Peterman
From Baskets to Bowls
Spencer has been turning wood bowls and boards for about 15 years. He actually started out as a basket weaver making Nantucket baskets. While doing craft shows he became interested in the idea of learning how to turn bowls. He visited a few of the wood bowl companies in Vermont and started practicing on a lathe. Eventually he designed and made his own lathe that would produce a more natural and rugged shaped bowl.
Spencer saw that there were a lot of trees locally that were being chipped up or cut for firewood. He thought he could turn all these discarded logs into something much more useful, and beautiful as well. Almost all the wood they get is from locally fallen trees in Western Massachusetts, such as maple, cherry or black walnut. The maple bowls are figured by the decomposition and aging of the wood, which we call “ambrosia” or “spalted.”
