1373 opportunities to go wrong

Today I have been making quaichs, the traditional vessel for drinking whisky. I have often wondered how many cuts on the lathe it takes to turn a bowl, today I know, 696 cuts on the lathe. Each depression of the treadle spins the quaich 3 revolutions and I make a spiral cut with the tool. Then the quaich spins back. By my calculation the rim has traveled 3,824 feet or 3/4 of a mile. Added to the turning are 113 cuts with the axe roughing the blank out, 189 cuts with the axe after turning roughly shaping the handles, 305 cuts with a knife refining the handle shape, 70 cuts with the hook knife smoothing the inside where the centre point snapped out. That is a grand total of 1373 individual cuts to make a quaich like this.

David Pye used to describe this kind of work as "the workmanship of risk" that means that at the point of making the cut it could go wrong and it is only the skill of the maker and their knowledge of the tools and materials that ensures success. That then is 1373 opportunities to go wrong but thankfully every one worked out just fine. Some of them will be fitted to silver rims like this

I packaged these ones up today to go to a couple in Scotland who are getting married on Saturday, the silver rimmed quaich is a rather special one in bur maple and the three plain quaichs are in cherry for the groomsmen.

woodcarving course shrink pots and kuksa

This is Yvonne with a cherry kuksa she carved on my "fun carving course" last week.

Close up of the kuksa, these are based on traditional Sami drinking cups. Yvonne is a beekeeper who's business is selling the alternative products of the hive. I am a fan of a drop of propolis (bee glue) on a cut to speed healing, it is remarkable stuff.

The idea of the course was for people who were already experienced carvers or had been on previous courses could come back and enjoy carving in good company, try out some new tools or materials and work on individual projects with me there to give advice or help when needed. Actually everyone wanted to try out shrink pot making so we all started on that. They are a lovely simple project I have blogged about them before this one from 2008. This photo shows the work of just 4 folk over the three day course.

I do feel really privileged to be able to make a living whilst sharing such special times with wonderful people.

Welsh love spoons and cawl spoons

I love Welsh spoons, whilst the tradition of spooncarving died out in England it continued to be strong in Wales with many folk still alive that ate all the time with wooden bowls and spoons in their youth. This was particularly the case for the Welsh national dish a traditional broth called cawl (recipe below). Then there is the strong tradition of "love spoons" and probably more spoons made today for the tourist trade than were ever made in the past. Lets have a look at some of these spoons and learn a little more about them.

The oldest dated love spoon in the collection of St Fagans National History Museum is dated 1667

they say
"The lovespoon tradition stems from the times when the ordinary people of Wales used wooden utensils to eat. The collection of lovespoons at the Museum includes some 200 spoons, most of which were carved during the 18th and 19th centuries. The oldest spoon housed at the Museum is dated 1667. The adornments on these carvings are symbolic. For example, the dragon is a symbol of protection, diamonds are for luck, and a cross carved into a spoon is a sign of the carver's faith. The number of wooden balls in a cage symbolises the number of children that the carver wished to have with his loved one."
Pinto in his seminal book Treen has a whole chapter of authoritative text on love tokens which puts love spoons in context. Many domestic items used to be decorated and presented as tokens of affection across all of Europe from stay busks and knitting sheaths to lace bobbins and small furniture. Here are some impressive early Welsh love spoons from Pinto's collection.

The love token tradition was particularly strong in maritime culture with sailors doing carving and scrimshaw work on wood and ivory. This was transformed in Wales in Victorian times at the same time as the advent of gift cards and love spoons became an item of commerce, produced for sale as a curio or memento. Today most of the love spoons produced are......I shall be polite and say not to my taste. This is typical, bandsawn and powersanded churned out with little love or skill to feed the insatiable demand for cheap consumer tat, oh Wales what did you do with your great tradition? If you must buy a lovespoon get a decent one from Ralph Hental or Adam King.

Now cawl spoons, there is something still to be proud of. The gorgeous spoons below are from Jonathan Levi's collection and in his book "treen for the table" (recommended)

 More examples of good old love spoons

 and these dolphin shaped ones he suggests are from Caernarvonshire.

 I have some spoons and bowls made for me by Gwyndaff Breeze who used to work at St Fagan's his cawl spoons had two different ends, one tapering to a point he called a rat tail. These he claimed came from areas where peat was the dominant fuel and the point could be spiked into a piece of peat beside the fire. I'll try to add photos of Gwyndaff's spoons after the weekend.

So I promised a recipe, there are lots to choose from because like most living traditions it varies with region and each home develops their own. I like this one from the BBC Wales website.


Alsion Argument from Llanfair Caereinion shares a family secret:
"I make this delicious lamb broth in the same way as my Grandmother would have. It is a dish which was served in our family each Thursday, although we felt that it was always better on Friday if there was any left as the vegetable had become a bit mushy and absorbed the lovely juice. It is not quick to make properly but it is very simple.
You will need a piece of lamb - usually shoulder or breast (whichever is cheapest). Cover the lamb with water and add a whole onion, roughly chopped, some peppercorns (about six) and a little salt.
Bring the water to the boil and then allow to simmer until the meat falls easily off the bone. This will take up to a couple of hours.
Remove the lamb from the water and strain the stock that is left. When the lamb is cooled a little, remove all the meat from the bone and discard the bone and any excess fat. Cut or break the meat into bite size pieces.
Allow the stock to cool and skim off the excess fat, if you wish (you can also do this by leaving the stock overnight and this will leave a hard fat covering on the top which can be removed in one piece.
The vegetables you will need are a small swede, two or three parsnips, three or four carrots, three or four large potatoes and about two or three large leeks.
Clean and prepare the vegetables and chop into decent size chunks (not too small - you are making a stew rather than a fine soup).
Now you will need to melt some butter in large pan (O.K. - so this is not a low cholesterol dish!) and start by softening the vegetables in the butter. If you start with the firm vegetables like swede and carrot and leave them to fry for a little while before adding the parsnip, potato.
Add the leeks when the rest of the vegetables are nice and buttery and starting to soften. Then add back in your strained lamb stock and the lamb chunks.
You may need to add a little extra water - just make sure the vegetables are covered at all times. Bring to the boil again and simmer for about one hour until the vegetables are cooked.
The only other seasoning you will need is a handful of chopped parsley and you might like to adjust the salt and pepper content at the end.
Serve the stew piping hot with some freshly ground pepper and a good chunk of crusty bread and maybe a piece of good cheddar cheese."
By Alyson Argument from Llanfair Caereinion 

And now to give you an authentic Welsh voice talking about cawl spoons I rather like this youtube

learning how to sharpen a knife properly

Just finished an enjoyable 1 day knife and axe sharpening course. Sharp tools are  essential for any woodworker and one of the things where we maybe don't always put in the time we should. Well today we put the time in. We started by looking at the sharpening systems everyone was currently using mostly a combination of diamonds, wet and dry paper and waterstones. We discussed good working positions and set up sharpening stations on a sturdy bench. One of the most important things is a good workstation fairly high with good light and you must be able to splash lots of water about.

 I like this set up with a waterstone set on top of a 6"x6" beam offcut and a garden water squirter for slooshing the stone very regularly. A good broad stance helps keep the bevel flat on the stone. Fingers of the left hand on the back of the blade help feel it registering the bevel and also apply gently downward and forward pressure. The thing most folk fail on is not knowing when exactly they have created a single flat bevel all the way to the edge. If judging by the naked eye it is actually remarkably easy to leave a tiny bit of the old dull edge showing before moving on to the finer stones, close examination of the edge shows exactly what you are doing. Once the technique is learned you don't need the microscope but it helps a lot whilst learning.

 At the end of the day we had razor sharp knives but more important everyone felt they could achieve razor sharp knives entirely on their own with their own equipment at home. This is very empowering. We had been chatting about how many folk buy new tools and fear taking them to the stone the first time in case they make them worse. Once you have taken a clearly blunt and damaged knife into a state where it will produce a mirror polish on the wood it cuts you loose all that fear.

More about Japanese sharpening from my blog when I visited Japan and worked with traditional carpenters last year.

using woodware in the kitchen and at table

Over the last week or two I have been snapping meals before eating. All done under artificial light quick snaps but hopefully give an idea of what it's like living with wooden tableware. One big difference is the sound, no harsh scratching of metal on porcelain and a lovely woody noise as you set the table. Wood does also keep your food warm being a natural insulator.

Most folk are happy using a nice salad bowl, this bowl is by Richard Raffan, one of the worlds top turners (he eats his breakfast from one of my bowls) the servers are by Fritiof Runhall. Carrot and apple salad, 3 carrot's 2 apples grates together with a splash of lemon juice, great winter salad.

 Feta and tomato salad with coriander leaves. Scortched elm bowl by me and Fritiof's spoon.

 Tzatziki, have not made this for ages and it was a joyful rediscovery, grated cucumber with lots of garlic and some yogurt, takes me straight to Greece.

 Grilled aubergine with salads and merlot. Mary Rose replica plate and Sheffield cutlery.

 This huge wild horse mushroom was in perfect condition, cut up with some onion chill, garlic and shredded cabbage then into the wok.  Sycamore chopping boards and a knife I forged with Owen Bush.

And this was tonight, ginger, garlic, chill. I keep ginger and chilis in the freezer and shave the root with a good knife, far better than having it drying out or going mouldy in the fridge.

 Quick blast in the wok with carrot and onion before adding spinach scallops and haddock.

 yum yum..... Tastes so much better from a wooden dish too.

More details on using woodware including results of a scientific paper comparing wood and plastic chopping boards here.

bowl carving course

Just a few snap  from last weeks bowl carving course. Some nice bowls and a really nice bunch of folk. We don't normally carve round bowls since it involves a lot of cutting across end grain but this time everyone wanted to try. It was hard work and a lot of hands were worn through but the results were good.

Still a few places available for the next bowl course Nov 22-24 details here

Grayson Perry Art and Craft

As the only person working in a craft medium to be taken seriously by the art world and having won the Turner Prize Grayson Perry is often outspoken, entertaining and thought provoking. He famously said the Art world found it easier to accept the fact that he was a transvestite than that he made pots. He wrote a well argued piece in 2005 describing the contemporary craft scene as "a refuge for artists who play it safe"
He does have a lot of respect though for well made traditional craftwork and so I was quite excited when I heard that he would be having a show at the British Museum titled "the tomb of the unknown craftsman" This surely I thought references Soetsu Yanagi's great book "The unknown Craftsman" and given that the British Museum itself is a temple to the best unknown craftsmen of ages past from around the world I was expecting an homage to those craftspeople, perhaps something that brought the objects to life again.
On my way into the museum I paused in room 24 which is themed "living and dying" it's a room I have spent time in before and has magnificent artifacts varying from Inuit hunting implements and clothing to one of the wonderful Easter Island sculptures. Here are just a few of the wonderful items on display. A Maori food bowl, the carving on the underside particularly special. 

An axe from the Solomon Islands early 20th C. Clearly an English Kent pattern head I have re-handled many of these but always in rather more utilitarian fashion.

 Solomon islands food bowl.

 Haida carving.

and moving into the great court a magnificent Haida house frontal pole  

the Haida people and all North West Coast carvers are truly one of the great woodworking cultures of the world, the design and craftsmanship are just wonderful, look at the toolmarks here, no sandpaper, a thousand precise cuts with sharp tools.

 So back to Grayson at the entrance to the exhibition is his glorious AM1 motorcycle.

 Inside we were not allowed to take photos. Did I find my unknown craftspeople brought to life? Well sadly no. I did find a good retrospective of Grayson's work and dotted alongside it were pieces of work from the museums collection which felt like they were there to give understanding, comparison and credibility to Grayson's pieces, I didn't really get any feeling that Grayson's works were in any way helping me to better understand the museum pieces. The museum pieces had very minimal interpretation, so for instance of my favourite pieces was labled

"Bonnet, Samoa, early 1800's Turtle shell and cotton"

I learned nothing of the context the object came from, the people who made it, when such an incredible thing was worn etc. maybe that is the job of a museum not an art exhibition. Amongst Grayson's work it was interesting to see a wide range of his big pots but I was most taken by his cast iron sculptures and two in particular from 2007 titled our father and our mother, strange pilgrim figures with their worldly goods on their backs. The tomb itself was also a large cast iron sculpture of a ship adorned with casts of objects from the BM collections, some how it didn't grab me, I went back out for another look at the Haida pole.

Maybe what I like best about Grayson is actually his writing, I enjoy the blog allegedly written by his teddy bear/god figure Alan Measles often ireverant and thought provoking. This is what he had to say at the end of the exhibition on Craftsmanship.

"Craftsmanship is often equated with precision but I think there is more to it. I feel it is more important to have a long and sympathetic hands-on relationship with materials. A relaxed, humble, ever-curious love of stuff is central to my idea of being an artist. An important quality of great art of the past was the pure skill in the artists use of materials. In celebrating craftsmanship I also salute artists, well most of them."

some more nice films

Just wanted to share a few nice film shorts I have seen recently, they are all loosely about craft and manufacturing with passion but also they are good examples of the craft of filmaking.

A pair of nutty chocolate makers, I love the idea of sailing the beans


Running shoes made in England, I thought all this sort of production had gone East, great to see and bril film.

New Balance - Made in England from Sneakersnstuff on Vimeo.

Another short film ad for a US shoe company but again nicely made film with those gorgeous soft focus shots.

The Mark Of A True Craftsman: Overview from Alex Hamlin on Vimeo.

Bag making

Handicraft from Video Ergo Sum on Vimeo.

spooncarvers at play

What do professional spooncarvers do for fun? This is Fritiof Runhall one of the very few professional spooncarvers in Sweden. In between teaching 2 masterclasses in Edale we had a few days off with glorious weather. First priority was getting up the hill to enjoy the scenery.

 This was 1st of October and it was hot enough to swim in the stream on the way down.

I wanted to share this photo too, Fritioff sold many of the example spoons he brought with him to students on the first course (and me) So he spent the evenings carving more, here he is roughing out blanks with the axe by headtorch light.

After the second course my friends spooncarvers Steve and Barn stayed over and we had a day playing with tool design. Barn had a specific big spoon knife design idea he wanted to make and Steve and I were playing with ideas for more mass produced spoon knives. We had such a great time shame we didn't do a group photo but here is me bashing out some car spring.

 Steve grinding.

A hook on it's way to be quenched to harden it, next stage final grinding and tempering.

A bunch of hooks, the tiny tight curve ones on the left are for making a smooth cut groove for making fan birds, Steve's latest new skill and he does them amazingly well.

When you get a bunch of skilled folk together who are willing to share skills freely and bounce ideas off each other the learning potential is great. We will have to do it again.

315 hours carving without a single plaster, record?

Thank you Fritiof Runhall and my merry band of spooncarving students for a wonderful couple of weeks. For Fritiof's second course we again had some of the best carvers in the country. Here are Steve Tomlin and Barn the spoon chatting about the finer elements of spoon design.

 One of the things that was nice about Fritiof was that he worked with a very simple small and cheap toolkit, when you have superb skills simple tools are enough. The bark sheaths are simple to make and work well. The larger hook is home made the smaller one is by Svante Djarve and after 10 years heavy use is ground down considerably.

Different folk record their learning in different ways, digital photography has made things much easier though I am unsure about video. Increasingly folk want to video at courses but I find it rather intrusive when demonstrating a technique to look up and see a bank of iphones staring back. A sketchbook is still a great way to learn and record, if you can draw it you can understand it.

 Close attention while Fritiof signs his work with a delicate carving technique.

Steve and Barn were both taken by Fritof's tiny sculptural bowl, Steve carved a copy to take home.

 Very impressive work and a far better way to remember than taking photos.

Some of Steve's work at the end of the course I liked the way he would see a feature he liked on a spoon handle or the birds head and just carve a copy of that for reference.

 Fritiof taught us to work right and left handed, this helps a lot to achieve symmetry when carving as when you turn the piece to work right handed on the reverse side the tool is inevitably at a slightly different angle. This is Hannah working with her gorgeous Stefan Ronnqvist axe right handed...

 

 and left handed

not to be outdone this is me having a go left handed. It is surprising how awkward it feels at first but how quick it is to pick it up.

 We spent a lot of time working with crooked timber and finding interesting shapes to make ladles, eating spoons and small bowls. This bowl was carved from the buttress of a a Norway spruce but you can see how it could be made from the bent cherry behind.

 Of course all this carving is no good if it doesn't make useful stuff and the best way to inspire folk to use it and to test out how well it works is to put it on the table.

Lunchtime, bread soup and cheese with as many wooden bowls and spoons as I can find excuse for.

 Everyone made really wonderful work and through both of Fritiof's courses (315 person hours carving) we did not use a single plaster. This just goes to show with good technique cuts are not inevitable. Here are Dave, Sharif and Hannah working on their big spoons with hooks.

And last I should mention Alastair who I think gets the prize for longest travel by bike to one of my courses, he rode from Telford about 75 miles with camping gear.

There are just a few places still available on my spoon and bowl carving courses later in October and November details here.