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thanks Mike Mahoney

Charlie Knighton

Charlie Knighton

Joined
Jan 20, 2006
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I recently have started a new turning series, Calabash Zia

at Utah symposium I observed Mike Mahoney do a rotation where he used the word calabash and he turned an oval bottom on a large bowl. I very much liked and enjoyed this. I want everyone to know I borrowed the term and bottom from Mike, thanks.
 
The term Calabash, refers to any shaped container that is similar in shape to the dried Calabash gourd, which have been used for centuries as drinking cup. If you look at a picture you will see that they are round bottomed, and are more narrow at the rim than the base. The term is also used to describe similarly shaped bowl smoking pipes.
 
You don't need to give Mike Mahoney credit although it is nice that his demonstration inspired you to do similar bowls. Odie has been making calabash style bowls for a very long time if you want to check out his photo gallery. I made a southwestern pottery style hollow form with a round footless bottom --I wonder if it could be called a calabash hollow form? 🙄
 
Kelly Dunn out of Hawaii has been selling them for many years. Not sure where the term originated. Perhaps he can tell us.
 
Charlie, The Hawaiians have been doing these forms for a very long time. Way before western contact. As has been stated the form is based on the Calabash gourd. Used for water, food, storage, etc. They liked the form so well that when done in wood they copied the calabash form. It took a maker a very long time to fashion a wood bowl and at one time only royalty could own them. Dan Deluz and Jack straka are a couple of the more well known makers. Dan no longer with us and Jack retired. Pat Kramer has done a vast amount of research into the various forms.There are many styles with specific meanings and usage. The book The Hawaiian Calabash by Jenkins is pretty much considered the bible of the form. Also the form is open to a certain amount of artistic license. Or interpretation. If you google it, besides bowls it should also bring up the actual gourd usage in cultural events like Hula. there is always a chanter who sits on a mat hand slapping a calabash. The form although very simple looking is very hard to pull off. I have done many hundreds to perhaps the low thousands and still consider myself a serious student of the form. But I know of no one who dislikes the form.
 
I got a private email from Charlie saying on Amazon its a very pricy book used. True. New they sold for fifty bucks. On the secondary market if you see one going for 75 to 90 that may be about as low as I have seen them in awhile. If you want one dont chase the price. Wait till one comes within a range you are willing to pay. When a run happens on them they go to about 200 bucks in a hurry. But maybe your library owns a copy?
 
www.Worldcat.org is a free service that let's one search for a book worldwide. Once found, you can request your local library to have it transferred ! Then you can check it out. There is a charge for mailing from the originating library and back.
 
Charlie, Google docs supposedly has the book in PDF for download. I don't have any idea of the price, but it wouldn't hurt to check it out. Here is the link. There are also some copies on eBay. Look at the seller ratings. One of the sellers has a sterling reputation and the other seller just has a reputation.
 
I may try to get The Hawaiian Calabash by Jenkins at the local library. I was able to see images of mostly Hawaiian calabash bowls on the internet. since my series of Calabash Zia conforms with a rounded bottom but differs somewhat in the rest of the form, I may hold out for a free copy of a reprint of the Hawaiian Calabash that includes the Calabash Zia. one problem is that the calabash Zia is still evolving and as yet do not know of the final form. meanwhile I will count my cash and not hold my breath to any of this happens......but who knows what the future holds for any of us. as the calabash Zia says "Rock On".
 
Bowls with a round bottom have been manufactured for centuries in coastal areas o were there was a sandy soil. They where held vertical by pushing them in the sand. Easier to stack than footed bowls and therefore easier to move when necessary for migrations etc.
 
Dwight R Rutherford said:
www.Worldcat.org is a free service that let's one search for a book worldwide. Once found, you can request your local library to have it transferred ! Then you can check it out. There is a charge for mailing from the originating library and back.
Click to expand...

Most definitely keep interlibrary loan in mind when you are interested in a book. I currently have four books I have borrowed that way (two on turning, one on Neo-Hittite Kingdoms, one on the Islamic architecture of Cairo). Even the large flagship state university here in town had none of them. I've been able to borrow books which list for several hundred dollars. In a few cases I've decided that a book was worth buying (though not any of the expensive ones).

I have NOT yet paid ANY fee -- mailing or borrowing fee -- in the course of having borrowed at least 60-70 books. It may depend on your local library and the loaning institution.

Worldcat is a good way to prove to your local library that the book is available, or at least held, in the US. It is worth remembering, however, that NOT finding a book on Worldcat does NOT mean that the book is not available. In several cases I have requested a book which is not listed (or was listed ONLY in a foreign library -- it is WORLDcat), and it has been found. In one case I couldn't believe that no library had a copy, so I checked the online catalogs of a couple major US university libraries and found copies in each one I tried. In that case I was able to tell the local library that copies certainly existed in US libraries. The book arrived in 7-10 days.

In a couple cases, no institution could be found which was willing to lend.

You can also request copies of articles through interlibrary loan at your local library, either as a xerox or electronic copy (e.g., PDF). I've borrowed through interlibrary loan for more than 40 years.
 
Sergio Villa said:
Bowls with a round bottom have been manufactured for centuries in coastal areas o were there was a sandy soil. They where held vertical by pushing them in the sand. Easier to stack than footed bowls and therefore easier to move when necessary for migrations etc.
Click to expand...

Footed bowls a relatively new invention for pottery and wood.

Most round bottom bowls and hollow forms are surprisingly stable.

Native American cultures also had round bottoms on their pottery. Some large vessels had pointy bottoms and were stuck in the sand in use.

Al
 
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hockenbery said:
Footed bowls a relatively new invention for pottery and wood.
Most round bottom bowls and hollow forms are surprisingly stable.
Native American cultures also had round bottoms on their pottery. Some large vessels had pointy bottoms and were stuck in the sand in use.
Al
Click to expand...

Feet on bowls and other vessel forms have an extremely long history in the Near East. I have worked with pottery back to around 5500-5000 BC. Flat bottoms appear with the first pottery. More elaborate feet -- such as ring bases -- appear not much later, and pedestals are common on finer pottery by 4000 BC. Rounded bottoms are relatively rare thoughout the history of Near Eastern pottery. One of the few forms with a round bottom that comes to mind are drinking cups (for wine or beer) from the middle of the first millennium BC.

Pointed bases were typical of the transport amphoras of the first millennium BC -- characteristic of the cargo of shipwrecks of that period. I have worked for years with large Hittite jars with pointed bases (1600-1200 BC). Nipple-base goblets appear around 800 BC, but only briefly. Pointed bases had very limited applications in the ancient Near East.
 
R Henrickson said:
Feet on bowls and other vessel forms have an extremely long history in the Near East. I have worked with pottery back to around 5500-5000 BC. Flat bottoms appear with the first pottery. More elaborate feet -- such as ring bases -- appear not much later, and pedestals are common on finer pottery by 4000 BC. Rounded bottoms are relatively rare thoughout the history of Near Eastern pottery. One of the few forms with a round bottom that comes to mind are drinking cups (for wine or beer) from the middle of the first millennium BC. Pointed bases were typical of the transport amphoras of the first millennium BC -- characteristic of the cargo of shipwrecks of that period. I have worked for years with large Hittite jars with pointed bases (1600-1200 BC). Nipple-base goblets appear around 800 BC, but only briefly. Pointed bases had very limited applications in the ancient Near East.
Click to expand...


I was thinking more of footless when I said round bottoms. Flat is of course a common footless bottom too.
 
All bowls I've seen from old Roman, Greek and Egyptian era are footed and often with a long foot acting as a handle. The amphora had a long nipple at their bottom to hold them on ships, on sand and to empty them: two people, one holding the left handle and the pointed base and the other man doing a symmetrical job with the right handle and the pointed base. A very astute way to hold and handle a rather heavy weight.
 
My personal exposure to ancient Hawaiian wood pieces is limited to one major collection. I knew a descendant of King Kamehameha. His grandmother had been the last queen of Kauai and he owned her wood collection. He only let me go through it one time. He was thinking he wanted some of the older pieces that the repairs were failing re repaired. I told him no way would I touch them. Depending on the size of the piece all the bowls had enough heft left in the bottoms to sit up with no problem. Post western contact was easy as the tool marks were seen. Pre contact pieces were a marvel. He refused to display any of the work saying he for sure would be robbed. Since I have never seen a pre contact piece for sale I have no clue as to what it could go for. The collection was mostly bowls but also carved figures and figures on bowls. Largest bowl maybe 24 inches across with plenty of repairs. Who knows what will happen to these pieces. I think they are in a warehouse in Seattle. My friend passed away some years back. His ashes rest in a covered Kou calabash with my name on the bottom. Kou was reserved for Hawaiian Royalty. A fitting resting place for him.
 
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