Sunlight

Even though I love taking pictures, I really don't know much about it nor do I own a good camera. I've been reading that outside is best for lighting but now that the weather is getting colder I can't bring myself to set up a picture of new boards on the deck. Today the sunshine was pouring in our south facing windows and if there is one thing I love it's sunshine! And shadows! And white! 

There is something amazing about applying oil for the first time to raw, sanded wood. It used to be my favourite part but there is something about the real thing that I am starting to find very beautiful. 

The difference before and after the beeswax/mineral oil is amazing. The scoop has been oiled. The board has been sanded 5 times and is ready for it's first coat. 

Scoops and edges.

It's been a month of scoop carving with a few new boards finished up as well. Seems backwards that the smaller pieces take about as much time as some the boards! To finish a spoon or scoop from beginning to end takes about 4 to 5 hours and the small boards take roughly the same time. These little scoops seem so useful and worth the carving time. They could be used to scoop flour, rice, beans, oats or any dry goods in the cupboard.

I was so glad to notice some natural edges left on the cherry boards that my husband found for me when I first started my hunt for wood about a year ago. The natural edge boards seems to have a rustic, country feel to them. Perfect for fall get togethers or sitting outside on a warm day with some cheese and bread. 

Spoons

It took a fair bit of YouTube watching and a couple half finished spoons getting tossed in the wood stove before some useful spoon shapes started taking shape. I love making spoons, and I think I know why. 

Days are really busy here. I homeschool our four kids and we spend many, many hours at home working together. I love being home with them, teaching them and watching them grow but what might be the hardest part of this job for me is not being able to see ahead. Not being able to see what kind of people my kids will become after all this training, or maybe I should say 'sanding'. Sometimes I feel like we stay at the roughest step for so long...not moving past 80 grit on some issues for weeks and weeks. And that's not the only issue. My rough edges (after all these years) often rub against their young rough edges which makes for days that do not look pretty. 

When I start a spoon and work through the process of carving out the bowl, whittling away all the extra wood, sanding and sanding and sanding some more, it almost feels like relief to me that a soft, amazingly detailed spoon was hiding under all that somehow. If feels great to see the end result. Relief for me when my kids are grown will not be felt if they have good jobs, or a certain amount of income from all their learning. Relief for me will be seeing kids who love others more then they love themselves. Who forgive and know how to ask for forgiveness. Who serve and know how to deny themselves in order to help out others. This would give me great joy. I think this process takes a lifetime so I will not try to rush it in my kids, after all, I still feel like I am being sanded and carved each day, trying to grow and learn and love like I was created to. 

Cheeseboards

After learning how to use a rasp, most of the cheeseboards have a soft curve to the edge which I think adds to the handmade look of them. The handles are either curved with the rasp or carved with a knife and then the sanding starts. After sanding with a low number, the board is wet and left to dry which raises the grain, resulting in a fuzzy board. Next, a higher number sandpaper is used and then wet again. This process happens about five times before the final oiling. A homemade blend of beeswax and mineral oil gets soaked into the board and wiped off after a few hours. A silkie smooth finish is the result! 


Before carving cheeseboards I was only familiar with cheddar and gouda. Not a very large cheese knowledge but making the boards was a good reason to start to learn. The problem with learning about cheese and the varieties available makes it hard to go back to cheddar! 

The process.

Somehow a love of carving seems to have begun in our home. I have always loved wooden things just like I love baskets and herbs and pottery but somehow learning how to turn a piece of cut down walnut into a spoon or cheeseboard has become a joy. 

How perfect to find out that my brother had a large walnut tree cut and milled into boards. That was the start of much learning! Over the last year there has been many hours learning the spoon carving technique, piles of dust from sanding boards, sneaking away for a few minutes here and there to whittle and watching the boys try their hand at spoon making along with me.

Here I hope to create an album of the process and finished work. Finding practical, beautiful 'art' hidden under the bark of trees feels so rewarding. Sanding down the wood from it's roughest beginnings to the silky, smooth oiled finish feels a bit like the journey we are all on in this life. To be carved and sanded and turned into beauty is a wonderful thing! 

 A thoughtful friend brought me some pieces of wood which she had found. This one said rosewood on it and it has been the nicest to carve so far. Up until this piece I have been working with walnut and cherry...a nice switch! Finished scoop photo to follow. 

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