Tagged: lovespoons

Ceri has worked hard to provide a place where aficionados of the Welsh Lovespoon can come to find such things. Click on the Stores button at the top of the page and you'll be introduced to four very skillful and creative carvers specializing in Welsh lovespoons (of whom I am one).

We're not just here to sell our wares. We also want to serve as a source of information about the history, legends and production of Welsh lovespoons in particular and the lovespoons of other cultures as well.

The Bretons, who are also Celts and have a language very similar to Welsh, also have a carved spoon tradition with romance at its center.

Click over to our stores and our timelines and see what we have to offer. Feel free to ask us questions about the history, symbology, production methods or anything else related to lovespoons. We'll be happy to answer. And if we don't know the answer, we probably know someone who does.

So come on by. The person to whom you give one of our lovespoons will remember you forever!

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

I was very happy to see Dave's Dragon, with its knotwork tongue, because I have always felt that dragons and knotwork were two things very distinct within his style. They were fantastic. I would never have seen that lurking in that first sketch, but I was very happy that he did! I had a lot to live up to with the next part. We'd talked about having elements distinct to each of our styles, so I tried to think about what is distinct in my style. We had talked about having an eagle, so I wanted to give that a try, but I never drew an eagle before, so I wasn't sure how much it would look like my style. One thing I know I do a lot is to make small flowers. So, I started there. I'd need a vine structure underneath small flowers, too. Almost immediately, I abandoned the bridge idea, and drew in some vines that would fit around the flat, frame-like component from the initial sketch. I also wanted to keep the central part, for Dave and I to try to do something together. So - I was focusing on the top half of the frame.

I started with a vine structure, and sketched in an eagle. I had made a few side-sketches of an eagle, after looking at a few photographic references. I was trying to decide on a position, and some generalities that make an eagle an eagle. There's something about the shape and strength of the wings and tail, along with the hooked beak and stern-looking eye, that I felt made an eagle look like an eagle. I knew one position I liked was what I saw at Eagle's Point at the Grand Canyon... if rocks could look so distinctly like an eagle, then I could certainly find a simple way to draw an eagle. After sketching a few positions, the position you see in this first drawing is where I landed.

I liked the movement, and I liked having lots of wing showing. Also, with this position, he could wrap around the frame, and enough of him would still show from the front of the spoon. The only hesitation I had was, it looked very literal. I didn't have a solution, though, so I moved on, for the moment. One thing I learned in school (where I was mainly a painter), was to work on the whole piece, and not to be too precious with any one part. So I moved on to vines, coming up from the dragon's tongue and tail. I have to admit - I really like drawing vines and leaves. I see celtic knotwork, and I think: that looks fun! I want to try that! But, then I end up staring at a blank page for a while. Instead, I have decided that vines are my version of knotwork, though they are not very distinct like knotwork can be. Regardless, I like vines, and I try to keep to the over-under rule of celtic knotwork, as much as I can. So you see this first vine structure in this first drawing, too.

Next, I moved on to the little flowers idea. There are lots of types of little flowers I could draw. I wanted to do something somewhat star-shaped - so - 5 petals. So, I started with this drawing with lots of little star-shaped flowers scattered over the vines.

I was going for different-sized flowers, to try to make them interesting. But, it just looked cluttered. I wasn't very sold on this sketch... I didn't even get around to drawing in the eagle. I still kept it, just in case Dave would see anything in there that I didn't.

Next, I tried a different vine structure, and the same type of flowers. This time, I drew in the eagle, and had him landing on one of the vines.

Hmm...... I liked the leaves sort of outlining the flat frame part on the sides.... but wasn't sure how I felt about the rest. This would be just another sketch to see if there was any redeeming value. I did like the idea of the eagle being integrated into the vinework, even if it was in such a literal way. Here, I kept with the star-shaped simple flowers.

I still wasn't feeling it, though, so I kept drawing. I drew another arrangement of vines, this time going further with the outline idea around the frame. I also made some different flowers, like flowers I have enjoyed carving before. That might make them more distinctly "me", too. I was starting to like this one. I drew more vines, dangling from the inside top. I liked the look of this. I wasn't sure what, exactly to do with whatever came down into the center, but I knew I liked the idea. I thought it could help bring us into the center part, that Dave and I had been talking about having as something more merging our two styles. I was hoping Dave was formulating some ideas towards that center, while I was working on the top. Meanwhile, I was starting to feel good about this latest sketch:

I drew in some background to help make it easier to see. I had reached a point where I wanted input from Dave, so I sent these 4 sketches over to him. I also told him I was concerned about how literal the eagle was, and wondered if he had any suggestions for how to make it more stylized. I also wondered if he was having thoughts about the center part, as I was still drawing a blank about that. I also told him that I wasn't too concerned about the placement of the flowers, but was interested in what he thought of the different vine configurations, or if he especially liked a certain type of flower. Like I said - I just wanted some input from Dave at this point. I just hoped I hadn't given him information overload. I think I was already there. Let's see where Dave goes next!
- Laura

P.S. As an afterthought a few days later, I made an attempt at a stylized eagle - made of vines, and fitting into the rest of the vines. I also wanted to see how another type of small flowers might fit - this time, broader petals, like buttercups. So, despite the probably-too-many other sketches of eagle and flowers, I ventured into one more, and sent it along to Dave, to consider along with the others. Here's that last sketch:

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon.

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

Potential customers are always surprised that creating the sketch for a lovespoon design takes as much time and effort as it does. As much as I wish I could just dip a bucket into a never-end well of ideas and pull out a finished drawing whenever I felt like it, it rarely happens that way. In fact coming up with the initial design spark or theme concept is the hardest part of the whole process. Generally, I count on a good third of the total time involved in the creation of a lovespoon to be taken up in design work.

Which is why, when Laura and I began trading some ideas via email to see if we could come up with a start concept, I figured it would be quite a while before anything much started to come together. Sure, we did have a couple of initial ideas such as our plan to work with the idea of '2' and the idea of incorporating symbols of both Wales and America, but scant else after that! So it was a complete surprise and shock when after only an hour or two this lovely sketch appeared in my inbox.

Laura had been working on an idea for a spoon with two layers and had mailed the sketch over to illustrate some of the descriptions she had mentioned during the emails. The design as shown, is a way to mix organic and traditional designs while using the double layers to highlight the '2' idea. Talk about a great start to the project! A lot of guys would be delighted to have this as a working drawing, let alone having it as a 'rough sketch'. I can already see a couple of potential ideas lurking in there and feel like we've rocketed over the hard part already!
- Dave

When Dave first asked me to join him for this project, I was very excited, so my mind was flooded with thoughts, but very disorganized. How would I make some sense of this chaos, and merge these ideas with Dave's? How does he approach coming up with a theme, or what elements to include, or what message to convey? Then, Dave suggested "two" as a theme, which made a great basis, and helped give some direction to the chaos in my head. So - Here I am, getting to work on a spoon with this carver whom I admire so much - naturally, I hope to learn from him, and hopefully even try something a little ambitious. I am so excited, I probably inundated him with thoughts and questions. But then, we started discussing ideas over email, and before I knew it, some ideas were easier drawn than described, so I sent a sketch over to Dave. It was especially to show him the 2-layer "bridge" idea I'd had on a recent design, but I got carried away and drew the rest of a spoon, too - trying to illustrate a few other ideas we had mentioned. I didn't intend for it to be a starting point, but once Dave suggested it, I realized I liked it, too. So there we were! This collaboration thing seems to be going well!

We had talked about playing on our strengths - as far as I can tell, everything is Dave's strength, and I suppose some of mine will reveal themselves. For instance, it seems I may be good for general shapes or concepts. Someone once asked me which I liked better: designing spoons, or carving them. I don't remember if I was ever able to come up with an answer. But, I do know that I struggle when I get into the details, so I'm hoping Dave doesn't. I am excited to see what happens next!!
- Laura

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

Wow!! After going through Laura's flurry of excellent ideas, it looks like we will be spoiled for choices idea-wise!

Any one of the drawings she has come up with could form the basis for a marvelous lovespoon design so I've photocopied them all and am looking to see which design elements jump out at me and which don't.

I am very drawn to the eagle Laura has drawn with its wing wrapped dramatically around the top section of the spoon. I love the idea of the eagle appearing in our design as it is the symbol of America and it will go nicely with the Welsh dragon. Since the spoon symbolizes the merging of cultures, the dragon and eagle are very logical symbols, but I'd like to figure out a way to merge Laura's more realistic looking eagle into some Celtic knotwork as I have done with the dragon.

I also feel there is a section above the central circle which feels a bit too 'light'. To give this section a bit more weight without having it become overwhelmingly heavy, I want to utilize a nice pattern of Celtic knotwork.

While Celtic knotwork is almost unheard of on historical lovespoon examples, it has been embraced by modern lovespoon carvers to represent the notion of eternity or eternal love. This is especially so when the knot is circular or is 'enclosed' with no beginning or ending to the knot. For our spoon, the notion of eternity as it relates to the emigration of the Welsh to North America is an apt one. the Welsh have been here since the earliest European arrivals and hopefully will remain here as long as there is a North America! I don't know if Laura feels as strongly about it as I do, but for me, things like this lovespoon and the Left Coast Eisteddfod it is being made in support of, vividly illustrate that despite being the 'forgotten Celts', the Welsh have made and continue to make vibrant contributions to North American culture. I should mention that this spoon is being designed and crafted to help raise funds for the Left Coast Eisteddfod which will be held in Portland, Oregon on October 03-10, 2010. This will be the second year for this annual event and an exciting combination of online cultural competitions and live events in Portland. Please visit: http://americymru.ning.com/page/the-left-coast-eisteddfod-2010 to learn more. Your donation to the Left Coast Eisteddfod will earn you a chance to win this spoon, so even if you don't want to enter the competitions, you could still win a very lovely prize!!

So, with a nice Celtic knot in mind, I selected Laura's eagle crowned spoon with its little cascade of flowers. The lower body of the eagle merges into the knotwork, but its upper body remains pretty realistic. I changed some of the framework around and utilized some of the bottom section of the frame to create the origin of the knot. The knotwork has nicely filled in some of the 'empty' spaces, but I now am not so happy about the central circle. Originally, I had hoped that it would become the focal area of the spoon, but I'm not so sure about it now. It will be interesting to hear Laura's views on whether or not she likes the knotwork and where she thinks we should go with it next!
-Dave

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

The other day, while she examined some lovespoons I had on display, I overheard a young girl saying to her friend, "Wooden spoons? What's with that?" Sadly, the romance and the whole love message idea of them went right over her head. Even after I valiantly tried to explain the history and meaning of them in a snappy Coles Notes version, I could tell she really didn't get it. Although the rest of the day went much better than that and the majority of visitors to my booth were effusive in their appreciation of the lovespoon tradition, that little girl weighed heavily on my mind. I'm no luddite, but I find it a little bit sad when I encounter people who would rather an Ipod or a bog-standard diamond ring to a wooden gift which has been hand made and is loaded with subtle meaning. I even understand them. Day in and day out we are bombarded with ads and propaganda telling us what to buy and what is in fashion (and let's be honest, handmade wood stuff is not particularly fashionable)...the commercial gift industry is both slick and persuasive...and after all, who wouldn't want an Ipod?

But I'm going to use the spoon shown here today to show you why some 'dime a dozen' mass produced diamond ring which may even have blood on it can NEVER compete with the power of these delicate pieces of wood.

What really makes this spoon special is something that you can't see. Rather than putting together a series of symbols or meaningful images, this spoon was designed to capture a feeling. For the couple who commissioned it, the spoon is a remembrance of a single significant event in a lifetime of memories. For you and I, it is a nice walnut spoon with a cheerful yellow cedar inlay and some nice Celtic knotwork. For them, it is the memory of a long-ago walk on a wintery moonlit night when the promises of a life-long love were made.

The spoon begins with an obvious and easily understood symbol. The heart shaped bowl signifies the unity and strength of their love joined as one. Even to those of us unaware of the true meaning hidden in the spoon, the heart lets us know this spoon is about love. The little diamond above the bowl is another traditonal theme. It is a wish for prosperity, but it indicates the kind of prosperity which doesn't come with money alone. It symbolizes the richness of a full and happy life shared with someone who has won your heart and who has given their heart in return.

Celtic knotwork is a modern addition to the lovespoon vocabulary which is often used to symbolize eternal love. While that is completely relevant on this spoon, the knots here create a valley which the couple gazed down into on that distant night. The valley came to be a significant symbol of separation for the couple when they were parted, but as they are now reunited, so the valley walls are now linked by the knotwork.

The yellow cedar inlay moon is the most significant feature of the design. Inlayed into the centre of the walnut, it is visible behind walnut knotwork from both sides of the spoon. The moon itself is carved with an 'eternal' Celtic knot to symbolize the never-ending nature of their love; its brightness against the dark grain of the walnut a reminder of the brightness and promise of that night. As the light travels down into the valley, the walnut knotwork surrounds it and acts to symbolically carry the moon's light into that winter night.

Could an Ipod or a diamond bring the magic of that night and all the feelings and emotions it holds back to our couple like this wooden spoon has? I seriously doubt it and for that I am thankful that there is wood in the world and the tradition of working it this way.

"Wooden spoons? What's with that?" Sorry kid, you're missing out.

Laura and I have decided on the final drawing for the Left Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon and here it is!

We very much hope that you like what you see and that you will be inspired to donate to the cause! Remember - every dollar donated to the Left Coast Eisteddfod can translate to a chance to win this spoon!

This week we both wanted to write sections of the blog, so I am writing in regular font and Laura is in italic... a clear way to know who is saying what and sort of a symbolic way of summing up the main fund-raising purpose of this spoon! We do urge you to become involved with the Eisteddfod, either as a donor or as a participant in one of the many on-line and on-site competitions!

Both Laura and I have very much enjoyed the challenge of designing this year's spoon together and are now looking forward to figuring out how the hell the two of us will carve it! Given that we live several thousand kilometres away from each other, getting all this sorted out will be a bit of a feat! But right now, it is important to explain what this particular spoon is all about and so I'll turn things over to Laura! - Dave

When I talk with people about Welsh Lovespoons, I always emphasize that one of the most important things is the message it sends - the general "rule" is, its symbolism must be meaningful to both the giver and the recipient. So, while it's ideal to have a specific recipient in mind when we design a spoon, we don't always have that.

In the case of this Left Coast Eisteddfod spoon, we would assume the recipient will share an interest in Americymru's idea "for Americans (and others!) of Welsh descent to celebrate their heritage and deepen their knowledge of the rich fund of Welsh History, Folklore and Legend." Throughout the design process, we've been thinking of this, along with the theme of "two" and the aim to represent both carvers, and our cooperation.

Dave sent over a few last changes - some leaves to go with the daffodils, a correction from under to over in some of the weaving at the top, and an adjustment to the top of the knotwork to better match the taper of the spoon, and the angles of the vines above. When I look at the design now, I feel like we've accomplished exactly what we intended, and the design finally feels complete. I see Welsh and American heritage represented, I see parts that are very "Dave" and parts that are very "Laura", and, in the daffodils, I see a blend of both of us, and will see it even more when each of us carves one. And throughout the process, I know I really enjoyed the back-and-forth consideration and inspiration in the collaborative design process. And now there are the next steps!

We've already been discussing wood selection. We considered some maple Dave had, and some myrtle I had, but neither seemed quite right. Then, Dave suggested some birch he has.

I have never carved in birch, but Dave's description of it sounds like it is wonderful to carve! I believe the word that really sold me was "buttery" - which is one of the biggest things a carver ever wants in wood. It also looks like it has a lovely, glowing color to it, that would suit our design beautifully. I think we may have selected our wood! The next step, I suppose, will be transferring the design to the wood, in its proper scale. We have been thinking about 17" for the length of the spoon: a manageable size for drawing, and for shipping. And then, on to the cutting! How do two people cut out a design? do we really need to split that step? Hmmmm.... I wonder what Dave thinks! - Laura

Dave thinks the guy with the birch and the saw gets to do the cutting!
Laura thinks that's fabulous! I suspect Dave is far superior at sawing.

Below, I'll attach a series of the design pictures, as we thought it might be interesting to see the progression all in one place... With a darkened version of the final design at the end

Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

In a fit of spring madness, I decided to dust some of the lovespoons that hang in every nook and cranny of my house. This one was a particular pleasure to clean up because it has been a companion ever since my wife and I took our first backpacking and youth hostelling excursion to Europe many, many, many years ago.

We had been fortunate enough to spend a little bit of our time travelling with a friend of ours who worked for a European travel company and who had access to some accommodation just outside Firenze. As it turned out, the place was a little gatekeeper's cottage near to some very swanky villas, so we were feeling pretty highbrow...despite our tinned ravioli and jam sandwich budget.

One morning, I awoke to the sound of chainsaws and the smell of the most fragrant smoke I have ever inhaled. It was like Christmas pudding you could breathe....amazing!! I toddled outside to discover the groundskeepers busy pruning the Olive groves which surrounded the neighbouring hillsides. They had very kindly piled some of the larger logs just up the path from our digs, so I moseyed over and had my first look at olive wood. WOW!!! The figure of the grain was magic and the rich aroma of the freshly cut wood was wonderfully overwhelming...I had to have some!!!



But it wasn't that easy. First I had to 'acquire' a log without running afoul of whoever was planning to take the wood away, then I had to figure out a way to cut out a piece which could be transported all over Europe in a backpack without killing me. Thankfully, a rummage through the kitchen knife drawer provided me with an old cleaver which despite having seen much better days was perfect for a logging operation. A loose brick in the path provided the necessary 'bashing' implement for thumping said knife through the log .... I was in business.
Despite the olive wood's tendency to display a rowey, interlocked grain, I managed to batter that poor old knife through my little log a couple of times and successfully milled out a nice little board to accompany me on my further travels. Once packed away, it even made my clothes smell wonderfully 'fruitcakeish' (which I suppose made a nice metaphor for me and my lovespoon obsession!).
That lovely little chunk of olive spent months travelling with us all over the European continent and throughout Great Britain. No doubt I could have just bought a bit at a lumberyard when I got home, but there was something very romantic about the circumstances of its acquisition and of lugging it around from pillar to post.



Once home, I confess that it sat quietly unnoticed amongst a pile of my old clothing and Euro souvenirs for quite some time before I finally decided that it would make a great memento of our engagement (which had occurred during our European sojourn).
It was wonderful to work that olivewood and I still have a couple of the offcuts which I have used to make little inlay hearts for spoons carved for some of my Italian clients. Some of the unsuable offcuts I save just to touch against the belt sander when I get nostalgic and want to smell that lovely olivewood aroma filling my shop once again.
Maybe one day I'll get back to Italy during pruning season, but until then, I have this lovely, simple little spoon to set my memories off and to remember a happy little adventure!

Reproduced from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

I'll wager that I'm not the only one who has the knives out on Valentine's Day! Mind you, I'll be carving a beautiful love token for a loving couple and not planning to moyderize someone for forgetting the big day!

In fact, I've been so busy with the knives frantically trying to get Valentine's orders in time for delivery on the 14th, that I haven't had a minute to spare for the Left Coast Eisteddfod spoon.

While I apologize for that, I did have time to answer a couple of questions that have come to me via email. A number of people have written to me asking what tools I use when carving my lovespoons. In particular they are interested in the power tools I use to save time and turn out spoons in double-quick time.

I'm sorry to disappoint, but the only power tools I make use of are an electric band saw for roughing my timber to size, an electric scroll saw to rough out the actual spoon blank (especially if there is a lot of Celtic knotwork involved) and very occasionally I will utilize a 4.5-inch angle grinder (!!) to sand my way through difficult grain figures. Other than that, it is all hand tools. I've included a picture of my workbench to show the tools necessary for carving the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon. The vast bulk of my work is done with one or two straight and bent bladed knives. I use some small chisels and gouges to get into tight spots, some needle files for cleaning rough spots and lots of stropping compound and stropping to keep things sharp as I go. Those with keen eyes will notice two other necessities on the bench; glues for those little disasters which occasionally befall even the noblest venture and my collection of Simpsons characters who are present to help me laugh my way through those same ignoble disasters!

I'd love to be able to tell you that there are miracle tools out there which make things go super-quick and smooth, but really there are no finer tools than the ones you see in this picture. Even though I have to work at a brisk pace if I want to survive, I firmly believe that a carving takes as long as it takes and trying to shortcut anywhere only leads to a half-hearted looking lovespoon.

The second most common question I am asked is: "How do you sit and carve for 8 hours straight every day?" The answer is proper nutrition! I've included this photo taken during my Christmas visit to Cardiff where I was able to stock up on the very type of nutrition which fortifies me so heartily for the upcoming season of lovespoon carving! The key, as with so many things, is moderation. As you can see from the picture, I am careful not to over-do things.

Any former or current citizen of Cardiff can tell you that with two simple foodstuffs, Clark's Pies and Brains Beer, the body can be sufficiently and efficiently fed to perform at peak performance! Add a half and half curry on the way home and you're set!!

So there you are, my Valentine's Day gift to any and all you carvers out there seeking the secret to woodcarving success.

Next week, we'll resume action on the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon but in the meantime, why not consider a romantic donation to the Eisteddfod in your sweetie's name? It's a great gift which might net this one-of-a-kind, hand-carved lovespoon!

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

I found myself very much in agreement with Dave's new, more tapered shape. It also left a little more room for me to play in the top part. My only regret is that the dragon was seeming a little small to me, and the eagle looked especially big. I had been having another problem, though, with my flower ideas for the top. I really like the little flowers like I'd been drawing - I had recently completed another spoon, in fact, using little flowers.

However, as you can see, these flowers are scattered upon a natural central vine structure in this design. I did not like the idea of creating a web of vines simply to support small flowers within the top area of our Eisteddfod spoon. Also, while these little vanilla flowers (both figuratively and literally) can symbolize gentleness and affection, I found myself yearning for a little bit more Welsh symbolism in this spoon. After this train of thought, and missing the prevalence the Welsh Dragon in the design, my mind went to daffodils.

So, I made some designs with 2 daffodils - I thought it could be fun if Dave and I each made a daffodil. To begin, though, I would need to establish a vine structure to tie the eagle into the rest of the design. I wanted to get that to the point where we were both happy with it, and then we could finalize two daffodils. So, I went about some vine-drawing again, this time deliberately leaving some space for daffodils. A quick email exchange with Dave revealed that he liked the 2 daffodil idea, as well. We had always wanted to have some part that we both do together, and two takes on essentially the same subject would satisfy that desire.

After all this thought, I started with Dave's expanded frame and drew up a series of new drawings, 4 of which I sent on to Dave. I included some daffodils, but asked Dave not to consider them - just to consider the main vinework. The daffodils (and some leaves) I drew here were just placeholders. We may want to make them bigger, or positioned differently... we could concern ourselves with that part next.



Dave and I now needed to consider what we liked or didn't like about the drawings - hopefully there would be a clear favorite. What do you think? Any favorites? Let us know! - Laura



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For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

So many drawings, so many features. After some consideration, and putting off the actual size/arrangement of daffodils, Dave liked version E, I liked version E, and others also mentioned liking version E. Dave and I both, however, felt like there were still some thin areas. (and we still want to change the flowers!) So, I stared at the drawing some more.

It isn't that I don't like negative space in a design. In fact, negative space is a great tool, and I think it contributes a good deal to the delicate look in a lot of my designs. It can contribute to the carving difficulty, too - long, thin, unsupported vines will have a tendency to want to break. That, I definitely DO consider!

So, now, all things considered, a thought entered my little head, and I started to drawing again. I realized, if I had vines stemming from above the twist, why couldn't I have them stemming from below the twist, as well? It might even-out one of the thin areas. Another thin area seemed to be inside the top of the "frame". It occurred to me that I could play a little with that vine, and somehow tie it back into the lower vines. This would also create separate areas for each daffodil. I wasn't sure how I felt about that, but I also wasn't quite sure how the daffodils should really look, either. Big? Small? With leaves? Without? Hmmm... so in this first drawing, I drew two small sample daffodils.

A quick e-mail from Dave suggested larger daffodils And, I agreed with the comments about the flowers in last week's "F" design... if I liked any arrangement of flowers, I liked the arrangement where one was low, and the other higher. So, I tried to enlarge the flowers a little bit, and drew another arrangement. This time, I didn't see room for leaves, so - no leaves. Now the design is feeling more balanced to me. I think my only reservation is with the flowers. It may not even be a reservation, in fact; it may simply be that there are so many possibilities, not yet explored. That is often the problem with designs - deciding when to stop. Maybe Dave will have the idea for that final adjustment that makes us both say, "that's it!" We shall see!

Enough for now...

- Laura

With the front of the Eisteddfod Spoon largely completed, it's time to focus some energy on the back. I'm a firm believer in making the back of the spoon as beautiful as the front...even if it is going to hang on a wall and only be viewed from one angle. It takes more time and effort and increases the chances of a break or accident, BUT the result is always a much more beautiful and tactile piece. Sometimes, as a professional carver, my client's budgets don't stretch to doing both sides and they wish me to concentrate my efforts on the front only. Even in those cases, I like to try to do some shaping of the back to lend the spoon a bit more elegance.

As you can see from this close-up, the back is currently pretty flat and monotonous, even though the majority of the design outline is clearly visible and the spoon is 'coming to life'. By shaping up the back, I'll not only get a more beautiful product when the spoon is handled and turned over, but the shadows cast by the undulations and curves I plan to create will give the spoon more 'life' and appeal when it hangs on the wall. Lovespoons are an artwork which begs to be handled. Unlike some arts which can be discoloured and marred by the oils of the hand, the lovespoon inevitably profits from regular handling. Over the course of many years, a rich patina builds up and the spoon takes on a lovely vibrant glow which is impossible to replicate solely with the finishes. In this modern age of half-assed manufacturing, where virtually everything we get has had corners cut somewhere or other, it is always a lovely surprise to find the back of the spoon as nicely finished as the front.

But before you go thinking I'm getting all arty-farty and precious about this, I can assure you that doing the back of the spoon also often gives me the opportunity to break out the beloved angle grinder! I LOVE to make all kinds of noise and dust every once in a while and the angle grinder is great for both! Although I spend most of my carving time serenaded by the eloquent strains of Mozart from the cd player and alone in contemplative thought...the high pitched scream of a wound-up grinder hogging its way along can be music to my headphone covered ears!! But a warning: Kids, do NOT try this at home or anywhere else until you have lots of experience! The grinder is a great tool for removing awkward wood in a great hurry, but it is equally good at destroying your project and quite possibly removing your fingers or whole hand. This is NOT a tool to handle lightly. For me, it is a highly efficient time saving wonder, but sometimes it is an extremely fickle mistress. On this spoon it will help me put some arc and curve into the wood and it will deal with some tangled grain sections; hopefully it will do this without blowing the whole project to smithereens!

As the wood is shaped, the spoon will become both physically and visually lighter and the final look will start to emerge. Here's a little close-up of what the angle grinder can quickly achieve. More next week as we start shaping the vines and finishing off the already shaped bowl backs.

If you haven't yet contributed to the Eisteddfod, please consider doing so today! You can win this spoon!!

.

Reproduced with kind permission from David Westerns Portland Lovespoon Blog

You know - when I talk with people about lovespoons, they often ask about whether it bothers me to always have to part with a spoon after having put so much of my heart and soul into it, not to mention the hours and hours of hard work. I generally give the same reply: Nope. Lovespoons are, after all, meant to be given away, and I just think the world needs more lovespoons. But, I digress. Getting back to the point I was intending to make: this spoon, I think, even though I'm only one of four contributors to it, may be the first one I think might give me a bit of an ache when I part with it. As I've watched the design develop, I keep thinking this one just seems special. I determined long ago that I if I ever get a lovespoon, I won't get it myself, because I'm a girl, so I won't buy a chance at it. But YOU can! I feel compelled to say - if you haven't already bought your raffle tickets for this year's spoon: you should. Just click on the "Donate" button at the right to make a secure payment to buy your chances. It's only a dollar for a chance! And you'll be supporting a really terrific cause! I wonder if everyone reading this realizes what an opportunity there is here.... it's a little bit amazing to me. Just sayin'....

Well, back to the spoon... Dave and I may be jumping ahead a little, but that's only because we're pretty excited that we think we may have just finished the design! I'll try to include a few notes Dave gave me along the way, here, but there will probably be some reviewing of more of how we got here in later posts. So here it is!

But, I guess I should elaborate a little about how we got here...

Last time I wrote, the cage was pretty much settled, and Dave was working on some ideas for what to do in the upper part of the spoon, building around that medallion, with that generally tapered overall frame-shape. Now, Dave had mentioned he had an idea for a dragon above the medallion - hinting at Welsh roots - maybe some maple leaves and stars, too. I was very curious, but also very busy with several other spoons and a lovespoon workshop, so I just tried to leave Dave alone and wait. Eventually, I heard from Dave that he was struggling with a bit of designer's block (I sympathized), but he pushed through it, and before long, he came back with this, with the accompanying qualifier that he wasn't happy yet with the dragon.

Since he wasn't quite happy with the dragon, he suggested that I should feel free to try to "jazz him up a bit." We had also talked about running some vines (or roots) through/around the upper part, and he said he had tried adding in some vines, but felt it might be starting to look too busy, but maybe I'd have more luck with it if I wanted to try. Knowing I still needed to draw the lower part to come up and meet this part, he suggested that maybe we could have vines intertwined around that lower part, around the ends of the tongue and tail. He also mentioned that he was working with a 4.25" diameter circle, there, but I could probably increase it to 4.5" if I felt like it needed to, or even go as small as 4 inches before the medallion started becoming too tricky to carve.

When I saw this, I was a little surprised because it wasn't what I was expecting - although, I wasn't sure what to expect, either - so I just had to think about it for a minute. In our first discussions, we did talk about a root framework for everything, but we also talked about having some other big element above the circle, crowning off the top section of the spoon, but we couldn't seem to come up with what that element would be to put up there then. So I don't know if I even mentioned that part of the original plan before, but anyway - this was definitely a return to the original plan. And I really like it when Dave makes maple leaves. I also love the dragon's wing, and what he's done with the tongue and tail. But I wondered what, specifically, Dave didn't like about the dragon, if he wanted me to try my hand at it.
And then I started to wonder whether Dave had looked at both parts together yet - he hadn't mentioned. I was curious about something, but needed to see everything together. Bringing everything together would be the next step, anyway - so at my next opportunity, I printed the image above so that the circle would measure 4.25", and got out my print-outs from before, and looked at them together. I looked at the 4.25" version, which fit, and the 4.5" version, which also fit, but felt a little more securely. So, here are both parts together.

I didn't shade in the negative space yet this time, but remember, also, the medallion is largely fretwork, while the leaves and stars and dragon are all solid figures. So, then, the thing I was wondering before was this: would these two parts look harmonious and integrated, or would there be a distinct difference in proportion? Remember - I had already spent quite a bit of time contemplating that medallion at those smaller sizes. Looking at them together, I did feel like there was a small disconnect, but at the same time, I saw what I thought might be a pretty simple solution.

I proposed that adding few thinner vines (about the thickness of the vines in the knotwork around the medallion, or the tree) up in there as a transitional element might actually be just the thing to blend the two parts together. Yes, it would add a little business, but it needed a little business, to match the business of the fretwork within the medallion. Anyway, Dave seemed to agree about the disconnect, and about the proposed solution, so that was simple enough. As a bonus, it might help with that overall continuity to have a bit more of some organic stuff in that upper section, too, since there is a lot in the lower section. Likewise, I now knew I would need to add more non-organic stuff in the lower section, too.

So - I do ramble, don't I?! Sorry about that. A lot happened. Well - first things first - I asked Dave what he didn't like about his dragon. He said he didn't like its face, but also said I should play with any other parts, and make him look "more serious", if I wanted. So I started with the face, but then, just for fun, I did play with a few other parts, and here's what I sent off to Dave....

Dave wrote back saying that he liked it, and he thought we should run with it, so I said ok and moved on to the next step. So, the next step was to patch this together with the lower section I'd done with the cage. I laid out a center line - decided the points of the heart would define vertical - and placed everything so that tip of the bowl to the top of the dragon's wing is about 21 inches - the previously-agreed length, and also marked out 3.25 inches left and right of the center line in the top area (7.5 inches total width), just to help keep track of the balance. Then it was just a matter of drawing.

Now it was my turn for designer's block. I had been so focused on roots, but just roots and vines would be too much organic, and wouldn't really have any continuity with the upper part at all. While I thought about it, though, I added some of those filler vines through that upper part to temporarily hold everything together (Dave could totally change them if he didn't like them - just as long as he still made them as thin as the knotwork and tree, so they serve that transitional purpose previously discussed) Also, I think I had them all beginning and ending somewhere, but I was a little sleepy, so he needed to check, if he didn't want to change them all together. I tried to do things like twist multiple vines together so that they were in bundles, but weren't really that fragile, or laid them against leaves or other things, so they still had that thinner scale like the knots and tree in the medallion, but also had strength. Anyway... eventually, I figured I would start by mirroring the heart Dave had put above, only I'd make this one out of a vine, kind of like a bit of grapevine. And then, for some of the other areas I needed to fill, I'd make up some knots. I tried to give them a feel kind of like what Dave had with the tongue and tail of the dragon, again, trying to carry some uniformity through the design. Definitely David Western inspired knotwork. Oh, and I kind of abandoned some of the constraints of the framework shape, too... I really don't know what made me do that. Hmm.


Anyway, here's the first draft I sent him...

Well, Dave liked it. He even liked the vines through the upper part - although he did have concerns about the thinness of some, and did find a few mistakes where I'd lost track of some vines. So I made a few fixes, had a few second-thoughts, re-arranged a few things, and beefed up a few vines I thought might be giving Dave a little extra concern in that upper part, and here's where we are now.

So here we are! Looks like we have a design!

OH! by the way, this spoon will be made of a nice cherry board that is sitting next to me right now.

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2011, David Western --

Well after the downer tone of my recent blog, I am happy to say that all is well again in the lovespoon world and that good things have happened in threes....which makes a very welcome change from the usual 'bad things in threes' that seem so much more common.First, I am delighted to say that the unpaid lovespoon situation has been happily resolved! The cheque has arrived, my 100% record is back on track and my faith in humanity has been restored! So although the situation definitely had some down moments, in the end it has all worked out.

Next, I am thrilled that my "Legend of Taliesin" lovespoon is now on display at the National History Museum of Wales at St Fagans near Cardiff. For me it is an absolute thrill to have a piece of my art on display in the very institution which inspired my passion many, many, many years ago! St Fagans, as it is more commonly known, is a true gem in the Welsh crown and is a world class museum of history and culture. Their collection of historical lovespoons is unrivalled and I feel very honoured to have my work be a small part of it. I also want to congratulate fellow carvers Mike Davies and Sion Llewellyn whose spoons are also on display!

Finally, my book publisher, ;Fox Chapel Publishing , have generously offered three copies of my book to the eventual winners of our upcoming Left Coast Eisteddfod "Help design the lovespoon" competition!! This year we will be soliciting help to design the lovespoon which we use as a draw prize incentive to help raise funds in support of our event!

This year we want YOU, yes, YOU, to help us design the 2011 West Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon. As you can see on this year's spoon sketch, below, three circular spaces have been left blank and it is our hope that they will be filled in by supporters of our Eisteddfod.

We welcome Americymru members, Welsh society members, school kids, enthusiastic artists and poets, lovespoon carver wannabies, people who have no connection to Wales at all but wouldn't mind having their idea included on our lovespoon... in short, anyone who wants to have a bash at it!! Enter one, two, three or more ideas, we're open to anything and everything! Not an artist? No big deal. Write a very brief poem (but keep in mind, these circles are only 2 inches in diameter, so I can't fit a sonnet in there!!) make a collage, write a description of your idea, like I said, we're game for anything!!

Really keen artists among you may have noticed that the circles are placed at the dragon's heart, wings and feet, so there's some more idea fodder!! We'll be releasing full contest details very soon, but in the meantime, let your design imaginations run wild!

The Left Coast Eisteddfod will be held in Portland in the first week of October this year. Events cost money and the Eisteddod is no exception. The Meriwether Lewis Memorial Eisteddfod Foundation is a 501c3 non-profit which raises funds for this and other similar events. Our objective is to hold an annual Eisteddfod on the US West Coast with live competitions in poetry, story telling and other traditional ( and not so traditional ) bardic arts. Eventually we would like to inauguarate recognised Bardic chairs for some of these competition categories. Lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod. Every dollar you give buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the 'Donate' button in the right-hand column on any page on the AmeriCymru website and be sure to note that your payment is for the lovespoon. You do not need to be a member of AmeriCymru or logged into the site to do this and everyone will receive a PayPal receipt and an email of acknowledgement from the Eisteddfod organisers.Last years spoon, uniquely hand-crafted and valued at around $1000 is pictured on this page. If you want to follow a step-by step account of the design and creation of this years spoon go to this blog:- http://davidwestern.blogspot.com/ The prize draw will take place at our 'Last Bard Standing' event in Portland on October 8th. More information about the event can be found here:- http://www.facebook.com/AmeriCymru?v=app_2344061033#!/event.php?eid=110551428972706&index=1 If you wish to enter the draw click on the 'Donate' button in the right hand column on this page Remember...every dollar you spend equals one extra chance to win this unique work of art. We are not necessarily looking for large sums. If everybody here gave $5 it would contribute enormously toward the success of the event. If you decide to contribute, we wish you pob lwc/best of luck in the draw. Bendithion Ceri Shaw/Gaabriel Becket AmeriCymru/Left Coast Eisteddfod ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Anyone wanting further information about attending, sponsoring, competing or anything else to do with the Eisteddfod schould contact us at americymru@gmail.com . We aim to answer all enquiries personally and in a timely manner.

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

Well, after having a really good, hard look at the new knotwork, I am in agreement with Laura that it needs to come down a bit, so I am going to have a bash at putting it just above the dragon and getting rid of the circle idea. I think if I can fatten up some of the knotwork just above the dragon's head, it will give some visual weight to the area and will let me tie the knot in a bit more smoothly.

With the knotwork moved, there seems to be a 'tapering' feeling to the flow of the overall design, so I have widened the top area with the eagle a bit more and am tying the knotwork through. My hope is that we can surround the frame with the eagle and the knotwork and give things more of a three dimensional feel. It will make for some nasty carving problems, but should look pretty smart if we can pull it off!

















After looking at this newest outline for a while, I am feeling that it is a bit stubby and too short at the top.
























I have opted to paste a couple of photocopies together to see if lengthening the top section helps things at all. Although it feels a bit empty and airy through the top section now, I think that the overall form of the design is very close to right now and that Laura will be able to fill in this area with some of her lovely vine or floral ideas.
In the meantime, a quick reminder that you can win the finished spoon simply by donating to the Left Coast Eisteddfod. Every dollar you donate equals a chance at winning, so more dollars equals more chances!! Please consider supporting this worthwhile event and helping to further Welsh cultural events in North America!
Dave

Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

I've got a confession to make. For the last month Laura and I have been having a private heart attack as our West Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon negotiated its way through the border/customs process of international mailing. Owing to poor old Laura getting some completely duff information from US Postal, the spoon wound up being tremendously overinsured and then triggered a customs charge of nearly 200 dollars at the border!! Since neither she or I could pony up that kind of dough and since the whole idea of the lovespoon is to raise funds rather than spend them, the only option left was to send it back to customs and appeal the charge. Needless to say, it was a long, nerve-wracking ride for the pair of us and we were getting fairly certain the project would not be happening this year after all.

BUT, Canada Customs came through with an expedited processing and we are now back in business!

I'm really excited to get going with some carving of my own, but before I do, I have to quickly blog and let everyone know how BEAUTIFUL this thing is so far!! Laura has done a lovely job and the 4 balls rolling in their organic cage look fabulous. It's got the trademark Jenkins Lovespoons delicacy and elegance and is wonderfully 'touchable'. Whoever wins this thing is going to be over the moon... it is easily our best spoon so far and its not even done yet!!!

So, to keep on track for the Eisteddfod, I will be getting my head down and my backside up for the next few days. I'm hoping I can make good headway and keep the project on track for the big day in October......not so very far away now!!

If you're wondering what all the tape and plywood 'crutch' is all about, there's no breaks or anything, I just want to protect Laura's delicate work while I am bashing away on the scroll saw. I think I would have an aneurism if I managed to break it after all we have been through...so for the next little while it will be behind scaffolding!!ven if you could give a tinker's damn about Eisteddfods or anything Welsh, Laura and I both hope you'll fall in love with our lovespoon and want to have it (or even better, you'll want it to give to your sweetie)

Please consider donating a couple of bucks to the West Coast Eisteddfod and you could win this lovely, lovely spoon!!

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. Every dollar you donate through the blog buys you a ticket and a chance to win the spoon. Five dollars, equals five tickets, fifty dollars equals fifty tickets and fifty chances to win. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon. Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2010, David Western --

My immediate thought when I saw Dave's drawing with the knotwork tied in with the eagle's tail was that the knotwork would make a lovely central part of the spoon. I share Dave's appreciation for the message that Celtic knotwork conveys - forever and Celtic heritage, among other things. Cymru am byth! (Wales forever!) Seems like a good central message for this spoon! I made several different drawings, arranging, re-arranging, changing sizes.... all sorts of things.

Here is where I arrived:; I am still unsure about the top half- I like the idea of vinework wrapping around the flat frame-like part. I still was unsure of how I wanted to do flowers, or if we should even try a couple daffodils instead, but moving the knotwork into the middle would leave room at the top for Dave and I to do something together. Also, above the knotwork, I added a little twist that I seem to do in a lot of my designs. I thought it might be a good transition from Dave's style to mine. I also drew a couple simple vines, still tying the knot into the eagle's tail, and behind the frame, also into the wing. Before I went too far working on ideas for the top, though, I wanted Dave's thoughts about moving the knotwork into the middle. If he likes this, and doesn't miss the cirle in the middle too much, then we can work on the top part next. We'll see what Dave thinks...

- Laura

Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Eisteddfod Lovespoon Blog
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Jen Delyth contributed a beautiful "Tree of Life" design for our fourth West Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon! I'm very excited about it as I have always wanted to try carving one of Jen's stunning Celtic designs in wood and now have my opportunity! This year's spoon will be quite the collaboration and will focus around both the 4 theme (as it is the forth year of the Eisteddfod) and the theme of 'Celebrating Your Roots'. I have taken a bit of time and have embellished Jen's Tree with a nice, simple Celtic 'heart' knot, which I think is most apt for a lovespoon. I've also included the theme "Celebrate Your Roots' in both Welsh and English in Celtic font. The resultant 'rosette' feels and looks pretty sweet and is going to be a lot of fun (and hard work) to carve.

With this part finished, I am going to send the design down to Laura Jenkins Gorun to see what kind of wonderful magic she can add to the overall idea. We've discussed a couple of ideas already and Laura is ready to try a couple of design themes out. So next week, we should have a better idea of how the entire handle and bowl arrangement is going to play out.

I've also received word from Ceri and Gaabi over at the Left Coast Eisteddfod that we've got yet another exciting announcement to make about this year's lovespoon draw!! From Ceri: "This year there will be an additional prize. The winner of last year's Poetry and Storytelling Competitions, Chris Chandler, will be a judge at this year's event and will be composing a short poem on the theme 'Celebrate Your Roots' which will be printed, framed and presented along with the spoon to the winner of this years draw."

It was Chris who came up with our Celebrate Your Roots theme and if you are familiar with his work, you'll know that this poem will be a corker!

With four very talented contributors to this year's spoon, we have a very deep well of artistic talent to draw from! I am hoping that you will be inclined to stop by and visit everybody's work at their websites, which follow below!

To see Laura Jenkins Gorun's gorgeously delicate lovespoons, visit: www.jenkinslovespoons.com

Be dazzled by Jen Delyth's Celtic art at: www.celticartstudio.com

Hear Chris Chandler's word craft (including my personal fav Beyond Pollution) at http://chrischandler.org

Me? I'm at: www.davidwesternlovespoons.com

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David's really turning this into something gorgeous and it's getting a lot of notice. Read the comments and see another gentleman who's been inspired to try his own first spoon. I love reading these so much:

" Crafting the Bowls "

"I have been working on the spoon bowls and have roughed them out to almost their final look. The first pic shows the front view and the second shows the back.

I am a firm believer that a good lovespoon must have a really well carved bowl. My research through the museums of Wales has shown me that in the olden days, a great deal of effort was put into the bowls, no matter how adept or crude the carver. When you stop to consider the rather meager tools that many of these young men would have had access to, some of their work borders on miraculous.

Many of the spoons I see for sale on the 'gift shop' type lovespoon sites suffer from extremely poorly designed and carved bowls. In many it appears the bowl was just an afterthought which was only grudgingly included so that the piece of wood is recognizable as a spoon. I think this is a great shame as the bowl lends a quiet dignity to the proceedings. Lovespoons are busy and vibrant things with the handles often being a veritable riot of activity. An elegant bowl acts as a real visual anchor and can have a quieting effect on the overall design. It also is a real measure of a carver's skill to get it even and fair with the right 'look'. I spend a good deal of time fussing with the bowl and I honestly believe that the effort I put in on an easily overlooked detail pays big dividends at the end of the job.

But that is enough sermonizing (is that a word?...it is now) for one day. I just hope that you'll agree with me that so far this double bowl has a very romantic feel to it and that it is doing a good job symbolizing 'union'.

Thank you for dropping by to see how things are progressing! I hope that you will be inspired to join our efforts to initiate an Eisteddfod in Portland and I look forward to reading your comments.

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2012, David Western --

This week I have donated a spoon to one of my favourite North American Welsh societies.

Although I rarely donate spoons anymore due to a couple of bad experiences, I always really enjoy creating a spoon for the West Coast Eisteddfod and like to be as helpful as I can to those members of the Welsh community in North America who are trying to boost the Welsh presence on the continent! Since we are usually the wallflower cousin in the corner who everyone ignores while they party with our more flamboyant Irish and Scottish brethren, it is a treat to see an organization like the Chicago Tafia come along and wave the flag for 'Cool Cymru'!

This Sunday Feb. 26, the Tafia will be hosting a big knees up at the Red Lion in Chicago and will be hosting a raffle and silent auction to raise money for further Tafia activities. I hope that they draw lots of Welsh from the Chicago region to support them, but I also urge any Welsh readers of this blog to visit the Tafia website and email in a bid for this lovely Celtic style lovespoon! You can find them at: chicagotafia.com

Drop David Parry a line and tell him you'd love to scoop this spoon out from under their noses and here's your bid!!

You may be the lucky winner of an elegant lovespoon and David will get financial support in his efforts to promote Welsh culture in the Windy City! Its win/win!!

The spoon itself is a double-sided Celtic knot with a nice asymmetric (is that how you spell it... it is now) bowl. It's cut from a lovely piece of birch and is polished with an oil finish, followed by two coats of beeswax. As with all quality lovespoons, a lot of time, patience, care and effort has gone into carving it and the winning bidder will be rewarded with a lovespoon that will bring a lifetime of pleasure!

Check out The Chicago Tafia today and bid on this spoon!!! chicagotafia.com

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Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

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I'm very excited to announce that a date and place has been decided for this years West Coast Eisteddfod!! It will be held at the Multnomah Arts Center in Portland, Oregon on Saturday October 13th and once again Laura Jenkins Gorun and I are teaming up to produce the Eisteddfod Lovespoon.

As in previous years, the lovespoon will be raffled off to a lucky winner who will be announced at the Eisteddfod event in October. The money raised from your generous donations to the Left Coast Eisteddfod will go directly to supporting the event. Each dollar you donate will equal one chance to win the spoon. Naturally, I would like to encourage you to donate many dollars so that your chances of winning improve, but even if you can only afford one or two, please join in as every single dollar is important! After all, it only takes one ticket to win...there's no reason why that ticket shouldn't be yours!!

We are also thrilled to announce that brilliant Celtic artist Jen Delyth has contributed to this year's lovespoon design!! Jen has kindly donated one of her lovely 'Tree of Life' designs and I am chomping at the bit to get to work carving it!! Building on the tree of life theme, we have decided that 'Celebrate Your Roots' will be the motto for this years lovespoon; a motto which is also perfectly apt for the entire Left Coast Eisteddfod!
Celebrating our Welshness AND one of our endearing and enduring Welsh traditions (three cheers for lovespoons!) is what the Eisteddfod Spoon is all about and we very much hope you will support us in our endeavour!

Please join Laura, Jen and myself in supporting the Left Coast Eisteddfod 2012 and earn yourself a chance to win our spoon while you are at it!!

2009	2010	2011

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

David Western will be appearing, speaking on the lovespoon carving tradition and showing his work, including the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon - which David will award at the event - at the Left Coast Eisteddfod in Portland, Oregon on Friday, August 21 and Saturday, August 22, 2009. Get your tickets now.

As I've been compiling this little blog following the twists and turns of carving a lovespoon for the Left Coast Eisteddfod, I've received a number of emails from fellow carvers, lovespoon enthusiasts and a few people who are 'just interested' wanting to know how I got into this and what my inspirations are.

I can tell you that I basically fell into lovespoon carving. Although I have been aware of what they are since childhood, and have tinkered with carving them since my teens, the really serious obsession (or as I prefer to call it, professional interest) with lovespoons is about 10 years old now.

My main inspirations were, and still are, the lovely antique spoons housed at the National History Museum of Wales at St Fagans (near Cardiff). I always make time for a day or two at the museum studying these little gems of fervent workmanship whenever I am in Wales. A finer introduction into the craft cannot be found anywhere else (except maybe in my book The Fine Art of Lovespoon Carving - how's THAT for a shameless plug??). I encourage anyone keen on lovespoons who plans on visiting Wales to make time for this marvelous museum. Even if you could care less about lovespoons, the outdoor museum is chock-a-block with tremendous things to see. But if I were to single out one spoon which above all others has been my greatest source of inspiration and as acted as a beacon guiding me to strive to constantly improve both my carving and my design it would be this one.

For me, this spoon epitomizes all that is great about the lovespoon. Masterfully and elegantly carved, the spoon appears deceptively simple, yet every feature is flawlessly carved and the represents the very highest level of craftsmanship. If you want a spoon that 'has it all'...this is the one. Whoever the unknown craftsman was who made this brilliant offering, I sincerely hope that he won the heart of his intended and lead a long, happy and productive life! He deserves it!

After that masterwork, this little spoon may seem like the 'ugly duckling', but what I love and find so inspiring about this spoon is the passion which seems to almost emanate from its fibres! Lofty talk, I know, but despite its rather rudamentary craftsmanship and design, this spoon has tremendous emotion. Made with the simplest of tools by someone in the deepest thrawl of love, the bowl is exquisitely formed, showing an amateur carver giving it his very best effort . For 'feeling', this spoon has always rated as one of the most inspirational for me!

The last example from the St Fagan's collection is this completely over-the-top example of woodcarving virtuosity. A riot of chainwork, balls in cages, swivels and a fiendishly difficult diagonal chain pattern, this spoon was carved by a very, very serious professional. It would have taken months and months of patient and extremely nerve-wracking carving to create this magnum opus! Whenever I think I am getting fairly good at carving, I study this spoon and realize just how far I have yet to go!

But it isn't just ancient history which inspires. Recently, I had the very good fortune to meet carver Alun Davies of Wales, whom I believe carves the most technically perfect lovespoons I have ever seen. Alun's mastery of woodcarving is so complete that his spoons are almost unbelievable in their perfection. No single aspect of them is any less than stunning. In fact, the first time I laid eyes on them, I felt like I really needed to get some carving lessons and to practice a LOT more!! Alun's spoons aren't just technically staggering though, they have a soft and elegant charm which is really the root of lovespoon carving...they have feeling!!! It was Alun who told me something which has become my lovespoon carving mantra... "A lovespoon is not a lovespoon unless it is carved with love; love for the wood, love for the tradition and love for the person who will receive it." Hang that above the workbench and you have all the inspiration you'll ever need!!

My last lovespoon inspiration has probably had the most profound influence on in my lovespoon carving as he has shown me that the possibilities for the tradition are vast, varied and exciting. Mike Davies is probably the most well known of all the Welsh lovespoon carvers and for many years has been a one-man promotion for this venerable tradition. Thousands of people around the world proudly display Mike's work on their walls and for good reason....Mike was one of the first to really realize the design possibilities for the lovespoon outside the 'antique traditional'. With dramatic Celtic designs, dramatic modern pieces and delicate foliage inspired spoons, Mike's work is always adventurous. Realizing that there were so many unexplored avenues available to the lovespoon carver was probably the greatest inspiration for me and I will always be grateful to Mike for so vividly pointing that out!

I have enjoyed great generousity, cameraderie and inspiration from many lovespoon carvers over the years and I know that like everything else, the more influences, techniques and ideas are brought to a subject, the better it gets. Hopefully, one day I will be an inspiration to a beginning carver or my designs will spark inspiration for someone to take the craft another step further and that will be a very happy day for me.

For anyone new to this, lovespoons are a traditional Welsh folk art. David Western and Laura Gorun are lovespoon carvers who have very generously donated their time to create a one-of-a-kind masterpiece in support of the Left Coast Eisteddfod , a Welsh performing arts festival for the west coast of North America. This is David's second year of creation in support of this event and we are very grateful for his and Laura's generosity in sharing their work with us all. For a chance to win their spoon this year, click on the donate button on the blog or in the right-hand column on this page under the Left Coast Eisteddfod Competitions button and be sure to note that your donation is for the lovespoon.

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog, all material 2010, David Western --

I'm very excited to be working on another lovespoon for the Left Coast Eisteddfod! After the success of last year's spoon and the enthusiastic response it generated for the Left Coast Eisteddfod, we decided to make it an annual event.

This time, though, I wanted to try something a bit different. I'll be designing and carving this lovespoon in concert with Ohio lovespoon carver, Laura Gorun, so it will very much be a joint effort! Laura is relatively new to lovespoon carving, but her spoons have the sophisticated design and elegant craftsmanship of someone who has been at it for much longer!! I'm certain that working with her is going to yield a really marvelous lovespoon!

Although we will be separated by many thousands of miles and have only ever met through the internet, we plan to design the spoon via lots of back-and-forth emails, taking advantage of the incredible opportunities for collaboration the electronic age has opened up.

Our 'theme' for the lovespoon will be "2." As it is the second year of the Eisteddfod, the number 2 seemed a good jumping off point for the design. We also thought that with one of us being male and the other female, one of us fairly new to carving, one an 'oldtimer' and with us living in two different countries, 2 seemed to crop up everywhere. The challenge now will be for us to work that into a viable design!!

When it comes time to carve the lovespoon, we will carve half the spoon each. Like all carvers, we each have elements that we are good at and some that we are not quite as comfortable with, so we will attempt to divvy up the carving so that we each work as much as possible to our strongest suit.

This will be a unique experiment for both of us, especially given that lovespoon carving is generally a pretty solitary endeavour. For both of us, working with another set of ideas and attitutes toward lovespoon carving will both open design doors and create some challenges!

The plan is to work up the design over the next couple of weeks and then begin the carving process. This blog will illustrate what we have been getting up to and will show the whole process from initial rough ideas to the finished piece. Both Laura and I hope that you will enjoy following along and that you will be inspired to donate to the Left Coast Eisteddfod for your chance to win the completed lovespoon!!

Next week we'll post the first set of drawings and then the hard stuff starts!

In the meantime, we hope you will visit us at:

www. BlakesPA.com to view Laura's handmade lovespoons and www.davidwesternlovespoons.com to view David's work

Special Announcement

Ten days to go to submit your design ideas for this year's West Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon. There are three spaces on the spoon which have been reserved for our readers design suggestions. You can submit as many ideas as you like ( drawings particularly welcome ). Ten ideas, one each from ten entrants, will be selected and will go forward to the final vote in April. The voting widget will appear in a special blog post on AmeriCymru. The three design ideas which get the most votes will be incorporated in the spoon's final design. The three winners will each reeive a copy of David's fabulous book ( pictured here ) "The Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons" So....DONT DELAY, ENTER TODAY!!! Even if you have already submitted a suggestion or two feel free to suggest more. Go to this blog post to enter your design idea as a comment if you are on AmeriCymru:- David Western's Lovespoon Blog: "Good things DO happen in threes!" If you are on Facebook go to this blog:- West Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon Contest On! to post your design suggestions in the Facebook comment box at the bottom of the page. All suggestions will be examined and a shortlist drawn up for the final vote at the end of March.

The winner for this year's Left Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon is Kathy Bushman of Milwaukie, Oregon!

Kathy is an AmeriCymru member and purchased her winning ticket at this year's Night of the Living Bards event in Portland, Oregon. "I've never won anything in my life and this is so beautiful, I can't believe it's mine! Thank you so much and thank you so much to the artists who made this!"

This is the second year for the Left Coast Eisteddfod and the Left Coast Eisteddfod Lovespoon, a custom started by artist David Western of British Columbia, who was joined this year by artist Laura Jenkins-Gorun , of Ohio. David has been a well-known lovespoon carver for many years, his work has been commissioned all over the world and appears in museum collections, including St. Fagans in Wales, he teaches carving and is the author of Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons .

We very gratefully thank David and Laura for their very great contribution to the Left Coast Eisteddfod, for their hard work and their incredible, incomparable art.

 

This Year's Spoon

Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Eisteddfod Lovespoon Blog

Occasionally, I will visit a certain well-known internet product retail website and have a read of the customer comments regarding my book, "The Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons". One comment in particular always gives me a good chuckle, even though it is a bit scathing in its condemnation of my artistic abilities. It refers to a couple of my more 'simple' pieces, generally spoons where I have let a particularly beautiful piece of wood do the talking while I stay in the background supplying only a few selective cuts and some elbow grease at polishing time. To my eye, these are some of my most beautiful spoons, to my critic, they are a failure to do something worthwhile with my carving abilities.

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The picture to the left is the one that I think is responsible for the largest lashings of my critic's vitriol. As he/she describes it, "it honestly looks like a block of wood." To me it looks like one of the most beautiful pieces of figured broadleaf maple I have had the good fortune to have encountered. Now I'm a pretty good carver, but trust me, there is nothing I could have done to this wood that would have made it any more beautiful than it already is. I put an elegant bowl and a little heart on it and called it a day, content that this was one of my most beautiful lovespoons!

THIS is a perfect example of the adage "Less is more".

Unfortunately, we carvers are an odd lot and many of us are motivated by a desire to be as complicated as possible...we equate complexity and difficulty with beauty and art.

Too often, carving which is 'simple' is looked down on as it is viewed as a failing of the carver's artistic skill and his carving abilities. But it aint easy to make a really simple spoon that looks as beautiful as some of these ones you see here today. I'm not bragging or showing off, but I have to confess that making spoons like these is every bit as difficult as coming up with one of the Celtic knot eye-poppers I am more known for. These spoons are the Stompin' Tom Connor (ZZ Top for my American readers) tunes of the spoon world! They are little 3 chord beauties with a catchy hook and easy to remember lyrics that seem so simple that anyone could do it...but which very few actually can.

Could I do this without many years of experience? Certainly not consistently. I might get the odd lucky bounce and make a good one by accident, but it has taken me long time to learn enough carving and art skills, enough self-confidence and most important, enough restraint to take spoons like this on.

Honestly, these aint no blocks of wood!

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2012, David Western --

Despite all the forecasts of yet another year of economic doom and gloom, my year got off to an excellent start when renowned spoon collector Norman Stevens sent me a box of spoons from his extensive collection for me to study. I've never been fortunate enough to see a Norwegian wedding spoon or a Swiss creme spoon 'in person' before, so the opportunity to handle some of these remarkable pieces has been very inspiring!

Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

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

Competitions for the 2010 Left Coast Eisteddfod have been launched on AmeriCymru and we're hard at work planning this year's physical event in Portland, Oregon.

Online competitions this year include poetry in Welsh, Spanish and English with judges respectively John Good , Geraldine Mac Burney and Peter Thabit Jones ; short fiction to be judged again this year by the very excellent Lloyd Jones; Images judged by photographer Glyn Davies .

David Western has very generously offered to create another work of art to support the 2010 event and this year will be collaborating with another artist, lovespoon carver Laura Gorun of Ohio.

David was born in Cardiff but emigrated to Canada, where he now lives in Victoria, British Columbia. Dave has been carving lovespoons for over 20 years and is the author of The Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons . This spoon will be Dave's first collabation with another lovespoon artist and he is delighted to be working with Laura on it.

Laura, a native of Akron, Ohio now lives and carves in Worthington, Ohio. Laura is of Welsh descent through a paternal grandfather and "relatively new" to lovespoon carving. More of her work can be seen here .

This year's blog will follow the process of the creation of the 2010 spoon, with contributions from both artists. As a starting point, they have decided on a theme of "Two" for this year's spoon: two countries, two carvers and the second Eisteddfod. Collaborating on the designing and carving will be a new experience for both Dave and Laura, especially since they live and work in Canada and the US, respectively, a couple of thousand miles apart. The inevitable challenges and learning experiences for both carvers working together should add an interesting twist to this year's blog and the carving experience. On behalf of the Left Coast Eisteddfod, we at AmeriCymru thank you both very, very much for the contribution of your talent, your creativity, your labor and your generous kindness and look forward to the journey of creation of this spoon.

Happy Saint David's Day 2010!

Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

My new book has just gone through the final editing stage and is now scheduled to go to the printers!

It will be far-and-away the most thorough book detailing the origins, traditions and craft of the lovespoon and I am more than a little bit excited to see it reaching this stage of production! I spent a lot of time researching lovespoons in public and private collections and quickly realized that the lovespoon tradition is a much broader one than I had originally thought. From Sweden to Romania, most European countries engaged in some form of romantic wooden spoon carving and my quest to discover historical spoons hidden in out-of-the-way places was a great adventure!!. For me, visiting the museum collections first-hand or gazing through astonshing photo collections was like being a kid turned loose in a candy store; I stuffed myself on new discoveries until I thought I was going to burst!

I can only hope that with this book, I will have done some justice to this remarkable tradition. At the very least, I hope it encourages others to undertake some research which may one day demystify more and more of the lovespoon's hidden past.

From a historical viewpoint, it is a sad thing that the lovespoon was primarily a tradition of the 'poorer' classes and so attracted precious little interest from social observers of the time. Much of the lovespoon' lore has thus been cobbled together from supposition and fanciful marketing with much of it being distinctly suspect. Hopefully, some of the discoveries and theories I mention in the book will ignite some debate among lovespoon enthusiasts and collectors and will lead to newer and more accurate observations on the lovespoon's traditions and meanings.

I know my own thoughts and beliefs about the lovespoon have changed fairly dramatically since I started researching this little book and it will be interesting to see what kind of response it generates!

But the book isn't all history. The lovespoon is an evolving tradition (like all good traditions) and it is through the work of current carvers that the art of carving them will continue and broaden. I have been extremely fortunate to enjoy the great support of many of my contemporaries who have shared photographs of their beautiful work, have debated lovespoon history and have provided me with the encouragement I often needed to press on as a lovespoon carver! Without a doubt, the 'modern' section of this new book is going to be an eye-opener for both those new to lovespoons and to those who think they have seen it all!! To see the work of carvers as diverse as Alun Davies, Mike Davies, Sion Llewellyn, Laura Jenkins Gorun, David Stanley, Adam King and Ralph Hentall all together in one place is my personal highlight of the book! I know that it will be for plenty of others too.

History of Lovespoons is published by Fox Chapel Publishing and is available for pre-order from all the very finest and most reputable book dealers!!

 

David Western

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Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2011, David Western --

As another year draws to a close, I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone the very best of the season. Nadolig Llawen (Merry Christmas) to all those who celebrate Christmas and best wishes to all those who don't.

From David's blog: Two of David's beautiful spoons are on the cover of the January 2009 Lee Valley Catalog . Lee Valley is "a family-owned business that has been serving users of woodworking and gardening tools since 1978," it is the largest catalog of home and garden items in David's native Canada and is also available in the USA. David's Fine Art of Lovespoons is available in the catalog. David is very happy to be on their cover, he said that this was a goal of his and that he is, " very, very thrilled to be on there! "

Image 2009 by Lee Valley Tools Ltd. and VeritasTools Inc. All rights reserved.

David's blog here: http://davidwestern.blogspot.com

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Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blog

"The Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons" An Interview with David Western.What is a lovespoon and what is it for? Are there comparable or similar customs in other cultures?"A lovespoon is a heavily ornamented, non-functional gift of love or strong emotion. How's that for dry? Originally, it was a handmade spoon given by its maker to the girl who had captivated his heart in the hopes its acceptance would lead to the beginnings of a courtship. The custom was known throughout Wales and was known to exist in Sweden, the Alpine regions and even down to Hungary; it is even reputed MORE HERE
Find more photos like this on Americymru

Reproduced with kind permission from David Western's Portland Lovespoon Blo g, 2012 David Western, all rights reserved

Wooohooo!! I'm going to interrupt the flow of the Eisteddfod lovespoon blog to vent some of my excitement about the advance copy of my newest lovespoon book, "History of Lovespoons" which I just received from the great folks at Fox Chapel publishing!!!

With an exhaustively researched section on the history, myths and symbolism of the lovespoon, this book will hopefully debunk much of the fanciful twaddle that appears on many commercial sites. Historical lovespoons from Wales and continental Europe show in rich colour what lovespoon carving is all about! I received wonderful support from many museums throughout Wales, Sweden, Norway and Germany and the beautiful spoons they allowed me to show here are worth the price of the book many times over! This is a chance to see some spectacular collections without leaving your armchair!!!

The book also goes into great detail explaining the symbols found on historic and modern lovespoons. There is even an entire section which explaining the meanings of various spoons part by part. (The photo here shows a beautiful old 3 bowl spoon from the fabulous collection of the National History Museum of Wales at St Fagans.)

Concluding with a lovely gallery of modern work by some of the top lovespoon carvers from around the globe, this is a great opportunity to see what is going on with lovespoon carvers throughout the globe. With spoons by Alun Davies, Mike Davies, Sion Llewellyn, David Stanley, Adam King and Ralph Hentall, there is no doubt that a wonderfully wide range of styles and techniques will be on show!! The lovespoon is a versatile thing and the design possibilities are virtually infinite, so I am super- excited to be able to highlight so many lovespoon carvers whose work I admire so much! Its an absolute treat to have them all here in one place!!

Naturally, I want to show off Laura's page! She and I are putting the finishing touches to our 2012 Eisteddfod lovespoon design and should be posting it very soon. We lovespoon carvers generally work alone, so it is very exciting and challenging to team up and do a spoon which combines very different design styles and very different approaches to carving and technique. But if the last spoon we did together was anything to go by, we'll both have a great time and some very lucky winner will walk off with the fruits of our labour!!

It is with great pride and pleasure that we feature the work of David Western in this post. He is a lovespoon carver from Cardiff, currently residing in Vancouver B.C., and has just published a book on the art of creating the lovespoon, Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons: Understanding, Designing and Creating Romantic Treasures , Fox Chapel Publishing (October 1, 2008).

Pictures of some of his beautiful work are on our Pictures tab and can be seen below:

Just the thing for St. Dwynwyn's Day or, if you must, St Valentines, or even Christmas for that special someone. You can contact David or leave him comments on his Americymru page here .

David's website gives his bio:

"I was born in Cardiff, Wales but now live in Victoria, BC, Canada. A graduate of the University of British Columbia and a cabinetmaker by trade, I hold City and Guilds Certification in both cabinet making and furniture design from the UK and Canadian Inter-provincial Certification in joinery. I have been carving for over 20 years; my spoons are found in collections throughout the world.

"My lovespoons are carved entirely by hand using only domestic North American woods. I feel our native timbers easily rival any tropical hardwood for beauty and colouration. Using sustainable, easily grown lumber such as alder and maple allows me to avoid contributing toward the denuding of tropical rain forests.

"Lovespoon carving is my passion. I constantly strive to expand the boundaries of design while creating unique and innovative carvings which respect and honour the tradition of the Welsh lovespoon. My lovespoons are not souvenir trinkets; they are art which also celebrates both my client's personal stories and my hard-earned skills as a craftsman and designer. I believe the romantic, thoughtful, hand-crafted lovespoon still has an important role to play in our increasingly sterile and pre-fabricated society. My goal is to continue the tradition of the lovespoon while introducing it to as wide an audience as possible both within and beyond the Welsh community."

I took a break from my regular routine of lovespoon carving this past week and took myself over to Vancouver BC for the big Celtic Fest and St. Patrick's Day parade. Getting ready for an event like this takes a lot of effort and involves adjusting my mindset from fussing over individual commission pieces to quickly carving lots of 'economically' priced spoons for the impulse-buy market. Its not something I like to do all that often. While it is good for me to practice carving at slightly higher intensity than I usually carve, my normal speed is pretty damn quick, so it isn't really that much fun to go even faster. Generally, it means that I am carving simple designs as quickly as I can manage it and not being able to give the subtle details the time I would like.Never-the-less, the thought of meeting all kinds of interesting people and having a chance to get out of the studio for a couple of days lends some excitement to the proceedings. I get some spoons together, maybe make some earrings or jewelry boxes for the 10 dollar crowd and break out the David Western Lovespoons banner...it's good fun.Of course once I get there, I am inevitably faced by the customer who tells me that my prices are too high or that they could carve one faster, better, blah, blah, blah. Now normally, I'm pretty good at keeping a poker face, nodding sagely and offering a polite response, but take a look at this weather we had, and you'll see why my mood darkened a touch this week. The first day was pretty good, but it did start to rain and blow a bit in the afternoon and I started to get pretty chilly. That was when my 'you're too expensive' customer showed up. On a sunny day, she would have got an equally sunny smile, a slight shrug of the shoulders and some sort of non-committal, politically correct, the-customer-is-always-right type of response to her insult. But I was freezing my arse off and frankly I wasn't in the mood for it. My reply was somewhat curt, lightly laced with dripping sarcasm and with a hint of cruelty to give it that certain je ne sais quoi (as the French would say). I very much doubt I'll ever enjoy her custom in the future.But as the second day rolled along and the snow began filling up my display boxes, I had plenty of time to consider the whole 'expensive craft' issue. How does a craftsperson get through to people who are conditioned to buy the cheapest crap they can lay hands on that the things we make are worth the money we charge? As a lovesoon carver, I'm damned lucky if I ever make 20 bucks an hour carving a commission piece. Now that might sound pretty good if you work at the Arches, but for the amount of knowledge and technical skill I am expected to possess, it's pretty mediocre money. Remember too, that 20 bucks also includes the cost of running my studio, my advertising, wood, tools etc etc., so by the time I get my hands on some, I'd probably be better off financially working for Walmart. So why not charge more? Well, you can only charge what the market will bear and the market doesn't have much time for handmade stuff. It's kind of a funny thing, but I get loads of people coming by the booth to admire my spoons and to bemoan the sad state of affairs in the 'hand-made' world, but hardly any of them support their kind sentiments with a purchase.Another problem is that there are so many TV shows and 'how-to' books which show you how to make a 'one-of-a-kind heirloom' on a Sunday afternoon during the half- time show of the football game, that alot of craft has been cheapened to the point of irrelevance. I don't mean to belittle those people who have to see a finished project after their 12 minutes of hard work, but sometimes good things really do come to those who wait. Good craft requires patience, skill and more than a little bit of determination. It also requires that you have breakages, disasters and mis-starts along the way. That is all part of getting good at something.I guess where all this is leading, is if you are one of those people who thinks that the craft product in front of you is too expensive etc., etc., ask yourself if you could really do it better and quicker. Of course you think you could, but could you really? Be honest about it and then ask yourself if you would do the work for that price -- I bet you'll come up with a different view of things. Well, now that I've got all that off my chest, swept the snow off my spoons and packed them away, I can return to my Americymru spoon and my usual sunny disposition!

Reprinted with permission from David Western's blog , all material 2011, David Western --

Americymru member David Western's lovespoons blog has a guest blogger this week, a reader was kind enough to contribute his own pictures and carving experience as inspired by David:Bob Tinsley is a reader of this blog who was inspired to try his own lovespoon and has graciously allowed us to post pictures of his work, below, and to be our guest blogger:

HOW I GOT HOOKED ON LOVESPOONS

Hi, I'm Bob Tinsley, and I'm honored to be David's guest blogger. I'm from Colorado Springs, CO, and I've been carving off and on, mostly off, for close to 40 years. However if you put all my carving time together in one string, it would probably amount to about two years of experience.

During the last four months I've gotten serious about carving, doing some carving every day, mostly small figures in the flat-plane style and a lot of Santa Claus Christmas ornaments.

I got into selling my Santas with a push from my wife. After I had about 10 pieces finished and painted (8 Santa ornaments of various types, one Santa Bear full figure about 6' tall and an Old World Santa I called "Watching the Weather" because he was looking up), my wife said, "What are you going to do with these? They're starting to clutter the place up." My wife is big on reducing clutter.

My daughter, on one of her jaunts through one of the more touristy parts of town, saw a store called "Handmade Santas & More". So I figured, what the heck. I wrapped the pieces in brown paper, put them in a box and headed for "Handmade Santas & More". The first time I went there, the owner was out. The lady at the counter said to come back tomorrow. I went there the next day, a different lady was there, but she wasn't the owner either. Third time's the charm. The next time I went there the owner was in. She looked at my work and bought all of them on the spot. This was about mid-November. By mid-December she had sold all of them and wanted me to do a commission for a gift to a man who played Santa for a charitable organization, which I did over the next weekend. She wanted a fat, jolly Santa, so I did a fat, jolly, dancing Santa.

She liked that one as well and put in an order for next year. She said just start bringing them in around the end of March and keep them coming.

I first ran across David in the pages of Woodcarving Illustrated (WCI). I liked his enthusiasm, and checked out his website. I was floored by the intricacy and delicacy of his art. I wanted to do that, so I copied the pattern in WCI, bought a couple of 1 x 3 x 12 poplar boards, ordered his book from Amazon, Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons , and got started.

I received David's book when I was about halfway through carving my first spoon. It was like getting an early Christmas present! The book is laid out in a supremely logical manner. Without asking David about this, I can be pretty sure that this book wasn't intended to be just about how to carve a lovespoon (though that information is there). David apparently wanted a book that would introduce new people to the art and romance of lovespoon carving. In this he succeeded. Beginning with the history and lore illustrated by examples of lovespoons done by him and several other artists, the book covers the materials and tools, step-by-step instructions for three patterns, then finally patterns and something that is sorely needed in all carving books but seldom included: a chapter on doing your own designs. This, in my view, elevates Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons above 99% of the carving books on the market. And I have to say that the photography is outstanding.

My tools consist of two Pinewood Forge knives, a small sloyd and a hook knife, a coping saw, a small Japanese hand saw and a battery-powered drill. I roughed out the profile with the Japanese saw and finished it with the sloyd. Surprisingly it didn't take nearly as long as I thought. Poplar is pretty easy to carve with a SHARP knife. I emphasize the word "sharp" because, even though I can put a shaving-sharp edge on a pocket knife, until I got my first Pinewood Forge knife, I didn't realize that pocketknife sharp and carving knife sharp are two different things.

I drilled holes in the pierced areas, not just one as David shows, but as many as I could fit in. I was going to have to do the piercings by hand, so I wanted to remove as much wood as I could with the drill. I started to clean out the piercings with the knife, but realized that it would be easier if the handle weren't so thick.

I took out my handy-dandy two-sided Japanese hand saw and ripped a half-inch off the thickness of the handle. Once I had done that, I could start rounding off the bottom of the spoon's bowl. I decided to do that before I tackled the piercings again, because it looked, and was, easier.

Once that was done, I started back on the piercings. The larger ones I did only with my knife. Some of the smaller ones I did with the coping saw, but discovered that clamping and unclamping that blade after taking only five or six strokes was a major pain. So I continued with the knife.

I found that getting a clean corner where two curves came together, such as at the bottom of the heart cut-out, was not easy. Cutting down into the corner was almost always against the grain, so I had to develop a technique to get the point of my sloyd into the corner and cut up out of it (with the grain) a little at a time until I had cut all the way from the front of the handle to the back. It took a while to get the joint as clean as I wanted it.

Once I had the cut-outs finished, but before starting the rounding, I used the hook knife to hollow out the bowl. I thought that the ridge going down into the bowl from the top was going to be difficult, but it wasn't. I also didn't have much trouble with the grain at the bottom of the bowl. I don't know whether this was because of the wood or the sharpness of my hook knife. I suspect it was the wood.

I began the rounding process on the handle and quickly discovered where the grain changed direction. A very light touch with a very sharp knife was the key to making these areas smooth.

I like tool marks on my carvings, so I didn't sand at all. Any place I thought was too rough, I smoothed out with numerous shallow cuts with my knife. I did use a cabinet scraper on the inside of the bowl.

I finished the spoon with a hot application of neutral shoe polish applied with a toothbrush to get in all the nooks and crannies. I wiped off the excess with a rag, then buffed with a soft brush.

I enjoyed the process as well as the result. It's really not as hard as it looks. I've already started my second spoon, so I guess you could say I'm hooked!

Thanks, David, for the opportunity to do this.

David Western sent me this cool video, he and some friends have done a musical video ad for his lovespoons, complete with Dave singing an original song in praise of lovespoons - please like it and share it!

Reproduced with kind permission from David western's Portland Eisteddfod Lovespoon Blog

After yet another massacre of beautiful little children in the USA, it's pretty hard to come here and post. That kind of completely senseless and astonishing violence against society's most defenceless members makes it very hard to view the human race in any kind of positive light. In fact, it's pretty tempting to write the whole world off as a seriously deranged gong show and go hide in the quiet calm of my little studio.

I don't know why some people do what they do and I really don't understand the big deal about guns and owning them...but that is because I am a lovespoon carver. In my little world, people are happy, they're in love, they're proud of their families and they want to create something positive that they can share with others. It is the very polar opposite of the darkness which descended on that little elementary school in Connecticut yesterday.

I feel sickened by what I read in the news about this catastrophe and I feel helpless against the mindless violence and evil which seems to infest so many hearts these days...but my way to fight back against the horror of Connecticut is to make beauty.

So here here is my little memorial of 27 lovespoons to all those precious lives lost yesterday.

I've finished both horse heads. For now. I spent most of my carving time today practicing on the chip carving. On different piece of wood! I got the cat the way I wanted it (on the practice piece) and began practicing on the squares below it. (No, you don't get to see that!) Based on what I'm seeing, I MAY need to do a fresh layout on the squares. I'm also playing with the exact angles and order of cuts. More playing needs to be done. After messing with the practice squares for a while, I decided to do the cat head on the spoon. Before I got to the nose and mouth my hands were beginning to tremble enough that I thought I'd better quit and do that tomorrow. It was a struggle to stop, though. "It's only five more little lines. I can do that in my sleep. Just five lines. Come on, you can do it," I said to myself. Fortunately, I noticed that I couldn't even draw the guidelines properly, so, descretion being the better part of valor, I decided to wait until tomorrow.

More work on the back of the bowl. The first three photos show the right side of the bowl almost to its final shape. I say "almost" because as I "symetricize" (that's probably not a word, but it should be!) the other side of the bowl I will need to adjust the right side to match. 

  

The last three photos show the first half of the work on the left side. This is fiddly work, but rewarding.

So far I've spent a little more than four hours just on the back of the bowl. I always work on the back of the bowl first. That allows me to refine the shape. To my mind digging out the hollow of the bowl first just doesn't allow for the minor adjustments and refinements that make the difference between an eating or cooking spoon and a lovespoon.

 

Principal carving is done! I've still got some tweaking to do on the bowl, but I'm almost there. After the tweaking (NOT twerking!) I'll begin using the dreaded Devil's Paper. Then there will be the oiling . . . followed by the oiling . . . followed by the oiling . . . followed by the curing of the oil. All in all, probably another week before the spoon hits the mail!

Finished the chip carving and put a border around it. Turned out pretty well, I think.

And now: THE BOWL! Now comes the really fun part, finishing the bowl. We can start to see the figure in the bowl. We'll have a bull's eye with some nice color: lots of different shades of brown and even some greens, very subtle. I love this part!

I'm often asked about how I avoid going too deep in the bowl and breaking out the bottom. First, don't get carried away with all the scooping (it's easy to do). Pay attention. Go slowly and keep measuring the thickness of the bowl. Some people use calipers for this, but I've found that the "Pinch Test," pinch the bowl between your thumb on the inside and your forefinger on the outside, gives me a better feel (get that? Feel! Ha!) For the thickness and the uniformity. I'll often find myself paring paper thin shavings off the outside of the bowl to match the curvature of the inside and keep the wall thickness uniform. The knives pictured with the spoon are made by Del Stubbs of Pinewood Forge.

Today, as you might be able to tell from the photos , I began the chip carving. It's so nice finally having a knife that works! I'm generally pretty good about stropping my knives to keep them sharp as I carve, typically about every 15 to 30 minutes, but I've found that this chip carving knife performs noticibly better If I strop it after I finish a square, about 12 cuts. I mean it's NOTICABLY better. I suspect that it is more about the polish on the blade than the sharpness. Down here in Flor-I-da it's so humid that you can get microscopic beads of moisture on a metal surface after just a few minutes. Moisture on a blade means binding in the wood. At least that's my theory. When it's humid down here EVERYTHING is damp! The medallion is done and half of the squares. Tomorrow the rest, and then on to the bowl. BTW, that pile of chips is the result of about 1.5 hours of carving. Once you start on the finish work, the volume of the chip pile decreases as the carving time increases.

The last couple of days were spent in zen-like contemplation, practice and refinement. I finished the cat and began working on the chip carving for the stem. I discovered a couple of interesting things. I haven't done much chip carving in the past, because it seemed like such a struggle to get it to look right. I discovered that I just didn't have a knife properly tuned for the work. As I began working on the practice piece I got increasingly frustrated at the way my knife was behaving. I was either having to use much more force than I wanted to, or I was having to make multiple thin cuts to do what most people do in one cut. The sharpness wasn't an issue; the issue was the blade profile. Most chip carving cuts are done with the first 1/8" to 3/16" of the blade. This blade was simply too thick, so I spent about 3 to 4 hours regrinding, sharpening and polishing the blade. I changed the inluded angle of the edge to about 15 degrees or less. I also ground a small swedge on the back of the blade near the tip to decrease the friction of the blade against the wood. I also rounded the back of the blade to make it more comfortable to push against. What a difference! Chip carving changed from a chore to a pleasure in one fell swoop. I still need to make the swedge a little wider and do more polishing on the blade.

Now that things were working the way they should be, I did two styles of chip carving for the stem. The one on the right is an older, more primitive style. It looks rather like laces. The one on the left is what is more commonly seen today. The client chose the one on the left.

I've finished with the back of the bowl, pretty much. You probably can't tell the difference, but I can. I'm much happier now. As I work on the inside of the bowl I'll undoubtedly be making small adjustments to the outside, but that's normal. I started on the horse heads and got one almost done. Still have a few minor adjustments to make before I start the next one. I used the Flexcut Detail Knife to do a lot of the horse head. I like Flexcut knives. They have good steel, good heat treatment, hold a good edge a long time, but there is one thing I just can't abide: that slick, lacquer coating they use on the handles. My hands sweat when I carve, so that lacquer makes it seem like I'm holding a piece of ice. Fortunately there is a simple solution: 100-grit sandpaper. The bare wood sticks to my hand like glue. A major improvement.

Today I got the back of the spoon about 98% finished. I've marked one area where I need to take off just a little more wood to get the symmetry I'm looking for. I'm probably going a little OCD on this, but that's me and spoon bowls. Once I move that wood I'll start on the horses, move on to the chip carving and do the inside of the bowl last.

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.

My client has very generously allowed me to post progress on their spoon and show the commissioning process from beginning to end. The process begins with a discussion about influences in the client's life and things they enjoy. The client is an adoptee, something that, understandably, has been a major influence in their life. The client also loves horses and cats (who wouldn't?). I decided to use the Adoption Triad as the dominant feature of the spoon. The Adoption Triad is represented by a triangle and a heart. The sides of the triangle represent the adoptee, the adoptive family and the birth family. The triangle is interwoven with a heart that symbolizes the love that binds the triangle together. As you can see in the first photo I came up with two designs based on the older, simpler forms of the Welsh lovespoon.

The one on the bottom used a more standard version of the Triad, the one on top, a more stylized version I came up with consisting of three stylized hearts surrounding a smaller triangle. I also incorporated horses and a cat. The client chose the design on the bottom. My next step was to produce a full size drawing so I could adjust proportions if need be.

I next traced the design onto tracing paper.

After choosing a piece of wood (poplar) for the spoon I needed to transfer the drawing to the wood using transfer paper (available at most hobby and art stores).

I put the transfer paper against the wood and taped the drawing over it.

I used a stylus to trace over the lines on the drawing. Using a hand coping saw I roughed out the outline of the spoon and smoothed out the saw cuts with a knife.

I purposely didn't photograph the saw cuts because I didn't want any photographic proof that my skills as a sawyer are so poor. You might notice that I didn't transfer the design for the spoon's stem at this time. The surface of the stem is going to be lower than the surface of the crown of the spoon and the rim of the bowl, so why transfer the design now when I'm only going to be cutting it away before I do any work on it. When I get the surface of the stem where I want it, then I'll transfer the design onto it.