Spoons

In a few days it will be my birthday.  Soon after that is Christmas.  I'm not ready for either of these things.  However, today my daughter, Keziah, gave me an experience as a gift.  I was able to attend a spoon making class.  https://www.leespoons.com/

In the SCA we have the Forester's Guild.  One of the steps in the guild is making your own spoon.  Seeing someone making one a few years ago is what started to spark my interest in carving a spoon.  Here are some happy things from today and that class:

  •  The teacher, Lee, demonstrated how to use a saw, hatchet and a froe to cut the wood into the rough shape for a spoon.  After that we used a wood carving straight knife and curved knife to form the shape of the spoon.  I'm sure there are more appropriate names to the knives that I am forgetting.  There was a lot of knowledge and skill that he tried to impart in a few hours.  We didn't leave with a finished spoon.  I really enjoyed how he taught the class.



  • Carving the wood brought me back to when I was a paraeducator.  As I was carving with the grains of the wood and feeling the textures I kept having a flash of some memory that I was having a hard time reaching.  At some point the memory of helping to make wooden race cars in one of the unified arts classes popped into my head.  Finally the memory was found!  The race cars were filed and sanded for a smooth finish.  Working with the grain of the wood, not against it, gave a smoother surface.  Cutting the wood with the grain when making the spoon is also important and a pleasing tactile experience. 
This picture and the next are the piece of cherry wood I was given to start the carving process.



  • As I carved into the wood, the lines and colors would change and that was really interesting to watch happen.  I tried to capture that in some of my pictures.  I'm still not sure if it was my imagination or not, but sometimes when I carved into the knot of the wood it looked like it was bleeding.  It was fascinating. 
  • The following pictures include the tools I used and some different stages of the carving.  Many thanks to Keziah for the gift and Lee for the knowledge. 







☮

Continued listening to: Daindreth's Sorceress, by Elisabeth Wheatley.

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.


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