#hotoffthelathe tonight is a turned and carved cedar bowl at 6.25" wide x 2.5" tall. Wife gave me a Master Carver Pro for Christmas which I used to carve out the 1" high band of dimples along the outer rim. This piece is from an outer section of log that grew into itself, leaving the bark inclusion in the bottom right and swirled grain like a burl.
@KarenSohne Thanks for the kind words!
The first pic is the intact cookie The lighter ring of sapwood surrounds the darker heartwood.
Close-up photo shows where the sapwood juts inward, revealing contours of a much younger tree. As it grew, bark was included at the center of those.
Small inclusions are OK but large ones can cause the wood to fly apart when turning and are dangerous. Any of the wood at the edge or where sapwood intrudes must be worked with caution.