One of the latest carvings that I’ve embarked upon was a combination of designs that I had made for various people. I wanted to reuse some of the elements to provide the basis of this new lovespoon. In this particular design I had previously developed a twenty fifth wedding anniversary lovespoon that also had roses and hearts surrounding the pair of hearts. The center heart had the number twenty five carved internally so with that basic image I decided to eliminate quite a few of the elements to get back to basics to provide the foundation for this lovespoon.

One of the favorite elements for my lovespoons is a flame design that adorns the top, this adds an attractive end to the carving and also provides a way of displaying the carving by way of hanging it on the wall or in a cabinet, so with that in mind that was where I would start, that was a given.

The spoon end would be in a heart shape as this always carves nicely and gives a good balance to the flame at the opposite end. The Celtic theme would be displayed by the Celtic knotwork that would extend from the spoon bowl, leaving just the pair of hearts to nestle between the flame and the Celtic knotwork.

With the theme completely worked out, the tracing was transfered to the basswood blank ready to embark on carving out the shape. My first job is to drill each corner with a 1/16 inch drill bit so as to be able to fit the blade of my fret saw and to create a clean cut in those awkward areas.

I had given up with using a power fret saw a long time ago, much of the time was wasted on breaking blades and continually threading the blade into small areas. Most of my designs would amount to little sawing in a lot of areas so I’ve opted to using a manual fret saw. I find that during the process of cutting out the design I can work out in my mind how I will carve certain areas and how I will resolve any mishaps if they should occur.

With the blank set up in the woodworkers vise a steady sawing motion eventually cuts out the excess stock leaving just the outside shape to be cut on the bandsaw. With all the profile cut, now was the time to get comfortable and sit with carving gouges, chisels and sanding blocks around my oversize bench hook and carve away at the spoon bowl. Next would be the back of the spoon and then onto the Celtic knotwork. A methodical process that eventually takes that flat piece of timber and turns it into a three dimensional, visually pleasing piece of art.

The final process is to sand out as many imperfections as I can. This stage of the process equates to 50% of the time starting with coarse sandpaper and working through the different grits until the superfine paper is vitually polishing the wood.

A good coat of furniture polish is then buffed into the grain and polished out with a cotton cloth. This process is applied several times until a soft sheen glows from the wood. Any small areas that need to be resanded are done at this stage and with the help of the wax coat it polishes the wood grain leaving it silky smoooth.

The last and final coat of wax is citrus based giving it a light fragrant smell of oranges. This pleasant aroma is the first thing you notice when the packaging is opened at its final destination.

Over the past few weeks I have been busy working on establishing some new themes for my carvings but I have also been researching other people websites. My conclusion was that I found many Lovespoon carvings would follow a similiar theme regardless of where you look on the World Wide Web and I have looked at many websites for inspiration but I find many to be repeats of the same but with different levels of carving ability.

There are many that are only carved or have relief on the front face with the back face flat or only have the corners taken off to give some dimension. These Lovespoons I felt would look often mass produced but the prices are so reasonable that it would be very easy for the enthusiast to start a collection but is this a course that I would want to take.

For me to try and establish myself as a carver of some sort, especially with Welsh Lovespoons most of the carvings that I make end up on eBay for auction and it is there that I try to gauge the feeling of how the design is perceived.

The amount of traffic or should I say small amount of traffic for this sort of carving is primarily from enthusiasts who are looking for a bargain and will frequently stop by. If the design is a success I would find six to eight watchers over the course of the auction and maybe six to eight bids at the end of the day, giving me a good sense of achievement. I like to think it is the quality of the carving and the unique design that sells the item and not purely the price but as we all know eBay is the site for bargains.

When I first started this type of carving I decided that both sides would have to have the same amount of detail so that the Lovespoon could be handled and not just be displayed on a board. It is only when it is handled that the true appreciation for the craftsmanship can be determined and the fact that it is hand carved, saying that it also brings the flaws closer to hand.

To determine the themes I have tried to align them with special holidays or occasions during the year such as Valentines Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Easter and so on, that way I can focus on those particular elements that are relevant and meaningful.

The big question is, would it be worthwhile to establish a standalone website with Lovespoons displayed so as to sell them as commissioned pieces or just continue on as a hobby. Everyone has dreams of being successful at something they enjoy but when it becomes a job the romance begins to fade and maybe it’s not as much fun anymore. These questions always arise when job security becomes questionable and you start romancing on ways of earning a living and in todays climate that is an even bigger factor than ever before. I know it’s not a practical solution but it’s important to have some sort of goal, it’s the only way to remain positive and be truly independent or as close as.

Well that’s something to contemplate but not for too long, as carving for a hobby is the only option for me right now. Maybe in later years there will be more time to pursue the dream rather than just having one hour a day but then again, who knows what tomorrow may bring.

For me living on the West Coast that wintery feel is only mild to what grips the rest of the country, so having said that, what should I offer in terms of elements for that special lovespoon?

The first thoughts that come to mind when I think about Spring, is love. At this time of year as the days get longer and the temperature rises a few degrees, everyone tends to be cheerier, friendlier in anticipation of the coming warmer months. The first design element I would use, would be the shape of the spoon bowl and in this case it would not be a regular shaped spoon.

I had come to like making heart shaped spoon bowls, they give the feeling of being more personal and intimate, a kind of offering in plenty if that makes any sense.

Getting the shape just right is important to me so I spend time drawing the shape in the first instance and always adjust as I start the carving. The thickness of the timber is also important to attain that right amount of fullness and I still haven’t quite worked out the best thickness for all of my lovespoons but I guess that really doesn’t matter providing the end result looks good.

Now that I had established that the spoon bowl would be heart shaped I decided to continue the theme with a couple of hearts that appear to be embracing and would also appear as one heart. This element would grow from the heart shaped spoon bowl similar to a flower in early spring. It was important to carve as much fullness into the shape as possible to give the impression of a heart full of love.

I noticed during the course of carving the hearts that as I cut through the various levels of the growth rings that the heart shape would be mimicked giving a nice extra element to the carving. This was more noticeable on the darker rings that probably indicated a year that was drier than most.

For the upper level of the carving I had opted for a pair of doves, these doves would be positioned so that they would give the impression of kissing. Many times during the spring you will see these birds going through their courting ritual with wings fluttering as they dance to attract a prospective mate. The spread of the tail feathers would appear to straddle the upper portion of the heart giving the birds balance and dimension.

The final element I had decided on for this spring time lovespoon was an ornate flame. This one element would cement the entire theme together, it had to give the appearance that it was dancing so the end should be a sharp as possible. This proved to be a little tricky as each time the tip would tend to shear off especially as I wanted the top to become very upright. To gain that extra bit I needed I ended up sanding the edges rather than cutting with a chisel, this finally gave the very sharp tip that you see in the image.

The material I used for this carving was Bass wood which is extremely good for carving and once sanded with a fine grit will polish beautifully. Several layers of paste wax brushed on and buffed to a high sheen will seal the grain and if sanded with very fine sandpaper afterwards, the wax will be burnished further into the grain. A final coat of paste wax will shine the wood to a silky smooth finish giving the wood a nice warm glow, perfect for a Lovespoon destined for spring.

Normally, Wedding Favor Lovespoons are offered by the bride and groom to their guests as a memento of this special occasion and as a blessing on their marriage. It is a memento that helps to keep the bride and groom firmly in their guests mind and an item to remember them by in their prayers but how many guests will there be for this occasion?

As you all know carving is a part time venture that I enjoy doing during my lunch break and many of the more intricate lovespoons can take up to two weeks to complete so you can imagine the predicament I would be in if I had to produce several dozen wedding favors in a relatively short space of time.

These small offerings normally four inches or less in size can be as intricate as their bigger brothers which means using smaller tools but that was not the issue worrying me, it was the possibility of having to produce multiples of the same item at short notice. All sorts of scenarios were playing in my mind, one would take possibly three hours by the time it was carved, then sanded and wax polished and that would be the best case scenario for a simple design so multiple that by the said number and who knows what the actual time frame would be. By this time, just looking at the email was giving me a headache, trying to work out the best way to approach the situation and I hadn’t even made contact to see what the real scope of the work would be. I was envisioning many late nights as lunch hours were not going to get the job done.

My first thoughts were to email back and ask what was the expected delivery date and how many items would be required before we got into any specifics about designs. The next question would be, what sort of elements were you looking to have incorporated in the design and would there be any specific timber that you are partial to and would prefer to be used.

Well as you can imagine, the email addressed my thoughts that were running rampant at the time and must have brought a smile to the face of the lady who was enquiring. She had been bidding on one of my lovespoons on eBay and had been pipped at the post and wanted initially a repeat of the large lovespoon that had just been sold. This I had already started and when the additional request for wedding favor lovespoons came through I was much relieved to find it was a repeat customer who wanted to fill a couple of spaces in her collection.

To fill this custom order I developed four designs using elements from some of my previous designs but scaled down to the miniture size. Her initial reaction was to leave the design to me but would like knots and hearts if possible and she was partial to walnut as a choice of wood. With those instructions the final choice was of a classic design that is very popular and one of the more intricate to make especially at the size it would be made. As you can see from the image the large lovespoon bowl is approximately two inches in length and the overall length of the wedding favor lovespoon is four inches.

The one thing I learnt from this experience is to find out the full story before worrying about how to get it done. Don’t get ahead of yourself otherwise it becomes just like a bad dream and the purpose and beauty of actually making the carving becomes a chore, even though at the time I was pretty amped up about the prospect of making multiples of a set design.

To keep it in perspective, the most important aspect of doing these carvings for me is to retain the peace of mind and the pleasure that the carving brings, by being happy with what you are doing will ultimately be reflected by the end result.

My first goal was to offset the fleur-de-lis to the surrounding, by doing this it will allow me to carve a subtle shape giving it more dimension and a more lily like flower arrangement. Much of the carving for this is in the way of cutting on the detail line with a knife then chipping down with a micro chisel to gain some shape. The deeper the knife cut the more likelihood of chip out from the exposed end grain so at this stage I am being careful not to try and pry the chips out but making sure that it is cut away completely.

The knotwork that surrounds the fleur-de-lis is rebated back one third of the total thickness of the carving on both sides giving enough room to shape the fleur-de-lis so that it will standout from the surrounding form.

The knotwork that surrounds the fleur-de-lis is worked in unison so that the shape compliments each other and the exposed end grain is reduced at the same time. Once it starts to take shape fine sand paper is used to further roll the surface and crisp the detail so that it stands out from the surrounding surface, much of the time you will find is in the finishing work which generally accounts for fifty percent of the time. The image to the left gives a rough idea how the emblem will look but right now it’s a long way from being complete.

The reverse side will get the same treatment but the difference is it will flow a lot quicker as all aspects of the design have been decided on the first side.

The last part of the carving is to shape the flame that tops the Lovespoon, here I have incorporated little flower buds or round baubles that continue the theme of the emblem that would otherwise looked a little static. This small detail draws your eye to the center of the emblem where much of the detail takes place. Small hand palm chisels are used to take the edges off until there is resembling of a bud, edges are taken off the flame ensure that the tip remains sharp just as a real flame would flicker.

For a carving of this magnitude some eleven and a half inches in length the clean up of the details will take between four to six hours or even longer. Several grades of sand paper will be used to smooth out the shape and chisels or gouges will be used to sweeten details that were missed the first time around but as you know in any handmade carving, the next time I make this same design it will be slightly different from the first, guaranteeing each one in itself is unique.

So moving on with this carving, after finishing the spoon bowl and back face I decided to work my way up the carving, mainly so I could give myself time to consider how I would approach the emblem. The rose would be carved so as to retain the sharp outline using a Celtic knotwork to enhance the rose. This always needs extra time to prevent the end grain from chipping out but the end result is worth it.

I tried to split the overlap of the knotwork evenly so that it gives the impression of weaving the petals together and keeping the edges sharp so as to maintain the rose outline. If it does chip out I have to cut the overlap deeper so it has to be done with care, the end grain on parts of the rose are less than an 1/8″ in width so any undue twisting will result in the petal cracking.

Moving forward to the cross I’ve decided to carve a triangular section throughout. This entailed marking a centerline with a pencil on the inside of the cross. To carve this angle I use a palm chisel which gives plenty of control and a knife to cut the diagonal corner line to give a crisp intersection. The pencil line indicates the center for the first carved side after which the spoon is flipped over and carved to the center again giving a clean triangular section. Any undue wobble on the inside of the cross is cleaned up with a sanding file and the triangular section made good.

I had noticed, as I continually remove material the Lovespoon is getting more flexible so I’m taking extra care to keep the carving flat on my carving board. This helps as much as possible to eliminate the flex, even though there are times when you have to hold it to get the best vantage point.

I quite liked the effect of the section given to the cross so I continued with that theme through the heart which will eventually link to the Emblem of the Priory of Sion. I have a good idea how I will carve that emblem and I will have to use my micro carvers for that job, things are going to get a little tight in some of the areas so here’s hoping, no chip out.

The first task in the development of any of my Lovespoons is to drill small pilot holes in all of the tight corners. This one procedure eliminates a lot of mishaps with the bandsaw, it reduces the chance of cutting into delicate parts of the design and adds a clean finish to the corners. For this design I used a couple of different size drill bits depending on the complexity of the area. For the heart I only needed a few holes so that the fret saw could be easily maneuvered around the inside of the shape, in contrast the rose needed many small holes to define the corners and present an easy way of controlling the fret saw.

As you can see from the design I have decided to remove material from both the inside of the heart and the inside of the cross making for a light delicate theme throughout. The spoon bowl has also been extended and like I said previously, by leaving these areas open it gave me the option to revisit them as the design formulated in my mind.

With all the pilot holes drilled, the next stage is to cut out the inner shape with a fret saw, for me I use a hand fret saw. The ease with which you can transfer from one area to the next is far easier than releasing the blade on a power fret saw and trying to relock without the blade snapping more than once during the course of cutting out the shape.

I will leave the outside intact until I have cut the inner shape first and by doing this it will eliminate crushing the delicate edges of the design and provide a sturdy grip in the vise. The one drawback from hand cutting is trying to keep the blade square to the line, this would be a problem if the carving was going to be one sided but in my case I always shape the back face as well. In one sided carving you would want the hole to be square through so that you would get the full benefit of the shape whereas I can resolve any issues when I shape the back face. The best way for a square edge in this case would be to use a power fret saw.

Cutting out the material for me always starts at the top, that way I have the majority of the spoon blank secured in the vise preventing any unwanted bending. I want the blade to be cutting with every stroke without the material flexing, that way I get a reasonably clean cutout.

With all the inside cutout, the basic form begins to take shape and I can start to think about how I will shape the heart and cross. Will it be a beveled section or will I decide to round off the edges giving it a more organic look?

While I ponder those design issues I’ll continue to shape the outside on my bandsaw taking care to remove material carefully, I don’t want to catch any of the smaller detail areas with the blade.

Once I have the outside shape I can tell if I have the balance right with all the elements, it’s not as though I can turn back now but it’s reassuring to know if it will look OK at the end of the day. I’ll try to cut as close to the line as possible in a smooth motion. This will reduce the amount of sanding and clean up at a later date, even though the finishing process accounts for 50% of the overall time in making the Lovespoon.

The first part to start carving is the spoon bowl, first I’m going to hone the half inch straight gouge that I use. This gouge, an old Sorby wood gouge was one of the tools that I purchased from a retired patternmaker in 1976 during my apprenticeship as a patternmaker. At that time it was around 40 to 50 years of age, showing a little pitting in the steel due to damp conditions but not enough to hamper the performance of the tool. I still find this one tool the most frequently used for carving the bowl on 90% of my Lovespoons, it just feels right and keeps a fine edge.

As I carve the bowl I can see the different layers, each represent one years growth of the trees life cycle. This layering gives the carving depth and a unique look and it’s something that I find very desirable so hopefully when I come to sell this Lovespoon the prospective buyer also finds it pleasantly pleasing.

When I carve the spoon bowl I generally cut very close to the edge but I’ve decided to leave a little extra this time. I’ve decided to roll the edge over when I do the final sanding, this will give it a much softer look compared to the rest of the detail that is very hard edged. This will keep the main focus on all of the main elements and at the same time be complimentary to detail seen in the spoon bowl.

For now, that’s as far as I’ve got, even though I could explain all the steps to the end of the carving but pictures are worth a thousand words so I will show you the rest of this carving in future posts.

The spoon bowl was also an open issue as you can see by the incomplete drawing. When I glue the paper layout onto the wooden blank I will then finalize the length and width of the spoon bowl. This will also give me plenty of leeway to change the shape so that the balance works with the rest of the elements. When gluing the final sketch onto the wooden blank it always seems to give the project a whole new dimension and I find it then, a lot easier to judge the proportions at that stage.

I decided to add a flame type element to the top of the emblem which also has a meaning of forever, which I find appropriate for this design and it also provides a means of hanging the Lovespoon in place if so desired. The extension of the fine internal lines was decided upon to provide support for the flame and add an extra form as in flower buds. This also gives the Lovespoon an added dimension and adds to the delicacy of the design.

Now with the carving forming in my head I’m quite excited to glue it to the birch and start cutting out the detail. I already know what I’m going to do with the heart and cross but I will show you this in the next post. The images will be self explanatory and will give a good indication of the fragility of this chosen design.

While reading the Da Vinci Code novel by Dan Brown this summer I was thoroughly intrigued by the many layers that were going on at the same time together with the various elements that came into play and being curious I decided to take the time to research the internet to see if any references could be made to any of these particular instances. I knew that this novel had caused a stir amongst the religious sectors due to speculations and misrepresentations said to be portrayed throughout this novel but the impression was enough to seek further reading.

I had a notion that I could design a unique Lovespoon around some of these elements and I started off by first visiting the Wikipedia with a reference to the Priory of Sion. It was there that I found the official emblem of the Priory of Sion which incorporated a fleur-de-lis, intricate enough to make a great focal point for the start of my Lovespoon design.

The other strong elements that had been referenced during the reading was an equal sided cross and a five petal rose that was inlaid into the rosewood box that would encase the cryptex. These two prominent elements together with a heart would make for a strong design and are quite often primary elements in most traditional Lovespoons.

Deciding the layout for the Lovespoon would take up several drafts as I maneuvered each of the elements to find the best position. The head of the Lovespoon would be the official emblem of the Priory of Sion simply because it was the most dominating element.

The base of the emblem was shaped perfectly for a heart to nestle into the lines leaving me with just the Celtic Cross and the five petal rose to position.

To simplify the final positioning I sketched out the shape of the spoon bowl and as I normally do I scribed some lines that would indicate a handle. Thinking of one of my previous Lovespoons I thought I’d try placing the five petal rose as if it had grown from the spoon bowl and once in position the design instantly looked settled. The last element, the Celtic Cross would rest between the heart and the five petal rose.

I was considering whether to carve the petals of the rose as I had with the Daffodil Lovespoon but thought that a traditional Celtic Knotwork would be more suitable for this design, it would lighten up the overall look but as with most of my carvings the design is still fluid throughout the development stage. While I’m in the process of carving, ideas develop and can influence the overall shape so I try to leave some of the larger elements open for futher exploration until the very last moment. It is often the case that the best idea comes at the last moment when most of the shape is carved in.

Feeling quite settled on the order of things, I decided to plot out the spoon in its entirety giving me a good indication of the overall length. I had noticed that there were a lot of delicate areas to this Lovespoon and I hadn’t even started to consider the species of wood I would use but with the fine details it would have to be something that was reasonably hard and close grained, possibly birch.

Something I would have to ponder on while setting the final design and to which, I will show you the final layout in the next post.

The piece of Basswood that I would use was thirteen inches long by two inches wide, plenty for the type of carving that I had in mind. My first task was to sketch the design on a piece of paper to position the flowers, starting with the smallest nearest the spoon bowl and progressively get larger as they moved along the staff. The last flower would intersect the heart and the heart would have a scrolled link to aid in displaying the finished carving. I wanted the flowers to have stems that would be indicated as the rope wound around both the stem and the staff but would I be able to carve this and convey the intention.

The first process was to remove all the excess material around the profile of the spoon on my bandsaw. My next step was then to carve the bowl for the spoon and I found that the Basswood carved very easily with a sharp gouge, (I don’t know why but I always start with the spoon bowl!)

In fact, while carving I found it a little too easy and care had to be taken to prevent the grain from running too far and splintering out. To eliminate some of this I decided to cut across the grain rather than with it, then finish carving with the grain.

On the back of the spoon bowl the same process was adopted and again I found the grain to react very similar to that of Mahogany with, if you take too big of a shaving the grain was inclined to tear. With Basswood, it is very easy to cut in the main shape without too much effort but this false sense of security can lead to a major problem, if the grain tears too far into the design there will be no room to rectify the shape.

Knowing this I paid plenty of attention to carving the bowl and the back of the spoon slowly, even though I wanted to forge ahead.

Thinking on why I always carve the bowl first, it is because this area is normally where the most material is removed and it makes sense to carve this first so there is no extra force placed on more delicate parts of the carving. If I were to carve say the heart first I could easily snap this area while carving in the spoon bowl later so carve the areas that receive the most pressure first then move on to the delicate areas last.

My next move was to drill holes in the areas that would have to be removed with a fret saw. In the past I had been using my Delta scroll saw but each time the blade breaks it would make me jump and that combined with the set up for each cutout far outweighs the time in using a conventional saw, that being said using the scroll saw will ensure a square cutout unlike when hand sawing.

Part of my problem is the type of blade that I am using, I prefer a spiral scroll saw blade which has a spiral completely to the end of the blade. To be user friendly for the scroll saw I need to get the flat end spiral and this will eliminate the problem of securing it tightly in the machine. The blade will clamp easily without fighting the spiral each time.

With the holes drilled I then cut out the internal material with the fret saw and cleaned the profile with the smallest spindle sander sleeves available, some 1/4 inch in diameter. In the near future it would be good to purchase an actual spindle sander such as the Jet 708404 which is perfect for little home craft projects and the type of carvings that I do.

With the cut outs taken care of I could concentrate on shaping the staff and the daffodils. I intentionally left the staff thick so that I could offset the stalk of the daffodil so that it looked like it was placed on top of the staff. First off was to pencil in the rough outline of the stalk and then carve away the material either side of the pencil line leaving a raised stalk, this I would do by using a small gouge.

With the three stalks now shaped I needed to indicate a rope that would lash the three daffodils in place but how would I ensure that the rope was continuous and spaced equally.

To do this I used 3.0mm masking tape which is available from the paint department of most autobody shops. Starting at the base of the spoon I wrapped the tape around the staff and across the back of each flower as indicated by the photograph until the last flower where it would stop and indicate that the rope had been tucked beneath the previous loop. All I had to do now was to follow the tape with a pencil, marking in the position.

On the pencil line a score mark was made with a carving knife then cut at forty five degrees to give the indication that the rope was twined around the staff. This was continued for the entire rope effect until the back of the flower was reached, here the rope would have to cross over the flower so material was carved away forming the back of the petals leaving the rope exposed. From the photograph you can see the effect of first carving in the stem of the flowers. The rope effect following this shape gives the indication that it is lashing the stem to the staff.

The front face of the flowers were carved to give a layered effect for the petals. This is achieved by offsetting each petal slightly and by carving with a small gouge which gives a stronger three dimensional look. The trumpet of the daffodil is carved deep with a small gouge and cut square on the top edge to eccentuate the depth. If each petal is carved to give a curved effect this will add to the three dimensional look when cutting a shallow carving.

Now that each of the three daffodils are complete the heart has to be formed, for this I decided to give it a triangular section with the outer face flat and the inner surface angled to a centerline inside the heart. This gives it a nice crisp but simple controlled double heart effect, a heart within a heart. The top link completes the carving and this is a round to oval section with a ball at each end. This unique lovespoon was a satisfying project and the end result was better than I anticipated which is always good.

With each carving I’m gaining a little more knowledge about the various timbers that I use and their unique qualities. With this knowledge I can design more intricate carvings and feel confident that I will be able to successfully complete the carving without too many worries, so now that I’ve said that, what will be my next carving!