The wooden dough bowl is a true representation of items used in a typical Native American home. In the mountainous region of Northern Mexico, the Tarahumara people have primitive lifestyles and live in humble dwellings. Like many other Tribes, they support themselves economically by selling their beautiful hand crafted jewelry, baskets, pottery and wooden items.

The Tarahumara men are responsible for crafting items from wood, and create exquisite pieces of art using simple and rustic tools. These wooden handcrafts are known for their simple, unpolished beauty, and rustic quality.

You will also find it fascinating how the traditional dough bowls are crafted. The men begin making a wooden dough bowl by finding a large tree trunk and hand cutting it with and axe. The wood is then chiseled into a bowl like shape with a large knife, giving it that unique, rustic style and primitive design. This classic style is the same way that antique dough bowls have been made throughout the mountain region for many years.

As you read about these incredible Indian people, you will find that the wooden dough bowl plays an important role in the Tarahumara family. It is used to make hand-made tortillas, a basic part of the Tarahumara diet. The dough bowl is used to catch the flour at one end of the metate, a stone bowl used to grind corn, as it is ground by hand.

Water is then added to the flour in the bowl and hand-made tortillas are made from the mix. Although still used by the Tarahumara Indians for food and cooking, today you can buy dough bowls for rustic decorating accessories and for collecting as pieces of Indian art.

No matter, how you choose to use a dough bowl, you will find that they are very useful and are wonderful for a number of things. They look great as collectibles, fruit bowls, and when used with other rustic decor. They are also good for art projects when a blank canvas is needed for western style paintings and other Native American style art.

Dough bowls, when painted with cowboy and western scenes, are very unique way to bring the old west to life in your interior design. If you are looking to add a splash of color or main focul point to a southwestern style room, a painted dough bowl is the perfect choice. Many home designers have used them cabins, lodges and ranch homes to enhance western style or log furniture.

It is easy to give genuine Native style to your home, or to give your room an authentic rustic look by decorating with a Native Indian wooden dough bowl. You can easily buy them online and sometimes in rustic decor stores. If you like the timeless culture and American Indian values, love incorporating the beautiful style of a dough bowl into your interior design. To bring Indian style design to your home and produce a look that is truly unique, try adding a genuine native style wooden dough bowl to your home decor.