Thread: Welsh Lovespoons

Thanks, 'schaf' and 'Robson Valley' for your generous comments. The timbers I have used so far are; walnut, rock maple, cherry, and white beech, these timbers hold detail well, which is the prime requirement if detail is part of the design.

They are mostly very hard timbers except for the white beech which is quite soft though it has a toughness. Toughness, for want of a better term, is another requirement when delicate work is attempted as a lot of hand force is applied to the work and breakages happen.

By far the hardest timber I've used so far is saffron heart – 'glass hard' – almost!

The more delicate the work the more physical strength you have to use to control the cutting.

I've recorded the processes, observations on how I found the timber's working characteristics, my mistakes and failures on my blog:
Whimsical Wood

Check out David Western's site ( index.html ), he's been carving welsh lovespoons professionally for many years and his work has to be economic enough for him to make a living at it, and yet it is astoundingly beautiful work.

See also Laura Jenkins's work ( Blake's Practical Applications, featuring Jenkins Lovespoons ), very delicate and beautiful work in many different timbers.

Awesome!!! Beautiful work!! Gary

You are a true master carver. I wish I was even a hundreth of being this good. On the dragon spoon, the dragon is kind of red, what/how did you get the red effect as it looks translucent.

Originally Posted by Spoonman

On the dragon spoon, the dragon is kind of red, what/how did you get the red effect as it looks translucent.

The red colour is an attempt to stain the dragon with burnt sienna artists oil paint in danish oil, this wasn't all that successful on the white beech I had used for the carving. I had written about this in my blog at the time of carving.

If you are interested the link to that part of the blog is www.whimsicalwood.blogspot.com go to the Thursday February 3, entry.

P.S. You asked about the time taken for the other spoon ( the celtic dragon spoon carved in saffron heart ) and whether it had been sold. It was a commission from Norman Stevens, an American collector of hand carved spoons. Being semi-retired, my approach isn't very professional and I keep myself in the dark about how long things take to do.., pretty much as you would with the boss at other times, you work hard at doing the best job you can at the cost of how ever much time you can get .