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I made my first fluted bowl in 1981, inspired by a photo of a Chinese Song Dynasty ceramic fluted bowl. My hope was to create an interesting bowl using relatively uninteresting wood. The results were more successful than I had hoped. Even plain wood has grain pattern which works with the carved flutes to produce new patterns and movement. Since then I have made fluted bowls from many different woods, both plain and highly figured, exploring the interaction of shape, carving, and grain pattern.