This is what I think about witch hazel as a spoon wood.


First thing I noticed about it was … it smells kind of weird. Personally I don't like the smell of the green stage of witch hazel but that's just me. After it dries then it had no noticeable smell. The next thing I notice is how easy it is to carve! Super easy! That is a good and bad thing. It is good because it lets me spend more of my focus on the shape I'm going for and less on how I'm going to get there. It also means that if I get careless or push to hard a lot of wood is coming off and I might have to rethink my shape. Along with this little caveat the wood is very stringy. It likes to split and run the length of the spoon. This has caused some very awkwardly shaped spoons and makes for some frustrating carving sessions. If at any point I'm carving away from a knot or along an uneven wood grain I risk the chance of over stepping and running a splinter along the spoon. The other thing I like about witch hazel is how light it becomes and how it feels once it is finished. I'll talk about the finish first. It is smooth but almost in the same way that velvet is smooth. Other spoons are smooth like granite but not witch hazel. Now back to the weight of witch hazel. It is surprising how light it is. People when they come up to my table have addible responses when they pick it up. But it does come with a down side. Being that light also means it is very weak. It has a good counter to its inherent weakness with added flexibility. This is more so a warning to stop what you are doing then a safe guard so don't push it too far. Though most woods don't have this warning sign and will just break, so that is nice of witch hazel.


Overall I would not go out of my way to get witch hazel for spoon carving. It does have health uses and the carving scraps can be used for that (what a great added bonus). But, when it comes to spoon uses I don't want to go out and find downed or injured witch hazels for carving. The brilliant white color and softness don't out way the easy of splintering and weakness of the wood.

Until next time!

So, the first step is to find yourself a blank piece of paper.  I use a sketch book but it is really up to you what kind of paper you like. I always write the word I'm trying to draw because I can't always keep the word in my head once I get caught up in drawing mode. Granted I would have been fine with this word but it is part of my process so I don't skip it regardless of the word.

My first draft is either just what I want or way off.  This one was the later.  The "F"" was cool but didn't fit with the rest of the letters and the "O's' were way too small. So this one didn't work.

After realizing the first draft is way off, swear a little bit, then try again. This one (for me) is closer but still off. I figure I can fix the rest once I draw it on the wood.  I know what parts I like and how I want it to change my 3rd draft. I figured I might as well put the 3rd draft on the wood and  not waste more paper.

The first step in preparing the wood is to split the log.  I just used an ax after sawing it to about the right length. 

Then I split off a section that is about 3/4 of an inch thick.  As long as the grain is not twisted it should work.  This thickness gives just enough room to have a sturdy spoon with lots of depth for the letters. It also insures that you don't take off too much material when flattening the surface.

Flattening the surface! This part is very important for when you have to draw the outline onto the wood.  It makes sure you don't have to make random concessions to the shape of letters after you have gotten really far on a piece. The technique I use to flatten the surface is to first flatten the outside edges so they lay flat on the chopping block.  Then holding the blank perpendicular to the block, I chop into the side I want flat with my hatch at a 45 to 25 degree angle (I think. I just do what feels right. I'm taking a guess here.). I move up and down the face until it is mostly flat working a little over half way up the surface at a time then flip over to the other edge and working off the excess on that side.

This is what you are aiming for. Nice and Flat ready to be drawn on.

3rd draft here. It looks pretty good everything always changes once you actually start carving but this give a solid idea of what to do. I have found ball point pens to work the best for writing on wood. It doesn't soak into the wood like markers and I find the tips don't get clogged easily. 

Now is time to take your ax and carve off the excess wood. As your skill grows the amount of wood you should leave around the outline shrinks.  When I first started doing this I had to leave twice as much as you can see here.  It also depends on the shape of the letters you carve as to what a safe distance from the edge is.  If you get too close you could chop off half a letter. Sometimes you get lucky and can salvage the word some times it has to be changed into a different spoon altogether.

Once you have gotten as close as you dare grab your knife and get right up to the outline.  Once you have carved to the outline you can carve it off like I did with the "F". This lets you know where the actual edge of your letters are and you can start to adjust them to be even and look good.

Before you put too much more work in to the spoon you need to get the wood out of the inside of the letters. To bore out the holes in the letters I use a study knife and twist is back and forth.  Make sure you are paying attention to the grain of the wood and don't pull any up with your knife by accident. I will go from both sides so that I don't make a hole too big on one side.  It also makes it easier because you don't have to scrap off as much wood. Once you make it through then switch to a smaller sharper knife (mora 106 maybe).

After you get the holes in finish shaping up the letters. Also make sure to work on the bowl too.  I usually do this right after i finish the holes. That is just because if I haven't already messed up the spoon carving out the hols will ber where it could happen.  But if that is done then it is pretty safe from that point on.

After the carving is mostly done I let the spoon sit for a day or two this helps it dry out and makes it easier to get a smooth finish. Before I start the finishing carve I always resharpen my knife and make sure it is razor sharp. Sharpening your knife is the most important step in of carving. I will go over the spoon and smooth out the surface getting it to the final smoothness.  This is a slow and tedious step but I find it very important. It take as much or more time to smooth it out as it does to get to this step.

This is a detail shot of how to get the connections points to look really good. This is on my leg. I DON'T carve on my leg. I only have two hands and one had to hold the camera. I will hold the spoon in the air and away from my body making sure I also keep my fingers out of the many paths the knife could go.

Wait another day or a few hours. This is more so that you don't over work the peace once you think you are done. Also I sometimes think I'm done but miss something so giving myself a break every now and then to come back with fresh eyes is good. Get any last minute things you need to fix done, then oil it!  I use Tung oil. It is a hardening oil that makes a protective seal around the spoon. It takes about a week for the oil to kind-of dry and two weeks to really dry. This is mostly because of the way I have to apply the oil.  I tend to put more on then I need to so that it can sink into the gaps between the letters.  I try to make sure that all the wood is safe not just the easy to reach parts,

That's it! To get better all you have to do is practice, cut your hands, and keep trying.  No tricks just hard work.  If that sounds like fun to you go and give it a try.

Till next time,
Peace out

Carving words and making them into spoons has been something I have been working on recently. There are many different challenges that come up when taking words and making them functional spoons. The first of the challenges is to get the word to fit nicely with the bowl of the spoon. It may not sound difficult at first but the more you push the artistry of the word, the harder it gets to fit the bowl to it. The next challenge is whether or not to have cut out letters or raised letters. This affects the aesthetics and texture of the spoon. Lastly, you have to decide what font the letters will be. They could be all caps, blocks, or flowing script. They all affect how the spoon will feel in the user's hand. I guess I'll explain these a little more now.
So, when it comes to fitting the bowl with the rest of the spoon “handle,” a few things need to be considered. Should it go on the front end of the word or the back. Will it be in full contact with the letter or will it be connected with part of it. The decision is mostly cosmetic but if the spoon is thin then having it in contact with more wood will make it stronger. I tend to find myself putting the bowl at the front of the word. This is because capital letters fit quite nicely with the bowl. However, I have been thinking about putting the bowl at the end of words that end with the letter E. This is because the “E” makes for a very nice connector that can be carved like a traditional spoon handle. I feel that more exploration in words and styles will lead to different bowl placement.
Moving forward to how the word actually looks. Each style had its benefits and challenges. If doing a full cut out, the challenge is always how to make the holes and interiors of the letters. So far, I have tried to use a hand drill to make the hole first and work out from there. The part I don't like about that is it will splinter the back of the wood if you are not careful. Then I have tried to bore it out or carve it out with a knife from the beginning. This technique is more time consuming but safer. Along with hollowing it out, connecting difficult letters means sometimes exaggerating parts of the letter to make it connect with the other letters. To make sure the spoon has some structural integrity, you have to carve it so that the connections only look deep but are not. I'll go over how to do this in another blog later on. The other option of raised lettering has its own difficulties. Making sure the letters go to the same depth to ensure continuity. I have found that making a 50/50 mark on the wood and gouging it out with a “V” shaped gouge works to keep them even. This ends up giving you half the wood to turn into the letters, and the other half can be made into the “handle” that the letters are on. Since the letters are not being carved all the way out, determining how deep to make the hollows of the letters is another perplexing piece to the spoon. The way that wood carves makes it so that after a depth of about 1/16 of an inch, the wood and knife are not going to work as smoothly as they were in the beginning and you end up with pieces of wood that will flick up and not get smooth. A way to work with this is to have a very sharp and thin knife. I, however, have not gotten the best system down yet, I will update you once I do.
Now for the last step before the spoon is actually carved. Choosing the font that you want the spoon to be is important. This decides the overall flow and shape of the spoon. Figuring out what to use is always up to the maker, but things to keep in mind are how the spoon will fit in the user's hand, what will it look like when not covered by food, and how practical is it to carve. When I make a spoon, I try to keep away from pointy corners at the end of the spoon so it can be held with ease. Personally, I like my spoons to have a slight arc or a little “S” curve to them. I'm sure this comes from my figure drawing background. With that in mind, I often have rounded letters or curved parts to the letters. This is also great for me because if I slightly mess up and carve off too much, I can just exaggerate the curve on the other letters and make it work. If I were using different tools, maybe straight lines would be easier. Something to explore in the future. When I first come up with a spoon design it would never work as a spoon at my current carving level. That is fine with me, someday I will get to that level and go back to these original drawings and make them. Knowing your personal level of skill is important. It will help you not get as discouraged by making designs that you cannot carve. This doesn't mean never trying something challenging or new. I have put plenty of pieces down, to work on other projects because they were too hard for me at the time. This lets you recoup and not get frustrated with where you are so you can come back to it refreshed and ready to go. Usually, it will be easier to do and you will be able to finish it much faster. Pushing your edge on carving is the only way to get better. But, in the same way as if you push too hard on a spoon, it can break if pushed too hard. So always give yourself an easy project after a hard one to remind yourself how good you really are.
What you just read is “The Big Picture” a.k.a. Step 1 in what it takes to make a word spoon. Planning is really important in helping to prevent unneeded challenges. There will always be new things that jump up and make things harder, like an unforeseen knot in the middle of your spoon or twisted grain next to complex lettering. Those just happen and it is what makes handmade natural works of art fun and great. Overcoming each of these and more to get a finished spoon that could be hung on the wall or used in the kitchen is always great.


See you in the next one.
Peace out till then!

So I am writing this before I actually publish my site but I wanted to talk a little about it so everyone gets to know about it (I also didn't want this page to be blank).  If you look at the bottom of the page you can see I made this site on Weebly.  It is easy to use but still there is a lot to think about. I may be a 21st century kid but I still get confused when I see technology stuff for the first time.  After an hour of getting lost doing half the things from my phone and the other half form my computer, I finally managed to get most of the site functional and looking kind of like what I envisioned.  The great thing is once I publish the site, I still get to change it and work on it making it better and better every time. 

If I could code I bet I could make a much better site.  But that is just out of my reach at the moment.  I would like to give some bullet points about what I learned about making this site so if you want to make one it's a bit easier.

• Take Photos! I had a little photo session one day so that I had way more than enough pictures to edit and use for my site.  I found that really helpful.
• Check to see if your Domain is free first: I found this out after I chose everything and got started.  Luckily mine was still free. I used GoDaddy to check to see if my name was free.
• Take it slow: Trying to rush around before bed to finish the site didn't help. But waking up early in the morning and getting to work with a full day ahead of me sure did.  It's also raining right now...my workshop is outside...great day to not be outside.
• Find a site that works for you: I read lots of reviews about different website creation hosting sites and Weebly was better for me. It is straight forward and drag and drop kind of stuff. That works for me.  I also get to choose how much I want to spend on what kind of plan.  I can update at any time if I need to expand my site. It's just what I need but you might need some other kind of site to make your best webpage.

These are just my thoughts, don't take them too seriously, I'm still learning.  But if you ever want to make a website, give it a try!

Peace out!