slab of jade. 5 stars for you kiddo!!!! Kip

• Teddy

  May 31, 2009 at 12:07 pm

  Chris, Thanks for sending the link. It is a beautiful piece of work (even more in real life)! You do good work. Teddy

• Karen

  May 14, 2009 at 9:26 am

  Chris,

  Congratulations on your beautiful, bouncing Jade Baby!

  Love, Karen

• Maggie

  May 11, 2009 at 1:46 am

  What a gorgeous piece. I love that bowl! Thanks for sharing, Chris. maggie