Spoonfest 2013

I've written a brief overview of Spoonfest '14 here: Catch Up. Here are a few pics of the amazing spoons I came back with. And the ones I carved...

 An incredible turned sycamore ladle by Owen Thomas

owenthomaswoodcraft.com

   

Back and handle carved away

Turn marks visible within bowl

Elm cooking spoon by John Mullaney 

johns-woodnstuff.blogspot.co.uk

Almond serving spoon by Tom Bartlett. I badgered him into swapping with me as I loved the colours and the flowing lines. The flick of the handle and the prow of the stem are really interesting and I plan to imitate it.

carvedspoons.blogspot.co.uk

Elm burr scoop by Martin Hazell

Finally some of my efforts with lovely water-stained Rowan.

A Catch Up Part 2

Here is a reward for reading Part 1... Pictures of some of the spoons I have carved in the last 6 months.

Some big servers, top to bottom - Poplar, Alder, Birch and Birch. Below are some close ups.

A Birch Kasa/scoop

My favourite spoon design below in various variations and mediums...

Pickle spoon / tea spoon varients

A Catch Up

Its been a long time since I've been blogging proper, so I should have plenty to say... Life has been busy at work and at play but I have managed to shoehorn in plenty of woodworking over the past few months. Here is a breakdown...

Bodging

I have joined the APTGW - VERY exciting. I have been spooning and turning and making my own lathe, more on that in a post to follow. I also went to the Bodgers Ball in Herstmonceux, Sussex. I met some nice people and took sneaky photos of plenty of lathes for inspiration. The competition entries were very interesting too for inspiration and ideas. I have been doing lots of camping for various weekend meets at woodland around the county. The Kent group puts on lots of meets for locals where there are lots of like-minded people who have plenty of knowledge to share. www.bodgers.org.uk

Spoonfest

Spoons took a bit of a back seat as I struggled with time management but I got to Spoonfest this year in Edale, Derbyshire. This is always a great weekend where I made lots of new friends, caught up with old ones, spent too much money and carved and swapped some spoons. As you would suspect, lots of nerdy spoon-chat went on and plenty of spoons were carved. A surprise contender for favourite spoon wood was also found - Rowan - one to watch out for. The standard of carving this year was incredible with carvers from all over the world. Highlights for me included a Bark Craft demonstration by Keith Mathews and a chip carving workshop with Simon Hill - The King in the North (of chip carving). Lots and lots of ideas to try and some tips and tweaks of my designs from Spoon Doctor Jamie. Well done to Barn and Robin for organising the event for the third time. www.spoonfest.co.uk

Spoonclub

Unfortunately life has prevented me from visiting more than once, but I managed to get to one meet of the Herts Spoon Club. Nice people and nice soup. Bit of a jaunt up from Kent but I'll try to get up there again if possible. As with Spoonfest it's great to see other peoples work for a change.

Sweden

A pilgrimage of Slojd led us to Stockholm which had some amazing museums including the Vasa Museet, Nordisca Museet and Skansen, with forays out to the ancient Viking town of Birka. Unfortunately although the museums are incredible the light levels inside generally were not and as such the photos are poor... Select highlights below.

Skansen's resident Bison

Reindeer milking bowl

A collection of Sami antler and wooden spoons

Sami knives

A lovers bench by Jogge Sundquvist

Relics from the Vasa - 1628

You Can't Stop Progress

http://htwmuc.tumblr.com/post/10843481120

Back in the Gallery (and More Spoons)

Back in June the nice people at the Tenterden Gallery were kind enough to invite me back for their extended open period during South East Open Studios. SEOS is a fantastic event designed to get the public linked up with artists all over Kent and Sussex and provides good networking for artists and makers. I had been frantically working on new stock for the event and have been carving in the Gallery to the interest of public and artists alike. Unfortunately thhe Gallery has lost its usual premises and so from now on will be on the road, a vagabond of art possibly rolling up in a town near you... Keep upto date here:

Tenterden Gallery : tenterdengallery.co.uk

SEOS: www.seos-art.org

And now for something completely different...

Its been a while since you've seen any spoons, here are a few I've been working on over the last year.

Pickle and teaspoons in a style that I have been developing. Hazel (top) Walnut (middle and bottom).

Mustard spoons in Hazel and Walnut

A special hazel spoon carved from a natural crook. Heavily influenced by Jogge Sundquvist, I was too chicken to imitate his chip carving.

Hazel, Birch and Walnut eating spoons in my developing style.

Walnut spatulas.

Stay tuned for more spoon updates coming soon...