white manzanita

while in Mt. Shasta i kept thinking i wanted to try carving a spoon out of the manzanita that is growing all over the place. it is hard to find a dry piece that has not split, so i had to go with a green section of branch. this little spoon has a graceful twist that evokes some of the spirit of the plant it came from. i like the two little dots that showed up in the bowl. this one i finished while in Reno.
_____given to the lovely Vanessa Marnewecke

olive from Spreadwing

when i was visiting a wonderful farm in the Capay Valley of California called Spreadwing, they suggested to me that i might harvest some spoon wood from a recently fallen and still green branch next to their barn. this little one was from a section of branch that was already dry and stable, which i often prefer to working with wet wood, because it is more stable and predictable. i started working on this spoon there at Spreadwing, worked on it while hitch-biking to Reno from Mt. Shasta, and finished it my first day in Reno when we went to Pyramid Lake.

lilac samara

this piece had a crack in the handle section that i worked around, leading to the shape of this samara, the twin maple seed.

little ocean spray

i began carving these two quite a while ago back on Lopez Island, then rediscovered them, half-finished in a bag somewhere, shortly before departing on this trip. i finished both when in mt. shasta. currently i only have a picture of one. this one was recently sold to a nice couple i met at my friend erik burke's art show in Reno. the other was given to a friend who lives in Dunsmuir, who should be sending me an image any day now...

blue spruce

when i was in seattle just starting this trip down to the superhero bicycle ride i helped my dad do some pruning of the huge blue spruce tree in the back yard of the house i grew up in. i took a few pieces to carve into spoons. this is the first one, and was finished while i was in portland. it found a home with the superhero We Be Nesting, who was present when i arrived at the 2015 Haul of Justice.

this shows the mini bent knife from North Bay Forge that is the only tool i brought with me on this trip. it is enough to carve the whole spoon. 

young walnut for Sweethome

this one was from one of the young walnut branch sections i harvested on Lopez. i kept the design very simple and elegant. when i took a couple of classes with a wonderful teacher at North Portland Yoga named Sweethome i felt moved to give her this one as a token of my respect. she is a being overflowing with superhero spirit!

two commissions!

My superhero friend Lila Gaya helped me out by spreading the word via Facebook about the magic of souper spoons she has experienced firsthand. Through her sharing two people who know her contacted me and commissioned me to make spoons. It can take me a while to find the right wood and be ready to work on a particular project... but after a few months they finally came along!

The first one I completed is made of Alder that I found aging outdoors at Midnight's Farm near where I was living at the time on Lopez Island. The young girl who will receive it is wide-eyed like an owl so i incorporated that animal into the handle. This spoon is about 4 in. long. The star and heart represent love and truth.

The other one is made from wood I found at Midnight's Farm around the same time. It has a very interesting core pith in the branch. My friend who lives there said she thinks it is walnut, but I'm not too sure. The inner layer of bark stays green as it dries. Wonder if it will retain that color indefinitely.

cherry with a wart

I finished this spoon while on a trip to Vancouver, BC in early April. It is made from a native cherry wood I found at Freedom Farm, Lopez Island. It is about five inches long. it has been bought by a superhero i met at the Sunwise Coop house in Davis, CA!

Given to April in Davis, CA! Happy surprise meeting between superheroes!