Finishing touches.

"There are two kinds of people, those who finish what they start and so on." 

Robert Byrne

I really do wish to be like the first person. 

I find myself getting excited to move on to the next project or idea after spending a whole bunch of hours on a board or spoon but once in a while I have to back up and work on the finishing touches. 

Getting some pieces ready for Sarnia ArtWalk being held on June 4 and 5!

Loose leaf tea spoon

No spoon should be limited to one single purpose but when I am designing a new shape, I try to think of a task that it will be best suited for. This little spoon/scoop is carved from a thick piece of cherry which helps me get a curved handle and a deep bowl. 

I was thinking of a tea or coffee scoop for this one and also have it measured out to two tablespoons.

When we plant herbs in the garden, watch them grow, weed them, cut them, dry them, and make tea mixes with them, we really need to reward all that effort by scooping them with something fine. Something to match all that effort. If your tea was not home grown in the backyard, family garden plot... it was by someone! 

~ Enjoy the simple pleasures of the day ~

Sugar and spice

Sugar and spice and everything nice...

...that's what these little spoons are made for.

Walnut serving spoon/ladle

A few process pictures of a new long handled walnut serving spoon. 

This spoon was cut form a very thick piece of walnut. The profile is cut out first with an angle to the bowl which give enough depth for a curved handle.

Walnut curls!

Sanding in the early morning as the sun is coming up...but the kids are not. :)

Such humble beginnings. This is about the half way mark for this fellow. Knife and rasp marks making the shape with five sandings coming up. Such a long process but so rewarding to see the silky, smooth finished piece! 

Eat the Green Frog...

There is a quote by Mark Twain that I use often in our house. 

“Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

The idea is to do the job you like least first to get it out of the way. Then you can enjoy the remainder of your day with more pleasant activity. It is Saturday today which is usually my largest green frog day. First things to swallow are floor washing, sheet washing, dusting and soup making and then...carving!!! A few new little sugar spoons are first on the list...although the sun is shining bright and there is a warm breeze for February. Adding a walk to enjoy this great day will have to be squeezed in there somewhere!

Large and small

Finished up one of the largest cheeseboards from a very beautiful, interesting piece of walnut and the smallest sugar spoon I've made so far. The profile of this little spoon has a gentle curve to it and is the first one I've made by cutting out the profile first, then gouging out the bowl and then cutting out the spoon shape. Even though this is a small little fellow, it took about 4 hours to finish....actually a whole day including life's interruptions and drying time. :)

Walnut breadboard/cheeseboard

Rasping finished, sanding to begin...

Spoon carving from start to finish.

One little piece of bird's eye maple given to me as a 'scrap' from the Haliburton Wood-Shop has turned into one of my favourite spoons. It is such incredibly hard wood to carve but when oiled, feels almost like soap stone. Hard and soft with delicate grain markings that resemble a bird's eye. 

The technique I use for spoon carving follows from left to right. I use a bandsaw to make the rough cut after the bowl is gouged but the rest is done with simple hand tools. A slow, enjoyable, rewarding, arm breaking process! 

Bird's Eye

Bird's eye maple sugar/spice spoons in the works. The hardest wood to carve but there is such soft, delicate details in the grain. A work out for my knife! And arms!

Spoons...

Wooden spoon love :)

Walnut Cooking/Serving Spoon

A new design. This walnut spoon has a shallow, gouged bowl that would be perfect for stirring and cooking. It is smooth and shiny and would also look beautiful as a serving spoon. Walnut still sits at the top of my list of beautiful wood!

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.