Simple Vessel The Japanese call it wabi sabi. Wabi meaning solitary or less is more and sabi mean beautiful in age and patina. Japan has always been a nation using natural materials of bamboo, wood and of course paper. In this piece my purpose was to create a Zen kind of bowl reminiscent of those used in the tea ceremony, but larger. It is constructed of many layers of hand-made paper. Wrinkling the top layers gives it the uneven texture similar to raku. It is painted in white acrylic, then black and rubbed off. Is the black too bold? I’m considering using white on the rim and rubbing off to give an opposite effect. What do you think? It is very lightweight and virtually unbreakable. This makes it easy to pack and inexpensive to ship as a gift.