pepper serpent

i got the wood for this one in the wood shed of my friends Joseph and Jani. it was Joseph's suggestion that i might find something of interest in the cord wood there. after feeling around in there for a bit i pulled off this shard of pepper wood that had a dark surface on one side that may have come from a part of the tree that was damaged and coated with pitch. or it was just dead there and beginning to rot. i decided to work that into the spoon by leaving a circle of it on the bottom of the bowl.

i had hardly gotten started with this spoon when, soon after returning to Lopez Island i met a fellow traveler at one of my favorite weekly potlucks. Kat is the friend of Nikyta, aho i gave one of my tiny rose spoons years ago. after i had connected with Kat in conversation and the evening was coming to an end Nikyta told me, "i was going to tell her about your spoons because she loves wooden spoons!" the spirit was moving me to make a spoon for her, and somehow this piece of pepper wood seemed like it was meant for her. the next day i worked on this spoon and was amazed at how it became a serpent! there was just enough thickness and width to make the curves and the spiral tail. i just worked with the shape of the shard to guide the design. nice how the marks of the blade imply scales.

the magic of surprise meetings and soul connection is a lot of what these souper spoons are about for me. i want to encourage people who i sense are also alive in this way, and hope that we all can pass it on and grow through it together. let these spoons be a reminder.