In 1977 David Lory was one of the first two students to take part in a unique apprenticeship type class offered at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville. In this class, David taught himself to make his unusually thin wooden bowls. Since that time David and Suella Lory have been working as a team to produce a lovely and functional wood bowl.
Once David has started turning a bowl on the lathe, he must work through to completion. This could be from one to three hours depending on the size, shape and type of wood. The finished bowl will have a wall thickness averaging 1/8 of an inch.
After the bowl is turned it must be prepared for the finish - a specially formulated epoxy which makes the bowls very durable. The bowls are then baked for five to seven hours at 150 degrees in order to remove most of the moisture and allowing the epoxy to be absorbed into the wood.
Four to seven coats of epoxy are applied with a small, fine brush to minimize drips and runs. Suella hand sands the bowls between the coats to ensure that the final coat will be as smooth as possible. The final coat is hand rubbed through sucessively finer grades of steel wool and finishing with a polish rub with rotten stone powder and 0000 steel wool.
These bowls are easy to care for - just wash in warm soapy water. Though not absolutely necessary it is recommended that only wood or plastic utensils be used.
A great deal of care is put into each bowl to make it a useful, beautiful addition to any home. Truly these are a fine piece of craftsmanship that are destined to become an heirloom.