Wednesday
November 6th, 2024


Member since 1999

Bravery Bead Bowls - How To Make


There are some very general guidelines in regards to the construction of a Bravery Bead Bowl.

Various techniques can be used to make Bravery Bead Bowls, including bowl-from-a-board, linear and compound staves, segmented woodturning, and turning from a solid block of wood.

For the most part, we chose to make Bravery Bead Bowls using segmented woodturning technique. Wood is cut into small segments, segments are glued together to form a ring, rings are glued in stacks to form a bowl blank from which the Bravery Bead Bowl is turned. By taking advantage of the colour and grain characteristics of various species of wood, unique and interesting patterns can be generated.

Bravery Bead Bowl segments and rings

A typical segmented Bravery Bead Bowl would contain around 70 pieces of wood, but some with a more elaborate designs could contain many hundreds of pieces. Depending on the complexity, it could take a few hours or a few days to complete an individual piece. Each Bravery Bead Bowl contains a laser-engraved medallion identifying the Bravery Bead Bowl initiative and the guild name of the contributing woodturner.

A detailed description of the Bravery Bead Bowls Initiative at the Grey-Bruce Woodturners Guild is posted in the References section of the Links page on the GBWG website.