sycamore serving spoon

 

One beautiful day this fall, while riding to Ocean Beach from East County, I came across a bus with trees painted on the outside. The owner of the bus was outside, and this felt like a great opportunity to meet someone new. Luke and I hit it off right away, and he offered to make a video of me doing a spoon carving demonstration I was planning. Besides being a wonderful, kind human being, Luke is a video blogger and web designer travelling the country while learning how to be more fully alive. Check out his videos on his YouTube channel! 

When I started to ride off after our meeting I remembered I'd said to myself that the next person I had the opportunity to get a picture taken by I would ask. So I went back and Luke got this nice picture of me with my unusual bicycle luggage system. 

The wood came from a huge sycamore growing near where we had breakfast on the side of the road the morning of a spoon carving demonstration I was doing at Backfence Society in Vista. I was not able to get a fresh branch, but found one recently fallen that I selected a good section from. The wood was harder to work because of how dry it was, and doing the axe work took the full two hours of the demo. I was able to finish the clean up knife work the same day, and eventually finished it on a special visit to Luke at his bus where he was parked on Fiesta Island. It was presented to him as a gift that day. 

kolrosed crab apple

 This spoon was commissioned by a friend. The wood is crab apple, given to me by my spoon carving teacher on Orcas Island, who has an abundance of nifty woods around his shop to toss my way when I visit. It took the kolrosing really well, which was perfect for the curvy design I decided to put on this spoon. 

What do you see in this picture? What does it symbolize for you? To me it speaks of God and Gaia. The Love behind it all and the sturdy Mother of our bodies that He shines through. There are so many ways to depict the oneness! The image of Her came first, and the rest was spontaneous as I worked the drawing on the spoon handle with pencil. Thank you Creator!

photo by Ron Hurley

kolrosed mountain ash

 

Playing with some kolrosing! I'm using the point of a regular small straight knife for this, and it is working alright. The powder I used for color this time is clove. 

indian hawthorn

 

A new friend named Margaret suggested for my spoon-carving pleasure some really hard wood pruned in the past year at her property near Oceanside, California. She said it was hawthorn. I thought that was unlikely because I have only known hawthorn to grow up north. She later found pictures online and it looks like it is an indian hawthorn, which is different from the English ones I know. The wood carves much differently, more like cherry, and the color is similar to cherry as well. This one I allowed to go longer in the toaster, so it got quite dark, and obscured the wood grain patterns. I made three small lines by kolrosing on the neck, which can barely be seen after the toasting. The shape of the bowl is inspired by the spoons of Adam Hawker. 

I've been playing around with how to soften the sharp corner on the back of the handle for the comfort of the hand. In this case I made an angle cut all the way along it and carried it into a facet curving to the edge of the bowl. I'm quite happy with how that worked out!

service berry

 One day Andre was cutting down a biiiiiig service berry next to the cheese room. He couldn't help but think of Davis, the spoonmaker, who was always looking for new wood to carve into beautiful spoons...

So I roughed out a blank from this wood, having a certain design for the handle in mind inspired by many metal spoons I have enjoyed with this upward swooping end. Then it dried out and sat and sat until I retrieved it on my sport visit back to the San Juans in the end of August. Sometimes it just comes as a surprise when these spoons come into being. I was really happy with how this one came out!

olive ladle

I harvested this olive from a very old tree on Lilac Road with my friend Kendra just before moving on from the place we were living together. She helped me out in a time when I had nowhere else to go. This spoon I made in gratitude for what she gives and reverence for who she is. My hope is that it will serve her well in her kitchen, serving many nourishing soups to many smiling friends.

Here it is next to an eating spoon for size comparison.
 

sturdy alder

This compact eating spoon is made from alder from our family land on Orcas Island. It is now in the hands of my brother Learner. This one is completely knife finished, which is unusual for the bowl of the eating spoons I carve. I think this is the first one on which I carved the spine ridge. It is a very sturdy spoon, which matches my brother's sturdy character.