You Can't Stop Progress

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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...

The Price of Inspiration

This blog is somewhat self absorbed with mainly things I have made. Below are the spoons that I have bought or been given that I love and I use. The monetary value I have paid for them has been returned many times over in what they have taught me and incorporated into my own designs.

If a picture tells a thousand words, holding a 3D object tells a million. Even photographs of the same spoon could never tell you the exact details or show the final knife cuts like holding an actual object does.

If you carve spoons but balk at the idea of paying for them (especially when you have loads kicking around already), the best advice I can give you is to bloody well do it. If you pay £36.50 for a spoon that is 10 pence a day for inspiration for the first year, after that it's free!

First up, one of Barn Carders, the first spoon I bought. A serving/cooking spoon in Bay. Its one of my very favourites.

barnthespoon.blogspot.co.uk

This is my favourite photo that I have taken, it shows the beautiful fading to the faceting which makes the back of a spoon so fascinating...

Another of Barns in the style that he made his own. Simple yet stylish in Sycamore.

Interestingly the bowl of the spoon is not perfectly symmetrical. A slight offsetting which is only obvious on close study, proof that the human hand is still at work.

Next up is the spoon I bought at the second Spoonfest by Jarrod StoneDahl, an American craftsman with Scandinavian ancestry. He produces the same style of Scandinavian spoon almost exclusively with minor variations and he is very good at it. Birch.

jarrodstonedahl.blogspot.co.uk

woodspiritgallery.com

The last spoon is by Owen Thomas, a friend I made on a chair making course. He gave it to me on my birthday last year. It is carved from Sycamore. The teardrop shape of the bowl and the profile are related in a complicated 3D nightmare created by the Twyca Cam (spoon knife) that he uses to great effect. 

owenthomaswoodcraft.wordpress.com

There you are. Nice spoons.

Sooped-up and Ready For Action...

Tomorrow is the South of England Hedge Laying Association's thirtieth annual competition, this year held near Laughton in East Sussex. Just in time for the competition I have finished renovating my favourite (Kent Pattern) handbill. Aside from a long standing wobble in the handle, it came a cropper on some wire buried within a stem on its last outing. A significant amount of grinding and a new handle turned on the lathe should make a big difference. Let battle commence...

The original handle had a hard life...

Makers Gallery

Things have been getting out of hand... I can't move around the house with out slipping on piles of butter knives and fallen piles of spoons are blocking fire escapes. It is time to have a clear-out... I have been in touch with the nice people at The Tenterden Gallery - a collection of local artists and craftspeople - and they have been kind enough to offer me a four week slot as a guest maker. Perched amongst the photographs and paintings are my spoons and pegs and on select days I sit in a warm corner and carve whilst chatting with artists and people who pop in. Hopefully the good people of Kent will develop an appetite for wooden spoons.

www.tenterdengallery.co.uk/

The Gallery is a fantastic platform for artists and craftspeople - long may it last.

Setting them out was almost as hard as pricing them...

Its a very strange feeling to have something that you have created on view, for people to scrutinise and maybe even buy... This is the first time I have done anything like this and a massive internal dialogue of conflict goes on in your mind: How much is reasonable to charge? What is a fair cost for my time? What will people feel they are worth? Why worry - people might not like them... Is it pretentious to think they are worth selling? How to I deal with people telling me they would be better a different way?

I suppose it doesn't matter in the end, all experience is good experience. Besides its fun to break out of your comfort zone.

Gypsy Pegs

Cruising around the internet one night, I stumbled over a picture of Gypsy Pegs (amongst other things which I wont mention...). These seemed like a mighty fine idea for some Christmas stocking fillers... They turned out fairly well, packed up by the dozen on cardboard slips they look almost professional.

The pegs start out as green hazel rods, cut to 11" sections then peeled. A band of metal (cut from an old beer can) is tacked on 4 inches from one end then wrapped around, the end tucked under and tacked down tight. This is repeated 4 inches from the other end.

A split is run from both ends towards the band. The tips are shaped inside and outside of the split. Once the shaping is done, the two pegs are released by cutting in half with secateurs and the finish pegs are forced onto a rope to dry. Jobs a good 'un.

Secret Spoon Swap

December this year held the second Secret Spoon Swap where spoon carvers around the world come together through the power of their respective postal services. This is the first year I have participated, I think its a really good idea as it gives you a chance to look at other carvers work and get a brand new spoon for the price of a stamp. I received this lovely serving spoon from JP from Essex, it is Birch (from Ashdown Forest) and finished with seaseme oil and bees wax. The wax gives a terrific finish which is perfectly smooth and is something I might try with my own spoons. It came just in time for Christmas - Thanks JP! 

This is the spoon I carved for JP in return, I hope he likes it. Hazel of course...