Thank you guys this was something I learnt from radio controlled cars(if you can work out the connection
) when painting some of the effects on the cars.
A basic run through of how it is done.
The rim is sanded to 600grit and then a sander sealer is applied this helps stop bleeding of the stain, blue stain is applied to this. Once every thing is dry I took an eye dropper and dropped spots of water of different sizes and in a random pattern.
I used car automotive paint in the rattle cans one white and the other black.
Starting with the white and at a very low angle just slightly above horizontal I sprayed a very fine mist over the whole rim, changing to the black and rotating the bowl 180deg and repeat the same process as the white.
DO NOT tilt the bowl at any stage and also don't get too close when spraying the black and white paint otherwise the bubbles will move.
This now need to be left until the water has dried fully and another DO NOT touch anything as you still can smear the paint even though it is dry. Give it two or three light coats of varnish again from a spray can I found Acrylic gloss spray was great, this has now sealed every thing in.
Return the blank to clean up the outer edge from any over spray and turn the inner bowl.
Like Les, my first thought was you'd indented the timber, cut back to the depth of the indents and then steamed the bumps out, but it's a paint effect.
Very clever, you fooled me in the first two pictures.
I have tried that method but not with very good results. I found that you need wood that has a even grain pattern and a punch that you can control the depth with especially if you want a lot of even sized bumps
