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.

 

red shank

This unusually colorful wood came from the place of a friend who had me out to work with him and visit this summer. The land is near Anza, California, East of Temecula. Red shank is one of the dominant native shrubs there, and some of the ones near the house of my friend Randy are quite large, which makes for good spoon wood. The trunk I selected was partly dead, so I figured it was more expendable than the more vigorous parts of the plant. Fortunately the dead wood added huge amounts of character and beauty to this spoon! Some large cracks remained when it was complete, and I filled them with red brick dust during the curing, hoping the cracks would close and seal the dust in as they cooled. The idea came from my recent experience with kolrosing. What was most surprising and remarkable to is the 'curly' quality of the wood revealed int he bowl once sanded. Like waves in the wood. Gives the wood a whole other dimension.

 

orange cooking spoon

While living at Collin's place, Hawk'in'eye Haven, I met a neighbor who hired me for some work on their land. The day I met Rick he was cutting some orange wood, and he said he would bring me a good section for making spoons. He commissioned one out of this wood for his mother Joan, who requested a long-handled spoon for stirring. The wood was delightful to carve and the spoon came out beautifully! I've decided to leave these serving spoons I'm doing these days unsanded, which we call knife finished. It is less work and is sufficient for a spoon that does not go in the mouth as often. If the knife can get the surface smoothe it will actually stay more smoothe with a knife finish than a sanded one.

 

alder serving spoon

 

While on Lopez Island before coming down to California I roughed out a couple blanks from willow and alder I'd gotten from a friend's place. While I was living with my friends at their lovely home in Valley Center I took some time to complete spoons from them. This alder serving spoon was much-needed in a kitchen without many of this size, and few wooden utensils overall. These friends Collin and Rivkah were very hospitable to me, and I was happy to make a contribution to their good life there.

I've been loving this spine ridge that has come into a few of the recent designs. It adds a sense of continuity as it extends the line from the neck, and reminds me of hand carved wooden canoes of olden times. The rings were close and the way the grain patterns showed up on this spoon was especially beautiful.

healer's mountain ash

 

This mountain ash is one I have pruned a couple of times over the years, and this time I harvested some wood large enough to make some spoons! The tree is by the road at a place where I lived on Lopez Island called Freedom Farm. The tree is split in two and the core of one side is completely rotted out, yet it lives and continues to produce fruit! Strong tree. 

This one stayed with me for a while and then a friend adopted it when I left it in her tiny home. Spoons find their people in different ways I guess. This one was meant for Kendra.