Spoon carving students...

[Mr Mac]

Spoon carving students...

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Once Dolly got her head out of my Tupperware I got going with a bit of sharpening, a bit of chopping and a bit of carving...​

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We are having some wonderful weather here in Devon.​

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The Blackbirds have been pairing up and we have a few couples building nests close to the house. The boys are in a fighting mood, but they seem to rub along .​

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I've been busy with my new axe making kuksa and spoons.​

And the Black birds have given me some inspiration.​

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I was asked by my friend Mark Lane if I could take a group of his students from Embercombe and teach them the rudiments of spoon carving.​

These students are all volunteers and have very little in the way of money, but lots in the way of enthusiasm and determination. They duly arrived bearing things with which they could trade for a day with me and Dolly;​

locally made cider, wine and lots of vegetables from their allotments up at Embercombe.​

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We started the day with some axing techniques. I would recommend to anyone who is just starting with axe work to go buy some 6 inch nails and practice, with a hammer, gently knocking them in. This will help, to a certain degree, with your accuracy.​

Once our blanks were chopped we moved on to some knife techniques.​

Luckily I have a few MaChris knives that I could share with my students.​

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Lunchtime bought a wonderful Chick pea curry made by the students, we moved indoors as it began to rain a little.



Earlier in the day we had to borrow Dolly's personal stump. She was not a happy chicken, when we finished with the axes we put her stump back in the studio...Where it belongs....J;-)

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They all did very well learning new skills, I'm sure we will see there spoons on show in the future.

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We all had a great time carving and chatting. I will visit Embercombe soon and give the students some sharpening tuition. Looking forward to another curry...

Enjoy....J

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http://spooncarvingfirststeps.blogspot.com
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[shaggystu]

great post, thanks for sharing

 

[Mr Mac]

No worries...My pleasure...J

 

[Stringmaker]

Wonderful post.

I am envious of your garden, your spoon carving skills and some other stuff too.

Thanks for sharing the pleasure that a craft skill can bring.

 

[Mr Mac]

Wonderful post.

I am envious of your garden, your spoon carving skills and some other stuff too.

Thanks for sharing the pleasure that a craft skill can bring.

My pleasure entirely Stringmaker. It's what I do, I love this kind of work...J

 

[Stringmaker]

My pleasure entirely Stringmaker. It's what I do, I love this kind of work...J

I'm not surprised when you have all those chicks around you.

I'll get my coat...

 

[geordienemisis]

Hey what a lovely gesture Jon, I find that people learning skills & trading with what's at hand is Fantastic. If only we could all get on like this we would be a lot happier I can tell you. We could all learn a thing or too at your little swarays.

 

[Mr Mac]

I certainly do have some lovely chickens...

 

[Mr Mac]

Hey what a lovely gesture Jon, I find that people learning skills & trading with what's at hand is Fantastic. If only we could all get on like this we would be a lot happier I can tell you. We could all learn a thing or too at your little swarays.

It's all good fun Geordienemisis... Gotta share the knowledge or it'll disappear... We all had a great day, and the scrumpy was FAB !

 

[crosslandkelly]

A brilliant read, thanks for posting.
Colin.

 

[jackcbr]

You are truly the living embodiment of an artistan and educator. You obviously teach for the love of the skills and the desire to see them live, rather than what cash you can get for them. I find the people who give the most, give the most to people who have the passion to learn and only take what people can afford to give.

It's funny how many people I've come across who hold your values. I'm especially lucky to have studied karate with a group who only charged what they needed to cover hall fees and trained for many years for 20p a session.

I'm also lucky enough to know some bushcraft guys who are also very generous with their knowledge. Thank you all for sharing and I hope one day my skills are good enough to share with others.

 

[Mr Mac]

Thank you all for your supportive comments, much appreciated...Now back to some carving...J;-)

 

[milius2]

When I get old(er) I want to spend my days just like that Mr Mac! Best of luck in your work!