Blogs

Strata Florida Abbey, Ysbyty Ystwyth, Devils Bridge, Nanteos and the legend of the Holy Grail. 

I often wondered why Ysbyty Ystwyth was so called, was there once a hospital there? Something to do with the mining industry and injured miners perhaps?

Strata Florida translates as the valley of the flowers, Strata Florida Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey situated just outside Pontrhydfendigaid, near  Tregaron in the county of Ceredigion, Wales. The abbey was originally founded in 1164.  http://cadw.wales.gov.uk/daysout/strata-florida-abbey/?lang=en

Devils Bridge.  Its always amused me that the construction of the Bridge is attributed to the Devil in the local story, (see www.devilsbridgefalls.co.uk) but was built by Monks in the 11th century - the date quoted is 1087. This pre-dates the founding of Strata Florida by about 80 years, but the Bridge would have been used by monks from there to reach ranges at Ystumtuen, which later became part of the Nanteos Estate. This suggests Monks were influential in the area from the time of the Norman conquest.

Ysbyty Ystwyth gets its name from the Yspytty – run by the monastery, which was a place of hospitality, shelter and entertainment for visiting strangers when other houses of accommodation were unknown. The monastery was affluent enough to provide this, but there were restrictions upon who could stay there so they provided places for travellers – pilgrims perhaps- to rest on their travels. It is also possible that the name derives from the Knights Hospitallers who had extensive lands in the area.

Cwpan Nanteos, - the Nanteos Cup.

Legend has it that the Holy Grail found its way to Strata Florida via Glastonbury Abbey where Joseph of Arimethea took refuge fleeing persecution in Jerusalem. Centuries later when King Henry VIII waged war on the Catholic Monks, they fled the Abbey with the Grail to Nanteos Mansion where the cup was hidden for many years. 

(The Nanteos Cup when examined was found to be a 500 year old kitchen cup made from Rowan wood, which is native to Wales. However, many still believe the legend, and it adds an air of mystery to the place).

Nanteos mansion is now a rather wonderful Country house hotel. http://www.nanteos.com/ 

Cambrian Safaris are developing a series of tours with Nanteos Mansion to explore the delightfully varied countryside of north Ceredigion and the Cambrian mountains along with the wonderfully varied history of the area.. These tours will explore the extent of the old Nanteos estate as well as the other former gentrified estates of the area which acquired huge tracts of upland at the disillusion of the monasteries by Henry VIII in 1534. The tours can include visits to Strata Florida Abbey, Devils Bridge and an old Lead mine and will feature snippets of history from Bronze age times to the present day.  

Today was a light carving day. That off-side thumb was demanding a day off, but what I did today didn't put much of a strain on it. It kept its complaints to a dull roar. The first photo shows the transition from the medallion to the ridged stem on the back. 

I did this a day or two ago, but never posted a photo of it. I spent today working on the back of the bowl. I'll often spend as much time working on the bowl as I spend carving the entire rest of the spoon. To me, the bowl is the most important part of the spoon. Without a bowl a spoon is just a stick. I've been smoothing and shaping the bowl with the knives shown. 

The two on the left were made by Ralph Long, and the one on the right was made by Allen Goodman. I normally rough out the outside of the bowl with my Regular Sloyd from Del Stubbs. I like the longer blades for bowl work because they allow longer slices and I can control the transition from one curve to another better. Shorter blades leave me with a choppy feel. Once the rough-out is done I change to a much thinner blade, though still long. 

I lay the blade almost flat on the wood and use it like a plane or spokeshave. Using this technique I can get a surface that on anything other than a lovespoon would be considered finished. 

It only requires a couple of minutes work with sandpaper to get it baby-butt smooth. Any technique that lets me minimize the use of The Devil's Paper is worth the time it takes. 

I use the short bladed knife to do the short-radius, scooping cuts at the transition from the stem to the bowl. Now that I've removed more wood and smoothed out the surface the figure of the wood is becoming more apparent even in my poor photographs. 

This variation in color is what I love about poplar. You can get all shades of brown, greens, yellows and even purple. It's a terriffic looking wood and easy to carve.

I do all my carving with hand tools, 99% of which are knives. I do it this way for two reasons: 1) I try to emulate the traditional way of working. The young men of rural Wales (or Scandanavia) who began this tradition didn't have elaborate shops with lots of tools. They worked from the heart with what they had. That's the feeling I want to put in my spoons. 2) I hate power tools! They are noisy, dirty and dangerous. The only concession I make to modern tools is the use of a battery-powered hand drill to start the piercings on my spoon, and the only reason I do that is that it allows me to hold the piece in my hand while I'm drilling. A hand drill requires the use of two hands, and since my wife and I live on a 28-foot sailboat we don't have the room for a bench I can clamp the piece to while I drill.

I'm still trying to figure out the stem-bowl transition. I cut a little and stare a little. Cut a little more and stare a little more. It's time to do a lot more staring and thinking.

Now I have a really sore left thumb. Well, you know what THEY say (you know who THEY are, don't you), one must suffer for one's art. I got the front of the stem relieved to about where I want it and flattened.

Again, nothing fancy, just cut, strop, cut, strop. The back of the stem I decided to carve into a ridge. I don't know what it is about ridged stems, but I can't seem to stay away from them.

In any case it allows me to play a little and still stay within the budget (about which, more later). I began shaping the outside of the bowl, and my feeling about the wood has been borne out. This is going to be a seriously good-looking piece.

Even though it is not yet apparent in the photos, there is a good, strong figure working through the bowl. I had to be careful to make sure I was smoothing out an actual facet instead of trying to erase a grain line.

Ah, to have more such problems!

A stray thought about commissions occurred to me today as I was working on the spoon. If you buy a lovespoon from a website or store, mine or anyone else's, you get a beautiful piece of art at a price that is what it is without room for negotiation. A lovespoon doesn't have to be fancy or intricate, especially if it holds meaning specifically for you. When you commission a lovespoon you are not locked into a high price. You can decide on a budget, and between you and the carver work out a design that meets that budget. Lovespoons aren't just for the well-heeled collector, everyone can have one. And what's better, everyone can have one that has a special meaning just for you.

Today was another day of donkey work -- removing wood. Nothing fancy, no special techniques needed. Just strop, knife, hog off wood, repeat. I now have a sore left thumb. Probably 98% of the cuts I made today were what I call lever cuts (some call it a scissors cut): put your left thumb (non-dominant hand) on the back of the blade just above the handle, then move your right hand using your left thumb as a fulcrum. That produces a very powerful, very controlable shearing cut. It also produces a sore left thumb. The more I cut on this piece of wood, the prettier I think it's going to be when it's oiled. The medallion at the top has a lot of good figure running through it, and the bowl, with that dark stripe running slant-wise through it, should be pretty spectacular. Tomorrow more wood removal as I relieve the surface of the spoon's stem. After that, the bowl. The major decision I have to make regards how the stem will blend into the back of the bowl. That's going to take some thought.