Spiralling Plywood Bowl

The inspiration and idea

After seeing somebody work with plywood and accentuating the layer lines, I was really impressed and started thinking of my own designs using this technique. One idea that stuck with me was using the layer lines as a way to visually express spacetime and it’s curvature, like a topographic map. With the most striking example of curved spacetime being a black hole curving spacetime towards itself. Orbiting (or flying) around a black hole, can be a little dangerous, especially if you drift too close and pass its event horizon, after which all paths remaining for you lead towards the black hole’s center, and as you’re spiralling inwards you’ll get spaghettified!

The result

With inspiration and idea in hand, I spent a while thinking and sketching until I ended up with what you see below.

I noticed when trying to roll a bearing ball along the groove it doesn’t always stay on track, I need to give the ball enough speed to be able to stay in the groove. I’m glad about this little nuance hinting at orbiting mechanics. Although if the ball is small enough, the slight rise at the edge of the spiral groove can keep it “on track”.

In hindsight, it’s clear the way I arranged the plywood layer lines doesn’t really have a topographic map effect, I needed to align them in another direction for that effect to occur. However, it’s fascinating what you see below when using this orientation of the plywood layers, which I am glad to have stumbled upon.

Interested?

If you like this bowl and would like one for yourself, I’m happy to create it for you! You can purchase it at my etsy store, you may also be interested in something else I sell at my store. If you decide to purchase something from me or share any of my work, thank you. It’s really encouraging and helps me to continue creating. Finally, if you’ve seen something on my site that I don’t sell at my store, I’m happy to make it for you. Just get in contact with me, and I can organise a custom etsy item you can purchase.