This bowl is made from some wood I was very excited to get – American chestnut! This tree used to be extremely common in the Eastern United States until the early 20th century when a blight made it nearly extinct. But thanks to the work of The American Chestnut Foundation, researchers have been making progress towards a blight-resistant variant that retains the major properties of an American chestnut. They've made enough progress over the years that American chestnut wood is once again becoming available to woodworkers!

I used my wood-burning pen to decorate the bowl and a torch to burn some accents. I smeared watercolor paint directly from the tube to color the rim. I loved having the chance to work with this iconic American wood.