The big storm several weeks ago had broken a couple of branches from the pine trees behind the house, and that was the perfect material to start carving a little spoon from. The wood was easy to carve, but getting it into the form I wanted was not. In my enthusiasm I nearly carved a hole to the spoon part and the whole thing just looked rather fragile. A bit more of this whittling and I would have material left for only a toothpick. I tried to make the surface as even as possible with the chisels and then finished smoothing it with the sandpaper. Not easy at all but not bad either for a first try.
I've always liked to work with wood, it's such a beautiful, pleasant material, the end result a pleasure to use and to look at (normally). This spoon might be a bit to fragile for use, so I will just look at it and try to remember the lessons learned from that first try.
Brand new spoon waiting for a coat of linseed oil that will protect the wood.
The very next day I started to carve yet another spoon, but a bit chunkier model this time. I was using birch wood which was a bit harder work than the pine but still easy enough to carve. The spoon turned out a bit different than what I had in mind, which is often the case with my creative work; it evolves as I go on. But I am still happy with it.
Mon Cheri took it immediately to use as his coffee-measuring spoon. Must be good then! For those who don't know, Mon Cheri in an ébéniste, a cabinetmaker, and likes to give me advice on woodwork techniques etc, which I do receive gratefully, sometimes. And at other times I just want to be left alone to do it MYSELF! Even if I am wrong. And because of this character trait, I quite often learn the things the hard way.
When I split the pine branch that I used to make the little spoon (above), I was left with a very narrow piece of wood, that I thought would make a perfect butter knife. Again, very nearly a toothpick but after a lot of sweating and swearing, I managed to make this.
Finally a thing that I can use, a rest for a spoon or a ladle. Looks deceptively easy to make but I can tell you, it was not. Maybe if you're using machines, but I like to make my stuff just using the hand tools.
After many weeks of
A promising start.
But a bit more than half way there, Mon Cheri's arm got very sore and he had to stop working. In a few days it was evident that he'd got tendonitis (he has had it before) and only rest would make it better. Banging all those nails through those thick planks isn't obviously good for the health. Blast!
Ah, but he is tetu, so few days later he was at it again. He didn't get very far though before he had to stop again and admit defeat. The compost would have to stay unfinished for some time. Ach well, not the first unfinished job in this house...
Before christmas I got into cross-stiching, another rather meditative past-time. I made couple of bookmarks to give as xmas presents and this one for myself.
And this one for my sister-in-law. Lets not forget to laugh.
Then something a bit bigger and more demanding. I haven't decided what to do with this one yet but it was fun to make. I didn't have all the right colours for this work, but hey ho, when I'm in the flow, I can't stop.
I feel the important thing is just to create, never mind the result. Some people meditate, I find that little art and craft projects work for me. There is so many roads to get where you want to go.
