Spoon Carver’s Blog
Often while I am carving, I want to tell someone about the spoon. How it takes on a character of it's own, or how a mistake became something beautiful. That is what this blog is for. Welcome!
Reorganizing!
Monday, August 13, 2012
It’s been over a year since I last posted, and a lot has happened in this past year, so it’s time to reorganize the Jar of Wood website.
I started this page when my husband and I were living in another town, and carving was my primary focus. Since then I have had a thumb injury, a carving identity crisis, a big move half way across country, and a family status change. It has put a stop to my carving for quite some time; I even debated giving it up for good. Now my thumb is healed (and my other thumb is injured, but that is a different story, and doesn’t really affect my carving.) I am over my identity crisis, or I am learning to learn from it instead of be scared of it. We are settled in our new home and love it. Being a foster parent is wonderful, and I am no longer so clouded with “New Mommy Brain.” And best of all, I have been able to change things in my new life to incorporate carving instead of think I will not get to carve again until I’m old and grey.
That being said, I thought I had better change this website to reflect where I am in carving and not where I have been. I have taken off the “Spoons for Sale” page, as I will no longer be selling spoons on line. Jar of Wood will no longer be a business focused page. There may be a day when I will have the opportunity to carve enough to sustain a business, but until then, I’d like to carve for myself and sell to family and friends. I’d also love to slowly accumulate “stock” and maybe someday sell at a one day fair or something, but that isn’t today. In short, I don’t really have time to keep up things on line, let alone carve enough to sustain a business.
I would also like to keep the blog up, even if I don’t update for more than once a year. I debated taking it down completely, and have for a few months, but now that I’m carving a little bit again, I feel I have things I want to share with other carving people, and it’s the best way I know how, even if it is sporadic.
Thank you for your business! I’m excited to see where my carving goes from here on out!
In Christ, Rita
Acquisitions from the Spoon Carver's Gathering
Monday, August 08, 2011
While at the Spoon Carver’s Gathering, I was able to buy a few items from fellow carvers.
I was most excited about getting a plate and two bowls from Jarrod Stone-Dahl, from www.woodspiritgallery.com. I have been wanting to switch to wood tableware for a few years now, and in this acquisition, I was able to make my first start.
I LOVE MY BOWL! (So much so I had to use all caps to tell you about it!) I use it for everything I can, my oatmeal or cereal at breakfast, soup for lunch, cucumber at supper or to hold under my popsicles so I don’t drip on my clothes.
I am used to using a small plastic Ikea bowl, measuring about 9-10 oz, for my breakfast. In knowing how much my bowl holds, allows me to easily measure my servings and measure my insulin needs more quickly. This bowl is about the same size as the plastic Ikea bowls, and I couldn’t be happier with it. Have I mentioned that I LOVE it?! And it has handles!
I also noticed that the first week we started using the bowls and plate, my Hubby kept stealing my plate. So I gave him the other plate I bought last year. I don’t like it quite as well. It’s a beautifully turned plate by Dan Solbrack, but it’s made of walnut wood, and, in my opinion, it still flavors food to a black walnut wood flavor, not a nice one. His taste buds are not so picky as mine, and he seems to like it very much.
The thing that both David and I like about using wood dishes for every meal, we clean them right away, so they are ready for the next meal, and don’t get stacked beside the sink like the rest of the dishes. Which, in turn, has cut down on our dirty dish pile drastically!
I also bought two spoons from fellow carvers. A beautiful Scandinavian style parfait spoon made of Lilac wood by Tom Dengler, and a one of a kind Buckthrone spoon by Yuri Moldenhauer.
Yuri’s spoon rivals for first place with my own Bird’s-eye Maple spoon. (In photo with the bowl of oatmeal.) And for the moment has completely replaced my spiral handled spoon as my spoon of choice for lunch and supper.
Annual Spoon Carver's Gathering 2011!
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
For those of you who are interested, I have posted photos of this year’s Spoon Carver’s Gathering in the Photo Galleries. It was a fantastic weekend!
Knife Making Class
Monday, January 24, 2011
This past weekend I was able to take another class from Milan Village Art school. Last year I took a figure carving class, and a spoon carving class. This year I wanted to take a knife making class so I could have a general purpose knife with me, and not ruin my carving knives.
It was a two and a half day class. The first day was spent making the knife handle (we didn’t make the blades). Most people used the disk sander to shape their handle, but I decided to carve mine, since that is what I am most used to. I really enjoyed working the handle to custom fit my hand.
The second day was spent making a sheath to custom fit our knives. Sewing the sheath together was my favorite part. Very straight forward and relaxing.
The last day/morning was spent staining our sheaths what ever colour we wanted. I had a bit of trouble deciding on a colour, but in the end I am rather pleased with the result.
The contrast of the sheath and the handle of the knife work well together.
Ebony and Rosewood
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Work has been rather slow on my end lately. After giving my thumb time to heal, and going through a “style crisis” I am finally back into carving, albeit at a much slower pace.
This fall I worked on two big projects, one was a gift for my Father-in-law, which I have yet to take a photo of. The other has been a mixing spoon set for a customer.
Kathy requested a black spoon to give to her son. I only know of two black woods, one being African Blackwood and the other Ebony. I had heard that Blackwood is easier to carve than Ebony so it was my first choice, but when I went to buy it the store only had Ebony, and only one piece of it.
I was rather nervous that Ebony would be really hard to carve, but I was pleasantly surprised! It wasn’t as hard as even some Maple I’ve worked with!
In the end Kathy ordered two Ebony spoons and one Rosewood.
It was such a joy to work on these spoons for her and I am so please with how they turned out.
Thanks for looking, In Christ, Rita
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