Season's Greetings

Season's greetings from soggy Shropshire!

Had a brief window of sunshine yesterday so went to see how the woodland and wetland were doing.

Well. that's a couple of meters deeper than usual!

There is some interesting growth in the woodland on dead wood.

Sunshine highlighted the interesting colours and detail.

Back to very soggy today.

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.

Christmas Show and Sale

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.

Fordhall Summer Fair

I shall be demonstrating next Sunday 24th June at Fordhall Farm summer fair. This is a special place and my association with it goes back 25 years. For people who do not know about it you can find out why on their website.
Yesterday I made a small tarp/shelter which will have enough space to work but not too large a footprint. The design seemed OK on paper but I'm glad no one was around to watch me trying to put it up on my own! Wobbly didn't come into it! Finally worked out after a strong coffee that the first upright needs to be secured with three guys so that it stands firm and everything else can be attached to it. The third guy can be removed when the whole structure is together. Of course, someone holding it would work, but I can't rely on that most times so had to be able to do it on my own. If it doesn't fall down this week I'll post a picture of it at the show.
This is a charity event which I want to support so I'm not charging anything. Hopefully there will be some publicity and the chance to sell a few items. The Pixie spoon will be a good one to make on the day as it is quick to carve.

I'll have some 'Blue Peter' ones in a basket for anyone who can't wait for one to be finished. I hadn't carved any spoons for three weeks and the first one made today was rubbish. Years ago my dad told me not to employ a plasterer who had just got back from holiday as it takes a few days for them to get their hand in. I suppose it's like any skill and needs regular practice to keep it up to scratch.