Remembering an old orchard
Little things
Plum wood
Another plumb wood cut out blank ready to go. However, on cutting it I’ve found some knots in this second piece so am going to have to abandon it.
Another spoon
A Group of Scoops
A few of the completed scoops from the blanks shown earlier. Not sure what they might be used for mustard, sugar, salt, mint sauce other sauces?
Dibbers for Sale
A poster advertising some of my ‘dibbers’ at the Bohemia Walled Garden sale in Hastings. Sales were modest. But it was an Easter egg event and I had given away the better ones. So it’s not surprising.
A detour into miniature scoops from scraps.
These small chunks come from a single small branch of, I think, willow that I retrieved from the marshes of the Pevensey Levels’. It is well seasoned and a joy to carve. The fourth from the top is impossible as it has a knot and a split winding through the core. But the remaining three pieces should be enjoyable to carve. (I charred/burned the handle of the third one down, then used wire wool to smooth it over.)
Just a scrap
I found this little scrap on the floor and, to avoid having to go and do some gardening, I started to whittle. Of course I would, I was curious to see if anything could come of it. After a while this little miniature scoop turned up. I really like it, it takes up the stem from the previous small shallow spoon I carved (last post). But I have no more excuses, so a bit of walnut oil and back to the garden.
Old tables
I was recently given an old, broken, black victorian side table. I guess the wood was teak or similar. I thought it would be interesting to see if it would be any good for small spoons even though it is really quite thin. However, I’m rather pleased with the shallow scoops that seem to be emerging. It’s unusual for me to make such shallow spoons and I think I will be making more. I have experimented with burning the surface which is interesting but the natural cut surface give a pleasing deep red once it is oiled (walnut oil).
Shaping up
These three were made consecutively, the first one is on the left, the last is on the right. It was interesting to experiment with different proportions in the first two and then come to the final shape, which is probably just about right. I will probably take a template and make more of these.
The soft, squared shape of the end of the handle was inspired by shape of an Apple Mac mouse. The wood comes from trees in my garden. The first two came from the same piece of crab apple. The third is a piece of spalted maple cut two years ago and left outside. Spalting occurs when a fungus works its way into the grain to give interesting grain patterns.