Spoon bowls...

So, I've been having a little trouble deciding what to write about while I've been working on some commissions that won't be given to their recipients for a while. So today, I thought I'd talk about bowls.

I've been giving a lot of thought lately to bowls. There are a lot of ways to approach them. They can be shallow or deep, thin or thick. They can have a curved lip or a flat lip. The bowl may be in line with the handle, or at a different angle from it. It can be oval, heart-shaped, egg-shaped, round, triangular, pear-shaped, tear-drop-shaped, marquis-shaped, or any number of other shapes, I suppose.... There are a lot of ways to approach a bowl.
So... here are bowls from some of my very first few spoons... As you see, it took me a while to tear myself away from making a heart-shaped bowl.



To some not quite as early bowls...



And then a few that were deeper....



And then, you'll remember those workshop spoons....

And then a few more varieties for good measure...



I have always kept my bowls somewhat in line with the handle of my spoons, probably more out of convenience than anything, because I generally begin with finished boards. However, more and more, I've been taking advantage the thickness of my blanks to change that angle of the handle in relation to the bowl, having the handles bend back and away a bit from a level-topped bowl. I do think I like the idea of keeping the top of my bowls level, since the point of a spoon, after all, is to hold liquid, and any part of the lip that isn't level would just be extra, and probably in the way. So I could see having a little extra over level near the attachment to the handle, but otherwise, I see little reason to do it.

But then... I have seen some really lovely spoons with a rather pretty "swoop" to the shape of that top lip of the bowl... instead of a flat plane. When you blend that with the handle, I can see that making for some very pretty shaping. And, after all, lovespoons are decorative, not utilitarian. But I haven't really explored it yet. I have, however, been thinking more and more about it. Of course, that also means I should get my band saw set up..... hmmm...

Also, I've been looking at some spoons lately - more the ladle type, and I think the old Welsh cawl spoon (from which the lovespoon has been said to have evolved) may have been more of a ladle type, with the bowl tilted forward a bit. For real, utility spoons, the grain would be really important with a feature like this, and cutting the blank might be quite a challenge - I suspect using limbs with a certain bend in them is probably a good solution in many cases. I'll have to give more thought to whether I want to venture into that sort of profile for my spoons, though.

In any case, I suppose the point I intended to make when I sat down today was this: I think it's good to think about bowls... experiment with them, explore them.... the bowl is the core of a spoon, and should be given due attention. I'm sure the style of my bowls will continue to evolve, and I hope anyone else out there making spoons will give bowls a little extra thought, as well. 

Celtic Relief Carving part II

Well, here we are, and I've been through the second half of my Celtic Relief Carving class, where I was making a Lazy Susan. This week, we did the over-unders, and the stain. (well, some of us did. ;) ) I realized we could have done the over-unders during the week in-between so we could be closer to ready to stain them, but he hadn't given us his tips on that part yet, and I wanted to see what good tips he might have. So, here's where I left off before going to the second class session, having finished up all the negative space, including a space around the design to a circle I drew inside the edge of the board.

And he DID have some good tips! Some of what he was suggesting for the over-unders (well, I suppose it was really the "unders" that we were carving) was stuff with which I was familiar, about using a flat chisel (or skew) that wasn't too narrow or too wide so you didn't leave lines or make nicks in the sides of ribbons where you don't intend to, and part was about working with the grain. Now, I knew how the wood reacts when you go the wrong direction across (especially diagonally across) the grain, so that rather than closing upon itself like you want, it tears itself apart as you slice. But I still get mixed up sometimes and choose the wrong direction. It's probably just me, but in case anyone else has this little mental block, here you go...

Well, Wayne, being the excellent teacher that he is, shared this pearl of wisdom with us, which I'd somehow never paid close enough attention to figure out for myself: You cut from the shorter grains to the longer grains. A little part of me said, "duh" but really - I'd just never thought of it that way before - but that's exactly the right way to think about it. Unmistakeable. Thanks, Wayne!

So, I got started on my over-unders, being as careful and clean as I could.... but even though I was pretty clean, I found I like my ribbons to curve under, rather than just being an angle, so I ended up making lots of facets, which were clean, but not very regular or interesting. I could see some sanding in my future. Here's how they were coming out...

Then, for those ready to finish, they cleaned up their pencil marks with some 220 sandpaper, and then Wayne brought his wife to show us their finishing process. To my surprise, it was just one coat of colored wax. a series of applications and removals with rags, brushes and more brushes, all a section at a time and very quickly, until it was all covered and buffed up. Really a beautiful finish, and a remarkably simple process! I think I'll probably try it on  mine, too - though, I wasn't as far along with my carving, so I haven't done that yet.

After considering it just carved, with all the tool marks, I thought, I think I'd like the ribbons to be smoother, and I have a lot of pencil marks to remove anyway, so maybe I'll just sand the ribbons, but leave the negative spaces "off the tool." So - I did - I went over all the ribbons & outside part of the board with 220, and then, because I apparently just can't stop myself, went over them again with 400. Probably unnecessary, although they did say that the pencil marks don't matter much if you're using a darker wax color. But - I hadn't decided yet.

So - here's how far I am now. I think I do want the darker color, so I'll have to go get some. This sure was a fun project, and if anyone has the chance to try something like this. It probably took a similar amount of time as a simpler spoon, too, so that was good to know, too.

Maybe some day,  I'll try a chip carving class. :) But for now - it's back to spoons! I have a lot of spoons to finish in the next few months! And to all of you, happy Easter and happy carving!

My first carving class

Well, I know I've been  neglecting my blog for a few weeks now, but that's mostly because I'm working on commissions I'm not ready to publicize yet, and I've also been working on a complete re-write of my website (which has me learning new languages and all sorts of fun stuff, but not even a little interesting from a carving perspective, so I figured there was no point in writing about that here, either).

You may recall that I mentioned having felt a little strange being asked to do that workshop a few weeks back, when I'd never even taken a carving class myself, apart from one quick Santa carving thing at a local club. So I didn't have a whole lot of idea of how a class should really go. Still, that one I did seemed to have gone ok. But, then, last  night, I finally attended my first real, full-fledged carving class! It's Celtic relief carving, with a very nice fellow named Wayne Cruze, who has been doing Celtic relief carvings very successfully for many years. We're making a lazy Susan with some Celtic knotwork relief-carved into the top.

I've been meaning to take this class for quite a while, but it seems like I'm always out of town or something when it's offered. I'd seen Wayne's carvings since I started carving, and always admired them and wondered some things about his process. Then, people had referred me to him early on, when they learned that I was making lovespoons, since there's often a lot of Celtic knotwork there, too. Around here, he's "the guy" for Celtic carvings. :) I did get to meet him a couple times, and I've always really enjoyed talking with Wayne, so was even more looking forward to eventually taking this class. Anyway, I finally made it this year, so I am quite excited about that. I was wondering about how he got such a nice-looking finish, among other things. Well - the main answer seems to be that he carves very nice & cleanly. Me, not so much. I'm a little spoiled by lovespoon carving, which usually involves extensive sanding. However, I have been trying to get better about carving cleanly, as even when you're going to sand, it takes away a lot of extra work if you carve cleanly to begin with.

So.... I'm carving away on my stop cuts, and he comes by and is looking a little puzzled at me, surprised that I'm making my stop cuts with my double-beveled skew. I said, well, I forgot my chip carving knife (I actually do have one). But I do like my skew. :) So, when I got home, I got out my chip carving knife, and started trying to drag it through the wood to make more of the stop cuts... sure seemed a lot harder than it was with the skew (though, I'll admit, the hold was more comfortable). And then it slipped a few times, and even resulted in a couple nicks into some of my "over" ribbons - which made me say "Grrrrr." And then I switched back to my skew to finish off the stop cuts. Yep... I guess I'm just not a knife person! Oh well. More power to all you knife carvers out there - I guess I'm not among you. :(

Anyway, now I'm through the stop cuts, and getting into all the little negative spaces (apparently, in next week's class - it's a 2-part class - we'll work on the over/unders, and then the finishing, which is another part that really interests me). Some of my stop cuts are a little wobbly-looking (mostly ones I did with that stupid knife),  but I suppose they're ok. Also, I was a little surprised to find that it was acceptable to make stop cuts that would be deeper than what I cut away next to them. Still - as I started into my first negative space, it's not clean - so I take it a little deeper.... still not clean. A little deeper..... ok, I guess this is good enough... and then Wayne comes by - gee - that's pretty deep. It's hard to get tools all the way into those corners like that. Again, I laughed at myself, and said, yeah, I suppose you're right about that. On the other hand, I suppose I'm not too afraid of getting tools into little corners... but more importantly - I just had to go that deep in order to get a clean cut. So now I have to do that the whole way across the piece. Creating more work for myself - yeah, that sounds about right. :)

Then, I had a revelation about something: I guess I've always thought the side (?) cut had to meet the bottom depth of the stop cut. But, then, I realize, it really doesn't - and thinking it through, in relief carving, it doesn't seem like that would always matter. I think it matters a little more in lovespoons, just because they are something between relief and in-the-round, and strength can become an issue - not to mention, if I made a deeper stop cut, you'd probably see it from the side. But you wouldn't in this relief carving, so - I felt like that was a really good revelation, and took a lot of pressure off. I mean, I still don't want to make huge crevasses, but  cuts at the bases of the ribbons would actually do nothing negative, and would probably add something to the shadow.

So, here is where I am - as far as I got before I went to the eye doctor and had my eyes dilated today (now I can't see up close). I am finding I really am getting a lot cleaner, the more I practice, which is great - didn't expect it to improve that quickly. And if I'd only been that way from the start, I wouldn't have to carve so deep, which, of course, is actually  making it more DIFFICULT to carve cleanly, since it IS harder to get the tools in there. Still - that particular thing isn't so strange for me - just takes longer. So, I don't know - I think I'm getting there. I have always liked the look of chip carving, but have been afraid of it. To me, this feels like a looser version of chip carving, and I quite like that, so I'm really having fun with it! And next week, we'll do the over-unders, and I'll get to learn something about stain, too. (stain has always very much intimidated me, so I'm really looking forward to learning about that, too.)

So - Carving class is GOOD! I quite like it! Maybe some day I'll get brave and actually try a chip carving class, too. Hmm... we'll see. :)

Edit: Bob, your comment reminded me, I meant to say - flat plane carving was exactly what came to mind as I started cutting into those negative spaces. I still don't know how clean I am cutting, but I'm definitely improving. And David - I share your apprehension of kohlrosing and chip carving - I really think this is a good compromise to both, and I am also very happy with the idea of having a nice lazy Susan. Very practical, this stuff. And, it is also surprising me a little how quickly it's going - but, then again, it's basswood... ;) We'll see if I ruin it with stain, though....

Anyway, thought it might be helpful to show a bit closer picture so you can maybe see better how I've got that flat plane thing in mind.  Then, we'll see if I destroy it by next week....

A busy week...

It's been an unusually productive week, with St David's Day events, finishing up some projects, starting some others, and finally, my very first attempt at giving a lovespoon workshop!


I was recently invited to speak about Welsh Lovespoons at the near-by Radnor Heritage Society's St David's Day luncheon. Radnor is a little Welsh-settled town about an hour North of Columbus. Many of the people there had seen Welsh Lovespoons, but may not have been familiar with the history and tradition behind them. So I was delighted to have the opportunity to share with them a bit of what I've learned. I also brought along some examples of finished spoons, and a couple works in process, too. That included the teeny tiny spoons I was just finishing, that were made from some walnut from that very same town (Radnor). The group seemed to enjoy my little presentation, and hopefully the talk contributed a little towards perpetuating the lovespoon tradition, too. It was a very nice day (including a delicious lunch with yummy leek soup and locally raised lamb), and I hope they enjoyed me as much as I enjoyed them! What a nice group of people!
And, by the way, a couple days later, after the oil had dried, I did finish the final coat of wax on those tiny spoons. I will admit: buffing off that final coat of wax on those little spoons was indeed the scariest part of making them. I felt like they were in more danger of breaking then, than at any other point. BUT, I was careful, and they did survive! Here they are, all finished up. The pictures are a little bright, but you can still see how pretty the wood is.

Tuesday morning, I was able to meet the woman who brought me this wood from her old family house in Radnor, and she seemed to really like them, and said she planned to put them in a picture box framed with more of the same walnut, so they have a pretty and sentimental remembrance of their old home. It's very gratifying to be able to play my part in a family's history like this. And, I also asked her to remind me how old the wood actually was, and she said the house was built in 1852, so it was at least that old. I'm told that a lot of houses in Radnor used walnut, because there were lots of walnut trees growing there.

Then, between Saturday and Tuesday, I did a little designing for a commission that I'm sure will eventually show up here, and also made some final preparations for my very first Lovespoon carving workshop on Tuesday evening! The workshop was for the "Land of Legends Woodcarvers" in Newark, Ohio, who meet right "down the street" from me (well, a few towns away down the street, anyway).

This was my very first attempt at doing something like this, so I was a little nervous.
I arrived as early as they told me I could, to allow for traffic (kinda far, and it was rush hour), and so I could lay out some visual aids (including the finished examples I've been describing in excruciating detail the past few weeks!) and get settled. I was surprised to find several carvers already there, since the start time was still an hour and a half away. I had no trouble using that extra time, though.

Now, my main hesitation when I was first asked to do this was that I really didn't want to cut out so many blanks. But they offered to do that for me - I just provided the pattern, and told them the thickness of the stock I wanted them to use. So that was fantastic, and I happily agreed! When I saw that box of blanks, I was just so  happy I didn't have to cut them all! Another thought I've had while planning for this was that while I can certainly tell people and demonstrate what I like to do, that doesn't mean it's right. It's just how I do it. I hope I never came across as though I knew the best way.

Once we started, I talked for a bit about the history of the tradition, a few key details of the spoon that I hoped they'd consider and try, barked at a heckler (a friend from my Tuesday morning carving group who was in the room), and through all that, probably went off on lots of tangents. I'll definitely try to clean that up next time. Then we got started carving.
I talked with pretty much everyone, and got lots of questions and we all shared theories about things, which is always fun. I also went around & showed them my bent knife and how to use it, because it's a really handy tool to have for spoons! 
It was interesting to see how far anyone actually got, and what tools they liked to use. I did see a lot of knives, which I expected. I wonder if the whole thing was more educational for me than it was for them, even.
Thinking back over it, there are several things I'll probably do differently when I do this for another carving group in May (especially talk less at the beginning), but overall, I felt like it was well-received and it seemed to go well. I certainly enjoyed it, and I hope they all did, too. I was especially glad that I had made those sample spoons, because most people got to pick them up and handle them, hold them up to the light to see how thin some parts were (yet still plenty strong and stable), see and feel the actual final finish, see the tools and sandpapers I use, etc.. You lose so much of that stuff when you just look at pictures, especially pictures from my silly little camera. :)

In any case, THANK YOU, Land of Legends woodcarvers, for inviting me out there, being guinea-pigs, and listening to me talk a whole lot! I hope I was able to encourage some more people to try carving (and maybe even designing) some lovespoons! Happy carving!

Teeny tiny spoons

Well, there's an extra day this year, so why not an extra post this week?

Well, I've talked a lot about how you can get away with a lot more delicate/thin parts than some people think you can, even with basswood, like those workshop spoons. And, right after finishing those, I was working on some small spoons for someone who brought me some really old walnut scraps from a near-by Welsh-settled town. So, if you can get thin with basswood, just imagine how thin you can get with something hard & strong, like walnut. Well... you don't so much have to imagine, because I have some pictures. You can probably get away with even thinner, but this is thin enough.

Now, of course, you do have to be careful with these things when they're thin - keep the part you're putting pressure on well-supported - but still...
So here are a few pictures...

Then, here's that first one (just carved so far), next to the second one, a little after I started it.

And then, the next morning, when I finish carving the second one (each one took I guess around 3 hours, because when they're this small, you do have to be really careful not to break off the pointy petal ends, or the edge of the spoon bowl or the daffodil trumpet). So, here they are....

Of course, now I have to not break them while I sand them. But, the key to sanding them when they are thin is speed - not pressure. And, with speed, you also need caution to avoid snagging on the pointy petals or any other part. Other than that, no biggie. Well - maybe I should say that AFTER I finish sanding them, so I don't jinx myself, but... I'll be careful.

Anyway, there you go: teeny tiny spoons. Oh - well - teeny tiny for me. They're nothing compared to what some people do out of matchsticks and pencil leads... but I hear a lot of "that's so delicate" lately - so I just wanted to point out, it can be worse than those big spoons - just goes to show, it can definitely be done.

I don't make these very often, because they're too much work, and so little. They're actually  harder to hold than the big ones, and you have to be quite a bit more careful, so even though they're tiny, they still take a pretty long time.

Well, enough rambling for this week. Oh - and in 2.5 hours, it'll be St. David's Day, so happy St. David's Day, too!

St David's Day, Dragons, and other current projects...

For a Welsh lovespoon carver, this coming Thursday, March 1st, is an important day: it's St. David's Day! St. David is the patron saint of Wales. So I thought I'd encourage anyone reading here to celebrate any little bit of Welsh-ness you or someone you know may have this week! Happy St. David's Day!
It's an especially good week, then, to make a lovespoon!

So, while I've been finishing up the spoons for that carving workshop I mentioned in recent posts, I was also helping to organize my local Welsh Society's annual St. David's Day event. I also started a few new commissions, including some miniature spoons (maybe 5" long?) with daffodils, made from some very old walnut that came from a near-by Welsh settlement. I'm not going to tell you much about the other commissions, though, until after they've been given to their recipients, because they are gifts. I don't really think the recipients would be reading this, but you never know, do you?!

I will tell you, though, that one of these commissions includes a dragon that is not quite a flag dragon. I've heard from other lovespoon carvers that a favorite "typical" thing to carve is a dragon, because they are VERY open for design, and can be very beautiful. Mike Davies also told me once (after expressing how much he enjoys dragons) that the tongue and tail should always point up. I'm not sure why, but if Mike Davies (one of the truly great  lovespoon carvers in the world today) says so, that's enough for me.
Anyway, I've tried many times to draw a spoon with a dragon, but I can't ever seem to do it - I just draw a blank, every time! But this time, my client wanted a dragon, drawn by me, and not just a flag dragon. So, several times, again, I sat down to design this spoon, and I drew a blank. But finally, a week or so ago, I sat down, and I found myself able to draw a dragon! It just confirms what I so often say: spoons come out SO much better when there's a real person on the receiving end! And the other carvers are right - dragons ARE fun! I think mine still has very flag-like features in many respects, but it is also definitely not a flag dragon. It's also going to be a really challenging spoon, so I'm going to try to remember to stop & take pictures along the way so later on, I can show how it unfolds. Meanwhile, I will show you the back of this beautiful walnut board I found that I'll plan to use for this spoon... it's a crotch (the part of the tree where the trunk splits into two parts) so has lots of figure (challenging to carve, but VERY pretty). For the rest, make sure to check back here maybe around summertime!

And, of course, those workshop spoons are now getting their last coats of oil, then wax this week. The workshop is next week, so I'm also starting a few more, so that I can have examples at different points of progression, and demonstrate different specific parts. Between those extra blanks, and the blanks for a few commissions I'm doing, I think I'll be relegated to my saw in the basement for the better part of a few days this week!
Anyway, here are some pictures. Now you can really see how the one is much darker than all the others. It's basswood from my local Woodcraft (they get it from from Heineke, so it should be the northern basswood), and then I got all the others from the half-price selection from Itasca. So they really are probably all the usual, northern basswood, but maybe it's the age that makes that one piece darker, or maybe it was just that odd, darker piece of basswood. I don't know, as I don't have any experience with aging basswood, either. The fluctuation in every piece of wood is one of the things, after all, that makes wood beautiful, but you still wonder a little.
Anyway, here they are, all stacked up (you know - like spoons!):

 Oh, and while I take all these pictures, something is normally happening that I normally crop away, but thought I'd zoom out a bit and show you this time...

That's Tri. (pronounced like "Tree"). Apparently, he's supervising.
Then, here are a few more pictures of the finished spoons. Oh - I think I'd mentioned that one of the things I'd observed in my limited experience with basswood is that it doesn't seem to like to polish up quite as  nicely as harder woods. On these, I did my usual process of sanding to 600, then wetting them with water, then re-sanding at 600, and then went through the rest of the grits all the way to 12,000 grit, and it seemed like they came to a nicer shine than I remembered. But, then, once I oiled them, they returned to a more satiny finish, like the polish they had at about 3200 grit. I let the oil dry, and then tried sanding between 3200 and 12,000 again, but the polish no longer improved. So, I'm keeping my opinion that basswood generally doesn't come to quite as nice a polish as harder woods usually do. Now, that's not to say that I don't occasionally find limits on harder woods, but that seems to be the exception, rather than the norm, unlike basswood, where it seems to be the norm. So, I'll be advising my students that I don't really see much point in sanding beyond 3200,  if they even want to go that far, with the basswood.
All that said, it's still a pretty nice finish, and certainly doesn't have any scratches or anything, so it's very acceptable for a lovespoon's finish.

On this one above, you can see a little bit of the sheen that's still there in the bowls... My camera seems to miss that (I seem to be lucky if I can focus at all) on most of them. I think this camera is more for taking pictures of kids at birthday parties and soccer matches. Maybe some day I'll get a nice camera with a nice macro lens. Until then, I'll just do my best.

And the backs...

Then, a few details...

You can see in the crevices how I'm not done oiling these yet - they need a couple more layers of protection. It shouldn't look dry anywhere - it should look evenly finished, and the wood literally won't soak in any more oil when there's enough oil already on it.

Well, that's probably more than enough for now. Thanks for stopping by, and hope you'll come back and see more another time! Have a nice day!

A workshop - Part 2

Last week, I talked a bit about a workshop I've been invited to give at a local carving club. Since this is a brand new endeavor for me, I may be a little over-analytic about it.... but, then, I'm kinda like that. Well, since last week's post, I've been busy with some commissions, and between work on those, I've been finishing up the carving part of these 6 carving workshop example spoons. And now, I'm pretty much through that part...
So, here they are...

I talked a lot last week about the various aims I had in mind when I drew up these designs, so I won't go into that today. But I will say that I'm pretty comfortable that I've met my goals with these designs. They're all pretty close in difficulty, they all took in the neighborhood of 3-4 hours, and they all had similar challenges.

On all of them, I continued the handle a little bit onto the back of the bowl, which isn't necessary. On several, I added some other details to the back, as well, just because I can't help myself. :) They could all have smooth backs (not flat, but smooth - all of them are a little concave in the back of the handle). Sometimes I add details just because it seems like they belong there - like they are some kind of continuity from the front. Here are some closer pictures of that...

Seemed to have a little trouble with some of those pictures, but hopefully, you get the idea.
Next step, sanding. I'm interested to see what kind of finish I can get out of this basswood. You may notice, also, that one of them - the 5th one in that top picture above - is darker than the rest. That one is from a basswood board I got at woodcraft a couple years ago, as opposed to the others, which are made from half-priced basswood from Itasca, from a week or two ago. Honestly, I think that half-priced stuff is a great deal. A few boards have these little brownish - er - speckles through them, and I'm pretty indifferent about that. One board had a hefty couple of knots (both of which landed on one of the spoons, and I carved them both away without too much trouble, really). Anyway, I wonder if that darker one will finish differently than the others. I guess we'll see!

A little about basswood... I have always understood why it's so popular among carvers. It really is a dream to carve - can take quite a lot of detail, and is incredibly easy to carve. It's also very plain, so there's not strong grain to compete with details. It just goes so much faster than other woods. I'm finding myself thinking, "why don't I use this more often?" And then I remember, my spoons are usually filled with lots of piercings - these are a total departure from  my normal stuff, and were designed specifically for basswood. Oh yeah. :) Yeah, I still don't think basswood would be strong enough for those much more open designs. I am, however, very grateful for having been asked to do this class, because it forced me to make these much simpler designs, and to use basswood, which really has been a pleasure. Maybe I'll manage to come up with some more simple designs, too. You never know.

Well, that's enough for today. Maybe next week I'll have them all finished up, and ready for the workshop, or at least getting their final coats of oil.
Now, off to bed!  Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you're carving a lovespoon for someone for Valentine's day! Happy Valentine's day!
P.S. - nope, no Valentine's spoon for my husband this year... I need to top my last one, which remains my favorite of all the spoons I've done. It may take a while to come up with a better design, and then, for sure, to make it.