One of my new endeavors is spoon carving.  A spoon is a perfect little sculpture, just a bowl and a handle.  They can be made on the lathe, but I prefer to carve mine from a single piece of wood.

Carving a spoon is a meditative process. I study the wood looking for features that will play into a pattern or show off a facet.  Wood for spoons should be hard, dense and close grained.  Burl and grain patterns are important features that can be highlighted. When I have a design, the rough shape is usually cut out on a bandsaw, although I have a finger sized Japanese saw that I can use for delicate cuts.  The next step is major wood removal with power tools. Anything from a 4 inch grinder with a mini chain saw attachment to a micro carver, a Dremel or a die grinder.  Working from coarse to medium to fine, each successive pass refines the shape.

Between two thirds and three quarters of the time spent on a spoon is in the handwork. Starting with rasps to smooth out the lines and further refine the flow, following with files

and rifflers (love that name), finer and finer tools.  When the work is in the final stages,  I like to use a cabinet scraper to finish the surface. This tool can leave a perfectly smooth surface, with no sanding required. But that’s not possible on every piece and sanding may be necessary. Sanding, while not hard, is usually a multi-hour process in its own right. 

I finish the spoon with several coats of  Danish oil — a mixture of tung oil, shellac and mineral spirits. After the oil has had a few days to soak in and dry, it’s buffed out with an abrasive polish and oiled again, then polished.  A small tray is created for the presentation, and often a card with details about the piece.

Well, on my last post I threatened to start carving, so I thought I should finally get around and post some of it.  I have added a new gallery page, called Carved Turnings. This contains my most recent work.  There are others pieces, but most of my earlier work has sold and I didn’t always get photos.  As I add new work I will strive to get good pictures and keep it updated.

This piece is one I completed just in time to take to the AAW symposium in June of 2018.  It is about 12 inches tall, silver maple.  I expected to bring it back for the gallery in Springfield (Haphazard Creativity) but I got a call on Saturday afternoon of the symposium, and someone wanted to buy it.  So it went to it’s new home, and this cell phone shot is all I got of it.

I still do a lot of plain old turning, and I still love it. If I only did carved items, my production would slow to a snail’s pace. Most carved pieces take from a few hours to a few weeks to finish, and some even longer. I have stopped turning a lot of items that I made just because they sell well – pens and rolling pins for example. It was getting to be like a job, having to have x number of certain things and doing them in bulk production runs. Mostly I make what I feel like making on that day.  Everything is a one-of-a-kind, and I think the value of what I make is higher because of that.

I am part of a group of artists that went together to rent a store front at 331 Main St. in Springfield.  There are 5 of us in the group and we each bring a different esthetic to the store – hence the name Mosaic 331.   We have wall art, crochet, felting. one of a kind lights, and wire wrapped stone jewelry (and even some wood items).

I intend to continue with Saturday Market, and a handful of shows, but this venue allows me to display some of my larger artistic work without having to cart it around to shows and risk damage and the elements.

If you are in the area, please stop in and take a look around, it has a fun, slightly mystical feel to the place, and you will certainly find something that appeals.

Only a month left until Saturday Market opens for the year.  I have been in the shop mostly messing around with things that have nothing to do with Market.  Went to Arizona to the Desert Woodturning Roundup and got lots of ideas for new pieces, perhaps some of those ideas will find a way into this year’s work.

I have applied to several shows, but it is too early to know if I will be accepted: Salem, Art in the High Desert, Silverton.  I am still on the fence about Art and the Vineyard this year, maybe it is time to take a year off and just visit it as a customer.  I will be in Corvallis, I have been invited back because I won Best of Media – Wood in 2015.

Currently working on carving and metal inlay, both techniques that require a lot of time, but the results are very satisfying, look for new posts soon to show those off.  It’s probably not too early to start doing Christmas ornaments…