Showing Off, Ludlow 14th June 2015

My new work will be on show at Ludlow Brewery along with others from both the Shropshire and Worcestershire Guilds.

I have built a new stand to display the bowls. The extra height from the plinths allows more space to show each bowl to better effect.

Pearwood from a local very mature tree showing lovely colour, 26cmx12cm.

Carved poplar, 43cmx17cm.

Painted poplar, 42cmx12cm.

Painted poplar 47cmx16cm.

Painted poplar, 51cmx18cm

RHS Spring Show 2015

My new work will be on display at the RHS Spring Show, Malvern from Thursday 7th May until Sunday 10th May. Come along for a feast of flowers and craft at the Three Counties Showground.

large poplar bowl in ultramarine

butter spreaders in natural damson

breakfast bowls in alder with hazel spoons

Showing Off in Ludlow 26th and 27th April

Lots of new work will be on show this weekend in Ludlow at the Showing Off exhibition.

New Spoon Racks

New spoon racks for 3, 4, or 5 spoons will be launched at the Made in Shropshire fair next Saturday in the square Shrewsbury. I'll also be demonstrating spoon carving throughout the day.

A few recent spoons

Some new scoops and caddy spoons which will be available at the next Made in Shropshire craft fair on Saturday 13th July 2013. All made from very local woods using only simple hand tools. You are very welcome to come and see spoons being made at the fair every second Saturday of the month in The Market Square Shrewsbury. I will be at a family wedding on 10th August so will miss that one but all the rest up to Christmas are already booked.

A Stirring of Spoons.

I've just had to decide which single spoon to choose from this pile for the first International Secret Spoon Swap.

The names have been randomly drawn and I now know who to send it to. It is all ready packed to go as soon as the post office opens again after the bank holiday. It is a secret so we will have to wait until the person receiving the spoon shows it on facebook. No idea who is sending me one so will just have to wait. It could be anyone from a pro carver to a first timer so it may be expertly finished or bathed in blood! Either way a lot of effort and care will have gone into the making of it so a special spoon is guaranteed.
The title 'a stirring of spoons' is my contribution to the ongoing debate about what should be the collective noun for spoons.

A few new spoons. Some individual photos on the gallery page.

Genuine antique stool?

My first school woodwork project was this 16 joint stool with a seagrass top. This was in 1962 which makes it a genuine antique at 50 years old!

 Amazingly, the underside still shows the original red and green of the seagrass.

Coloured Wood

No, I haven't had the paint out recently! These are natural colours created by time. This bent branch spoon is damson from a branch I found which had been cut off last year. The wood was fairly dry and hard as hell to work. The pink is a layer just under the bark so I left it on to show the natural curve of the bowl rim.

This next one is in Hawthorn which is carved green and left for the sap to stain the surface to a lovely golden brown.

Spalting works well with some woods and this Aspen scoup shows very marked colouring after being left in the log for 9 months.

We had a 60 foot Silver Birch blow over in the early summer. The base was rotten and had sent a brown streak up the trunk a short way. There was only enough of this colour that was sound enough to make a few spoons. Easily confused with Walnut at first glance!

Nearly all my work this year has been with 'firewood'. I keep interesting bits to one side for carving. Last week the carving pile was bigger than the firewood pile! Think I need to be more selective otherwise we'll be relying on heat generated by carving and not burning. That's OK for keeping warm but won't get the dinner cooked! There is a lot of spalted Birch which has reached its peak so I am roughing out as many bowls as I can.

Still Buzzing!

A few weeks have now passed since Spoonfest and I'm still buzzing with ideas inspired by the great people I met there. A few new spoons have been added to the gallery page, with lots more developing but not enough hours in the day and too many other pressing projects getting in the way. Cycle trips to the States and Sweden are formulating in my mind, purely for research of course, no hint of a holiday at all! Need to set about selling more spoons and bowls to pay for them.
Had a little play with colouring and now most of the stock of pixie spoons are sporting a new look.

Had Fred Livesay from Minnesota come and stay for a few days after Spoonfest, and he explored some of the wood that has been lying around for a few months/years. I was surprised to see how much it had changed from when used fresh, and that a lot was still split free and workable. Some of the 'dry' firewood has been converted to spoons already with lots more being kept to one side just in case I get more time to experiment.

Spoonfest

I was there, and I've got the t shirt!
This had to be the best value festival ever. For the same price you would pay on a local campsite there was everything a spoon carving enthusiast could possibly want:- free wood, chopping blocks, inspirational teachers from around the world, food, local beer (after tools down of course), and the friendly company of nearly 200 other spooners. The atmosphere was great and inclusive so even people coming on their own felt involved. Skill sharing was rife and everyone from complete beginners to seasoned pro's had a fantastic time and the friendly atmosphere was infectious.
It's a big step from having a mad idea to actually pulling it off so a big thank you to Robin and barn for doing it and all the volunteers and people of Edale who helped to make it happen.
I arrived on Thursday to help get the party started and make sure the beer was well tested but also to attend the first workshop with Jogge Sundqvist  on the Friday morning. He was booked to do the opening lecture in the evening but added two workshops as well.

Sorry about the exposure, I wasn't paying attention and the camera was on the wrong setting!
Jogge's lecture was outstanding and worth the visit in its own right.

His spoons show particular attention to detail with a lovely finish. I dug deep into my pocket and bought the green and black one above to constantly inspire me! I also bought one of Jarrod StoneDahl's spoons which is a beautiful shape and a typical example of his work.

Fortunately, some of my spoons sold in the spoon shop (below) so I managed to make a small 'profit' over my purchases.

The workshops were very popular and quickly filled up. The demand was so great on the first day that extra ones were put on. This helped by doubling the places available but meant that the tutors missed out on ones that they would have liked to participate in as they were too busy teaching. Fritiof said that he was so tired in the last session that he ran out of English words!
After tea on Saturday night there was campfire singing into the early hours well away from the campsite.

Sunday morning saw another set of workshops organised ........

.... but people were better organised for queueing than before ....

..... with impromptu entertainment.

The last hour or so on Sunday saw a special collaborative event which was enjoyed by everyone. Sean Hellman took photos so I won't say anymore as I expect they will appear on another blog soon.

If you didn't attend this event make sure you look out for the next one and register as soon as possible.

Thanks again to all involved for a memorable event.

Pixie Spoons

Most people would know these as Gypsy spoons. When my 4 year old grandson was helping me get the shelter ready for the last spoon carving course he found a pointed stick and asked what it was for. It was left over from making some Gypsy flowers so I made him one. He gave it to his mum and said it was a pixie flower. I don't know if he miss-heard me or liked the name better but the name stuck and the spoons have bowls shaped like a pixie ear!

They are made quickly using Aspen which is a fairly soft wood and left as cut without any fine finishing. This gives a different aesthetic to the finer hard wood style used in Scandinavian carving yet still makes a practical spoon.

The right hand one was made without using an axe. I'm trying to reduce weight when traveling by bike so used a survival knife and lump of wood to cut across the grain for the shoulder, then split from the end of the handle. Worked well but needs working on the technique as you need three hands!

Spoons, spoons, spoons

Weekend of spooning went well with some new ideas developing. Great to see barn again and watch the master at work!

It is always amazing how much variety can be achieved with what is locally available. All of the wood used came from within 20 yards of the shelter and would have been used for firewood if not made into spoons. We used birch, sycamore, hawthorn and aspen with a range of abilities from beginner to advanced. It's lovely to see someone with their first ever spoon!

Bent Branch Spoons

Three very different spoons all making use of the natural bend where a branch joins the main stem. They are all finished with cold-pressed raw linseed oil which seems to dry quicker than walnut oil.

The first one is in Hawthorn. This was made using very fresh wood, then left for the sap to stain it before drying and oiling. Length 18cm with a round  bowl suitable for soup or as a small serving spoon.





The second is made from Sycamore growing wild in an old cemetery. 17.5cm long.

And this ladle in Aspen is from a very bent branch. The grain follows the handle and bowl giving it greater strength. It is 39cm long with a large bowl.

I find these bent branch spoons a pleasant diversion. When the wood crops up I just have to try it to see if a spoon develops. Sometimes they don't work but when they do, often turn out quite differently to how you first imagine they will look. This week I'm supposed to be making bowls, which I am, but was distracted by another bent branch so had to stop and try it out. Think it's going to be a pickle or olive spoon for a deep jar! Anyway, it's good to give the muscles a rest from bowl carving.

Aspen Serving Spoons

I'm becoming a bit of a fan of Aspen, which is great as I have enough to keep me going for years. It is straight grained and fairly easy to work and has very little taste so it's good for cooking spoons and bowls which come into contact with wet foods such as bread dough. Some pieces have a lovely ripple like fiddle back sycamore and I have been making some serving spoons from these.

They have been finished in walnut oil which works well but may be a problem with some people with nut allergies. Raw linseed oil is OK in that respect, but most that is available in the UK is pressed at a high temperature and isn't fresh so it has a strong smell and taste which many people find off-putting. I've just taken delivery of some UK grown linseed oil which is cold pressed on the farm and is only a few days old. This is culinary grade and more expensive than most virgin olive oils and has to be kept in the fridge. It does have a nice taste and virtually no smell and can be used in salad dressings etc. It's going on the next batch of spoons and bowls so I hope it works!