A New Place To Buy Spoons

Hey all...just want to let folks in on some exciting news. After my last post I was contacted by Alison Ladman, she owns The Crust and Crumb Baking Co. on Main Street in Concord. Alison saw the spoons here on the blog and had all kinds of great stuff to say about them and we agreed to put some spoons in the shop for sale. Now if you are not familiar with The Crust and Crumb it's a fantastic little bakery located at 126 North Main St. right across from the capitol building. Alison has all kinds of great stuff in there -  artisan breads, pastries, desserts and much more!  Check it out here on her web site http://www.thecrustandcrumb.com . Along with some of the most enticing baked goods I've ever smelled, Alison also has the walls of the shop adorned with photography and art work from local artists that are for sale and at various times has all kinds of different things from local craftspeople for sale. I just think it is so wonderful that she would make space available for local crafts people to show and sell some stuff in a shop run by a like minded craftsperson. This is how the craft world should work; the kind of sharing environment that is going to make available to folks local hand craft, art, and baked goods! Kudos to Alison and get in and check out what she's got bakin' and maybe pick up a spoon too.

Hey folks....been a while but I haven't abandoned the blog. I've been super busy working a batch of spoons up. The snow has finally melted up here and I've been able to get out and gather up a bunch of great spoonwood. Mostly birch that blew down or limbs that cracked and came down with this winters heavy snow load. I'm really trying to stockpile a good inventory over the next month so I can show my spoons to the fine folks at our local weekly arts market and get in to sell there. I'll keep everyone updated on that and hopefully I can see some of you folks over the summer. I was also busy this Easter season making some baskets for the kids I'll throw a picture in here at the end and maybe when I get a chance write a post about them. It really was enjoyable making them; my first go at basket weaving, but I was really happy with how they came out....and most importantly I was able to get rid of some more junk with a made in China sticker on it and craft something myself that will last( at least until the lure of the Easter bunny is over!). Again I'll keep you updated on where you'll be able to buy spoons this summer and I promise I'll get back on the blogging train. As I've been hunkered down working I've come up with some real good thoughts on craft ( spooncraft and others) and it's place here in a modern hi-tech world ( more important than ever! ).


........p.s. don't mind any grammatical errors or other weird typos I spontaneously wrote this and didn't run it by my editor my wonderful wife Amy.....

 

 

 

the baskets on top filled with all kind of junk
none of us need...but hey everything in moderation.
on the bottom just some of the newbies that have been oiled...
there is about fifteen more waiting for oil...and a couple of logs waiting.

The New Spoons Are Here!!

 

I finally have them up and ready! I know it took longer than I said, but I couldn't settle on the easiest way to sell them here on the blog. I toyed around with adding a paypal button to the blog itself, but that was rather confusing, when at first it seemed easy ( don't believe everything you read on the internet!). I also spent the whole day Saturday trying to open a store on shopify, but got bogged down. That turned out to be much more of a hassle than it probably should have been. My computer abilities leave something to be desired. I'm able to do this blog because it pretty much runs itself. I mean, come on, I make spoons with an ax and two knives...what can you expect??  Anyway, I finally decided that the easiest way is to post them here with the price and if you're interested you can let me know in the comment section which number spoon you're interested in and I will let you know if it is available. If you want to purchase it, please send me an email at planman1002@gmail.com. That way I'll have your email; then I can email you a paypal invoice which will allow you to pay via paypal or with a credit card. With that being said.....onto the spoons!

spoon # 1

cherry serving spoon

overall length: 12"

bowl: 2.5"

This one is a hefty server with a nice deep bowl. It is mostly heart wood giving it that

classic light brown hue; except for a rogue streak of pale sapwood running up the side.

Price: $ 30

 

 

 

spoon # 2

cherry cooking spoon

overall length: 15.5"

bowl: 1.75"

This one is the big stirring spoon featured in the long spoon post a few weeks back.

It's all cherry heartwood, long and straight; the bowl is narrow and shallow; great for stirring and sneaking a taste.

Price: $30

 

spoon # 3

cherry server

overall length: 10"

bowl: 2"

This one is kind of a tweener. It has a nice egg shaped bowl that is semi shallow and pretty thin. It would make a nice light duty server, but also a good long eating spoon.



Price: $ 30

 

spoon # 4

apple eating spoon

overall length: 8"

bowl: 1.5"

This one is a great looking spoon...streaks of dark and light...a couple of small knots in the handle.

I love apple it is very unpredictable and every piece is a surprise. It has a nice tear drop shaped bowl

made shallow for eating. This one almost didn't make it into the batch (because I almost kept it!).

Price: $25

 

 

spoon # 5

apple eating spoon

overall length: 8"

bowl: a little under 1.5"

A whimsical shaped eater that feels great in the hand. This one would be a great yogurt spoon or for anything in a container as it has a long, thin, and pointy bowl.

Price: $25

 

salad serving set

overall length: 10.5"

bowl: 2"

This is something I plan to make a lot more of. Made from a chunk of a cherry log split down the middle resulting in two pieces that mirrored each other. The two pronged fork nicely pinches its shallow spoon partner.

Price: $55

 

That's the batch folks...like I said before I wish there were more in it, but I wanted to get some up here for you all. The good news is that when I was cleaning out the freezer this weekend I found three roughed out spoons and a spatula!. I've been working on those, and I broke out the snowshoes the other day and took to the woods where I found some downed limbs that look like they have some good spoons in them. So please, if you are interested in one of these comment below or email me at planman1002@gmail.com. If you don't get in, keep following as there will be more on the way. 



 



 

 

 



The Craftsmanship Of Risk... Or So It's Been Called

I first heard Peter Follansbee refer to spoon carving as the "craftsmanship of risk" (explaining the perils of spoon carving) on Roy Underhill's show. Not a truer statement has there ever been. For all the beautiful spoons that the multitude of wonderful carvers produce that you see at the craft shows, local markets, or here on the web - you don't usually see what's in the photo above. To the spoon carver or green woodworker it is all too familiar; that perfect looking log that you can clearly see the spoon in and can't wait to unlock it, only to split the log open and find some hidden knot from an off shot branch long ago in the tree's youth; possibly some rotten wood, maybe damage from some monstrous insect, or any other malformation that the tree has kept hidden under it's thick and rough exterior. As spoonmakers and green woodworkers we try and learn and study each tree, log, or crooked branch. Many times it can be apparent on the bark where a knot may be, but no matter how you may try to read it, or how you can try to convince yourself that it is going to work, the wood inside will twist and shape itself no matter how hard we try to manipulate it. As is the beauty of our craft, the natural medium we work with has its own idea what we will make from it and our goal is to find harmony with what it has to offer.

a butternut log with nice shape for a bent serving spoon but too much funkiness
and a crack that went all the way through..so to the firewood pile

Then sometimes you get all the way to this stage and carve the whole spoon and then notice a small
crack and try to salvage, work around it, and then go to far...this great apple crook just didn't want to be a serving
ladle.  

 

 

So anyway, the last of the new batch were oiled last night. Once those dry and I'm able to get some shots of the batch I'll get them up here on the blog. Unfortunately, the batch isn't as big as I'd hoped due to more than the usual assortment of the aforementioned challenges (and one spoon eating yellow lab who was able to break in and ravage the spoon shop!) But, I hope to have them posted by the end of the week so keep your eye out.

Update From The Spoon Shop

Just a quick post to let you all know what's going on here in the spoon shop: the new batch of spoons is coming along nicely; lots of snow up here in New Hampshire the last couple of weeks, some thirty or so inches since the 5th of the month, so I've been hunkered down close to the woodstove going at it with hatchet and knives. This batch is a bunch of cherry, a few apple, and some butternut. As per usual, a mix of servers, eaters and a couple of big long cookers in there. This time I made a nice matching salad set. It's the first time I've made a set; I found a log that split nicely down the middle and I realized I could use both sides of the log, like a mirror image of each other...book matched if you will. As I split up the last of my stash of spoon wood I'm going to try and get some pieces that will make good spatulas. I've had a bunch of requests for them after one showed up in an earlier post. Below I've got some close ups of one I use quite a bit along with another really cool spoon with a hole in the middle for scooping stuff out of water, when you don't want the water to come with it. It was pretty cool how the hole came about; it was a quirky piece of a pear tree that just seemed to keep twisting as I worked it and it dried out. It sat in the spoon basket for about a year I wasn't sure if it would ever make it. Then one day a couple of weeks ago I picked it up again gave it a look...this way...that way...up...down. I held it lefty, then righty, then I raised it to my mouth...to long to be an eating spoon, but the bowl wasn't wide enough to really serve with. It came from a bent branch so it was cranked to much to stir with. What to do...what to do...hmmm. I don't like to give up on any spoon I feel an obligation to the tree, the branch, or log it came from to get something usable from it. That being said this one seemed destined for the kindling pile, until I held it up in front of the window and saw that I had almost carved right through the bowl. I could see the sunlight shining through the middle. Eureka!! For a long time now my wife, Amy has been asking me to carve some kind of slotted spoon. Since I repeatedly scowl at the stamped out, hideous piece of bamboo or rubber wood or what ever, with the perfectly machined four slots in it, that she won't let me take out of the spoon bucket next to the stove. The only remnant of all the Target or Crate and Barrel mass produced crap that used to be in there. What I decided to do was to keep carving until I went through, then stick some sand paper in there and smooth it out and viola a spoon that performs all the functions of the rubber wood junk. Anyhow here is a couple of  shots of the "spoon with the hole" and the spatula...I also threw in a couple of the new batch that still need some carving work and the finish.

the hole in the bowl

 

 

 

you can see the quirky shape here

but with the hole in it this one easily

scoops boiled veggies out of the pot to

the plate leaving the water behind

 

 

 

a couple of the spatula

 

 

                                               and few from the new batch ...along with
                                               a gratuitous shot of a hanging wall shelf
                                                                     I'm working on.

Diggin' On The Long Spoons

Hey all I'm back! It's been much longer since my last post than I would wish. My goal is to post at least once a week or every 10 days; something like that. I had a pretty busy January though, between the family and the "real" job that actually pays the bills, I haven't had much time to sit down and write. I've been bouncing around a bunch of good post ideas in my head, so I should be able to get a few out in a short time. I was able to take care of some housekeeping issues on the blog, though. I had heard back from a bunch of people that you couldn't comment unless you had a google+ account; I changed that so anyone can comment, anonymously or not....whatever you prefer. Also, I added a couple of gadgets (I think that's what they are called..)  You will see them in the upper right hand side - one is to follow by e-mail and one is to follow on google+.  If you follow by e-mail you will get updates on posts, comments, and all that good stuff. One more thing and then we'll get to the long spoons; I've got a new batch of spoons that should be ready in the next couple of weeks and I will be adding a paypal button on the blog so you'll conveniently be able to buy spoons right here!

Now to the spoons.....the big spoons. The two spoons in the picture up top are two of the longest I've made thus far.  The one on the left is maple; it's about 13 1/2 inches long and has a long, skinny, but shallow bowl.  The one on the right is a monster...cherry, 15 1/2 inches long, again with a skinny, shallow bowl. These are primarily cooking spoons which is why I keep the bowls shallow and thin, as they function more like a paddle or a boar oar.  You don't need to hold all that much in a cooking spoon; just enough to take a taste of your favorite sauce or broth.

 



skinny shallow bowl on the cherry

 



 

In this picture, the maple is in front and the cherry is in back. You can see in this shot that I like to put a little bit of scoop in the bowl; I feel this helps get right into the corners of pots and pans. Also, you might notice how thick the handles are. For my eating spoons, I try to make my handles as thin as the wood will allow me so they feel comfortable between the fingers, but with a cooking spoon, I like to keep them robust for leverage and durability. The maple is in regular use for me, and I find myself reaching for it more and more .

 

My only true spoon design philosophy is to make what the wood gives you and I was fortunate to come into these long pieces of wood, because that is what it comes down to. If I have a long log I make long spoons... if it is short then short spoons....bent then bent, and so on and so forth.

 

Maybe next time we'll talk about the short spoons...I've got a little lilac and a little apple I just finished up that I'm dying to show off!  

Some Thoughts On What I Do, And Why I Do It

First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who read my first post. I was really excited by the response I got, and hope you all continue to follow. There's no sense in rambling if nobody is going to read it, so I greatly appreciate it.

The picture above is a few spoons and a spatula I made, some of my first works. They were just washed and are drying after another great meal, made even more special with handmade utensils. I use these spoons everyday, along with a few smaller ones I rotate in and out to eat my breakfast and lunch. I put this picture up to show how I use my spoons and what I intend for them when I make them. Every time I sell a spoon, or gift one, I try to emphasize USE IT. Use it everyday if you can; we live in a culture that we encounter so few truly handmade items on a daily basis, and we're missing out on the simple joy of just having and using something that someone made. What I'm trying to do with the spoons is make it easy and affordable to get some handmade back into our lives.

For a long time now I've wanted to work wood. To create, to start with a tree and to end up with something special, and hopefully be able to sell the things I make. I was restless in this pursuit though, and could never settle on what I wanted to make or how I wanted to make it. I wanted to make cabinets...no chairs...how about tables. I'll do period pieces...or Shaker...no, no Krenov. I wanted to do it all with handtools, I wanted to do it all with machines, or I'd blend both . All that indecision and I still had no idea who I'd sell them to. Who could afford a handmade piece of furniture? How could I find them? Then I realized there is a lot of math involved in cabinet/chair/table making and unfortunately, math and I don't get along! Then I saw Peter Follansbee carving Swedish style spoons on Roy Underhill's show, and I thought, WOW! That's it..... that is what I want to do. So I went and ordered a hook knife and a sloyd knife, and while I was waiting for them to come I took my little camping hatchet out to the firewood pile. I began to split and hew to my heart's content and by the time my knives came I had four or five blanks already roughed out waiting to be refined into usable spoons. That's what I did; I carved and I refined until they were spoons, and it felt so natural and liberating to work wood with these simple tools in an old time way using skills that we developed as human beings ages ago. I was proud of these spoons. I put them in the utensil bucket next to the stove, and a couple of them are the ones we use every night to make and serve meals.

This is a very short version of how I got here now, with one of the things we all use everyday..... a spoon. I sell my spoons for about $25 to $30, depending on the size; I've been told make sure you get "this for that one" and "that for this one," but I like to keep it simple. I don't want people to feel like handmade is unattainable or something that one needs to save up for, and I also want people to use them. The more things cost, the more apt we are to put them on a shelf for display.

So, if you're out there with a spoon I have made, or somebody else has made, or anything you have that is truly handmade - I hope it enriches your life because that is what it's maker intended.......