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!