Bamboo Yarn Bowl

So your girlfriend likes knitting things and x-mas is coming soon? Making her a beautiful bamboo yarn bowl that keeps the yarn from getting entangled and unrolls the yarn would be a nice option.


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Materials needed

- wooden bowl (I used a bamboo bowl from Ikea)
- Dremel with a wood milling bit
- small wood drill bit that fits into your Dremel
- Sandpaper stripes
- Dremel polishing bit
- Beeswax block
- Two really steady hands!

I used an Ikea Blanda Matt bowl (20 cm diameter) that is made of bamboo. This material is rather hard but really nice to work with. However, it tends a bit to splintering. You can think of your own pattern or use the one I've used. Just take a waterproof pen, put the bowl bottom side up on a table and draw the pattern on the wood.

I used the plastic and wood milling bit of my Dremel to cut out the basic shape. However, you have to grip the Dremel really hard to keep it from going it's own way. Don't try to get too close to your painted lines or you will have to adapt your pattern. The fine tuning comes in the next step.

I used a wood drill bit to fine-cut the remaining material away. You can use it the same way as the milling bit, but it works much slower, thus giving you time to react. Try to get all the material away that lies between your Dremel and the line you've drawn. 

Use the sand paper stripes to smoothen all grooves and round all the edges like shown in the pictures. Since the yarn will be gliding along the cut, you really want it to be smooth.

Since the sanded cut will be brighter than the treated wood, you have to use a polishing bit to get it darker again. I used a bit of beeswax and the polishing bit to polish the big opening. Since the polishing bit is too wide to polish the small openings, I cut a Q-tip (cotton bud) in half and mounted it on the Dremel. Applying a bit of wax you can now easily reach the small openings.

To ensure that the bowl is not shifting on the wooden table, I glued a round piece of rubber to the bottom of the bowl.

If everything works out fine, you'll have now a really nice gift for your girlfriend. I hope you/she enjoys it!