Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2009, David Western --

It gives me great pleasure to announce the winner of the first Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon is Howard Evans! Howard was very generous in his support of the Eisteddfod and is a more than worthy winner of this traditional, handcrafted, one-of-a-kind Welsh lovespoon!

As the designer and carver of this spoon, it has been very heartening for me to see people support the inaugural Left Coast Eisteddfod through their kind donations and to personally have been the recipient of so many kind words of praise from many of you. I would, therefore, like to take this occasion to announce that I will be back with a new spoon design to support next year's edition of the Left Coast Eisteddfod!! Lots of lessons have been learned from the whole process of trying to initiate a great Welsh cultural event here in North America and although it has not been without its challenges, I believe next year's version will be bigger, better and even more widely supported than this years!

I look forward to designing next year's spoon and to showing its progress on this blog and I hope you will continue visit me and support the Left Coast Eisteddfod as well!!

So congratulations, Howard!!

AmeriCymru's Left Coast Eisteddfod has been planning celebrations over the last twelve months to highlight the talents of the Welsh and Celtic communities in Portland, Oregon, USA , and had been expected to welcome thousands of Celtic cousins from all over the world. But due to an increase in seasonal flu and concerns over the Swine Flu Pandemic , events had to be curtailed and disappointment was had by all. Welsh performers Chris Needs and Bruce Anderson flew over 5000 miles to be part of the celebration, only to be disappointed along with the other artists and craftspeople. The main show has been postponed until a later date.

Walesonline.co.uk August 15th reports on a collaboration between Caffeine Theatre in Chicago and Dylan Down The Ups, the new organisation launched in Swansea by Geoff and Anne Haden , who contacted each other through AmeriCymru."From Under Milk Wood to across the pond", by Karen Price at the Western Mail http://www.walesonline.co.uk/showbiz-and-lifestyle/2009/08/15/from-under-milk-wood-to-across-the-pond-91466-24444907/ "DYLAN THOMAS has always had a close relationship with the USA."After all, he spent much of his time in New York, the city where he died in 1953."Now a Chicago-based theatre company is planning to revive his legacy for American audiences by staging his work."And its also the chance for British authors, whose pieces have been inspired by Thomas, to have their work shown to American audiences."Caffeine Theatre has teamed up with Dylan Down The Ups, the new organisation launched in Swansea by Geoff and Anne Haden."The couple, who run 5 Cwm-donkin Drive the home in Uplands, Swansea, where Thomas was born and which is now a tourist attraction have launched the group to keep Thomas memory alive as a man of the people rather than just as a writer and poet."Caffeine Theatre got in touch through the Welsh social network Americymru and they are both now coming up with ideas for special events both in Wales and America."This is exactly the kind of thing we created this network for, that people could find each other and create things together - friendship, family ties, art, business, whatever - and we wish them every success.

David has finished carving! WOW, look at the spoon below!Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2009, David Western --

With all the carving done and the eyes inlayed, its time to make our spoon nice and sexy! A needle file gets into all the tight spots and cleans up any rough areas without leaving behind a bunch of sanding grit. This is important if I discover I need to go back to carve some more as I won't have to worry about sanding residue dulling my knife blades. When I am absolutely certain that all the carving and filing is done, I break out the sandpaper to finish smooth areas such as the bowls. This is actually a difficult and time-consuming time in the whole spoon carving process as any scratches or bumps and lumps which get missed will show up like nobody's business when I apply the finishing oils. Thankfully, the Tour de France is raging on tv at the moment and I can take out my nervous energy doing a bit of sanding while the Schleck brothers hammer their opponents on the Alps.

And here he is!! The Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon is completed and is ready for the really exciting bit...the finishing finish!

I'm going to go with Deft brand clear Danish Oil as my oil finish and will give it 3 or 4 coats before following up with a nice application of beeswax polish. Here we go! I use a cheap little pig-hair brush to really ladle out the first coat of oil. I want good coverage and for the spoon to really soak it up, so I'm not afraid to really splash it on. This is the time when any sanding errors will leap to the forefront, so I've got my fingers crossed that I found everything before now!

WOW! Get a load of this! This is what 150-plus-year-old walnut looks like when the finish treatment is applied! This spoon is going to be a stunner! Man, what I wouldn't give to get my hands on a few more pieces of this magnificent timber. Sadly, this is almost the last of my supply so there won't be too many more spoons like this! So if you want to see how this spoon looks fully 'dressed' in its new coat of oil, stay tuned for the next blog! And please, if you enjoy quality craft, art, music and written word, please help support the Left Coast Eisteddfod with a donation today or buy your tickets to attend the events ! Any and every amount is gratefully received and you can be there to participate in the drawing to win this spoon!

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2009, David Western --

I'm getting really close to finishing the dragon. I've only got the eye left to inlay and some touch up work on the head and neck and the spoon will be ready for a final 'once over'. To do an abalone inlay, I glue the piece in place with a dab of white glue and let it set for a couple of hours.

When the abalone dot feels good and firm, I run around the edge of it with a very fine razor knife to scribe the line I will use as my grounding boundary. When the scribing is done, I use a small chisel to pop the dot off the wood.

Next up is the grounding. In this phase of things, I level the surface for my dot to sit on and try to get it so that with the dot in place, a little less than a 1/16th of an inch of abalone remains proud of the surface. I do a careful dry fitting to make sure everything is in order before I commit to glueing it down. Nothing says disaster like having your abalone sticking up!

Although it gets a bit messy when the excess glue seeps out, I don't worry about it as long as everything still fits properly! While the glue is wet, I wipe off the excess so that life is a bit easier later when the glue hardens up. Having big lumps of hardened glue on the wood surface is hard on the tools and my patience.

When the glue has set, the dot gets filed down and softly domed to more resemble an eye. As I mentioned in an earlier post, abalone and mother of pearl both make very, very noxious dust when they are sanded and filed. If you are inclined to try your own abalone inlay at home, please wear a good dust mask or respirator and try to work outside where the dust stands a better chance of vacating your personal space!!

The dragon's head is now pretty much done and all that remains is to give him a good final sanding and touch up any little areas I'm not completely satisfied with. If you've slogged it through these months of blogs, then you won't want to miss the next installment when I start applying finish to the spoon and this beautiful piece of 150 year old walnut flashes into spectacular life! Ok, so it's not a nail-biting final round of American Idol or a scintillating episode of Big Brother, but I guarantee it will be exciting in its own peculiar way!!

And please remember, time is a tickin' on the August 21 kick-off of the Left Coast Eisteddfod...the reason for this spoon's existance. Get yourself to the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland, Oregon and get tickets to win it at the event!

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2009, David Western --

This week I finally got back to the Eisteddfod dragon after being away for a few weeks and then being swamped by all the "wedding season' carving which I should have done before I left! It was a nice treat to reaquaint myself with my little walnut friend here and to work on getting him ready for the Left Coast Eisteddfod next month.

I've got some work to do on his body and want to define the scales a bit to match the front of the spoon. As with any part of the carving, the sensible thing to do is pencil out the lines and then do a shallow cut with a straight knife to ensure everything is where it should be. Because it is such a sensible thing to do, I used to ignore this phase and plunge straight into the carving. Now, with advancing years and a bit of the wisdom that years of mistake making brings, I always do my drawing before I start hacking.

Here I'm using a very short straight knife to clear away the bulk of the scale. As you'll note, I am cutting toward myself which is yet another not-very-sensible thing to do. I am, in my defence, restraining the cut considerably and only taking a very small shaving. This limits the sweep of the cut and the force I need to make it...the idea is to stop the knife from being able to reach the left hand....works most of the time!

Here's a picture showing the shaping of the scales. As I proceed up the length of the dragon's body, the repetition of the scale form will make the body look much more vibrant and lively. The trick at this point is not to make a mistake and whack a chunk off the high sections of the scale. I also want to remember to shape the roundness of the chest as I am working my way along.

Nothing works better for putting a very gentle curve into the scales than the bent knife. With the two sided blade, I can cut in two directions without moving the piece and can easily alter the radius of the curve. Curiously, the bent knife never gets the credit it deserves except among NW coastal artists who keenly understand its great value and abilities. I know I would be lost without mine!!

Well, there he is, almost done! Just some work to do on the head and another eye to inlay next week and we're almost there!

Speaking of almost there, so is the Left Coast Eisteddfod!! With only a month to go until the big days (2 of 'em!) things are getting exciting. If you haven't donated to the cause, please consider a donation today. Every dollar you donate equals one chance to win this lovespoon!!

From CraigInCT on twitter.com, the ultimate "bad ass" craft bike:

I am extremely sorry to announce that we weren't able to make it happen to get Here Be Dragons to Portland for this year's Left Coast Eisteddfod, due to a band member's family illness.We plan to do it for next year we're very sorry to not have them, they sound fantastic and they would have been a REALLY awesome launch for the inaugural year of the event. Thank you, guys, for being willing to come and show Portland your stuff and the stuff of Wales!We've booked two local bands in their place for Friday night - Western Aerial and the SlimJims , which makes Friday night local music night and Saturday night Wales night.