Monthly Archives: August 2018

Three in the Rough

I’ve had some ale bowl requests on the backburner for far too long now, so while I had some cooperative cherry around I decided to rough out three at once.  That makes it sound much more straightforward than it is.  … Continue reading

Posted in ale bowls, cherry, holding, layout, quotes and excerpts, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 15 Comments

Big September at North House

Grand Marais, Minnesota will be a hotbed of craft celebration next month.  Spoons  have been showing up on the doorstep of North House Folk School for the fundraising auction that I wrote about in this post.  There is a rich … Continue reading

Posted in classes, events, Uncategorized | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Bee Still

Bees do have a smell, you know, and if they don’t they should, for their feet are dusted with spices from a million flowers. — Ray Bradbury, Introduction to Dandelion Wine (1957) Setting down my carving knife, I marveled at … Continue reading

Posted in nature, quotes and excerpts, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Slippery Elm Bowls

There’s no better way to understand the working properties of a wood species than to carve a chunk of it.  Its character is revealed through experience with it,  including subtle nuances that are difficult to communicate.  Different trees within the … Continue reading

Posted in bowls, finding wood, paint, trees, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Roughing Spoons from Straight Blanks

Spoons are cranky.  Take a close look at just about any spoon, whatever the material, and you’ll find that the rim of the bowl of the spoon is not in the same plane as the handle.  The angle between them … Continue reading

Posted in carving, layout, sketch, spoons, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | 13 Comments

Spoons for Wille and Bill

  My central concern is encouragement — encouraging people to seek, to experiment, to design, to create, and to dream. –Bill Coperthwaite, A Handmade Life There are plenty of reasons to carve a spoon, and here’s a special one.  North … Continue reading

Posted in Uncategorized | 8 Comments