Change, change, change...

There has been a major shift in the way I am working, I have been apprehensive to Blog about this because I wasn't sure whether I would like it or not.

To get to where I am today has been a long and eventful adventure for which I feel incredibly fortunate. And today I have had a beautiful day in my shop carving spoons (the link is to a fantastic blog called Spitafields life).

The Shop has come about because I needed to rent some workshop space as there is no room in my new flat, as most of you will know last winter in Bristol I was living in a House that had space for a workshop and a garden - London is different.

The major shift has actually come about because Mike Abbott has given me a Tormek, it is a funny what an impact that has had on my life but it really has. To be completely honest the hollow grind I now have on all my tools has turned them into completely different tools, greatly increasing the speed at which I can sharpen and the level of sharpness too. Needless to say this has had a massive impact on my work, not least as I now need a workshop with electricity to run the water cooled grindstone. I have also changed the way I view my craft, I shan't ever stop learning but my "self taught" apprenticeship is complete, and my focus has changed from learning and finding my spoon carving groove to providing a high street service to my customers, though first and foremost I will always see myself in service of the "Wooden Spoon".

I really didn't think I would like having a shop but I adore it, and I am not missing the street selling as much as I thought I would, though I miss waking up in the woods terribly that is the only compromise I am struggling with. I have to say though I really enjoyed street selling last winter it never felt as right doing it from  a house in a city as it did from the woods, and I will always spend time doing that.

Right now I am doing my best to fill the shop with as many spoons as possible, this is proving hard with Christmas round the corner, but I am making progress. The aim is to be able to provide all spoon needs, if the shop doesn't have the type of spoon you want I will make it. I am starting a waiting list for Bespoke bent branch eating spoons which come with a lifetime guarantee, if you would like to be considered for one of these please get in contact via email and I will let you know when you can come to the shop for the first "fitting" these will be very special spoons and only for the truly dedicated spoon enthusiast. If you are wondering whether or not there is a spoon for you in my shop wonder no more! There is a spoon for everyone and you need to find time to come down and get one. My Shop is Located at 260 Hackney Rd and is the only one with me carving in it. Most of my spoons sell for £10 and the shop is open from 10:00 -17:00 Fri-Tue (i.e. the shop is closed on Wednesday and Thursday).

I Still have 3 places left for my Course "Spoons From the Wood" May 21st-26th 2013 if anyone would like to buy these as a Christmas gift (£420) I will post out a presentation "Ticket" and one of my spoons so you have something to physically gift.

Spoonfest

Wow, well it certainly happened, and it wouldn't have happened if you didn't all come along so a big thank you for that. It seems like a long time ago now,  a lot of people worked very hard, most of us for the love of spoons and quite rightly so. There were a few however who just got caught up in all this because of Robin and I who deserve a special thank you.


I Loved SPOONFEST!
I would have paid £40 just to go to listen to Jogge, he headlined our festival and was fantastic. I can be forgiven for being apprehensive that Jogge might have a bit of an ego, turns out he has an alter ego called Surrolle! I've heard that Beyounce has an altergo for "onstage", apparently this allows her to perform with attitude without being a complete premadonna off stage. I wish someone had told me about all this before it was too late.

Within a few minutes of meeting Jogge we had got his spoons out! and he was so excited to show us the new wooden cases he'd carved for his engraving knives, great attitude - along the lines of "look what i've made!" love that, what an amazing sharing person. This behaviour was at the heart of Spoonfest it was amazing to see so many people, new and old, sharing their passion for carving spoons.

Over the next few weeks i'm going to do some posts on the spoons I got from the "Lineup" which i thought would be a nice way to talk a little about spoon design.


We are also making arrangements for SPOONFEST 2013...watch this space!

The Best Spoonknife I have Ever Used

If you would like to purchase one of these Spoonknives please contact Ben Orford via his website, i'm not sure if he has photos etc on his site but if you contact him he will be able to sort you out. 

Here's Ben in his workshop, his grinding belts and power hammer are behind him, sorry I didn't take some more photos, but we were extremely busy and this was a last thought just as I was leaving. Ben is just putting the final hone on the inside of the Blade, note how he has the blade on a raised platform for sharpening.

We have been going through the final designs for my Spoonknife, and I am really happy with how it has turned out, when you try something new you can never be sure how it will turn out, but this has surprised me how much better it is, I think I'll put a video up at some stage explaining all it's features and why it really is so much better than what I was using before. I hope to get some smaller ones made too that will be good for beginners, and certainly will by the time "Spoons from the Wood" comes round.

I have really enjoyed working with Ben on this, it is very helpful that he is a proficient spoon carver because when I explain to him what I want he can understand why, although even he was dubious about some of the ideas I had. Ben is a much better tool maker than I am, give me an Axe and a Knife and i'm happy, I do not use a hammer and grinder day in day out but Ben does.

Essentially the Blade has been forged from some 3/8" round bar EN43, it was quite quick with the power hammer, but I can understand why some other makers use thinner section bar or even just flat section. The thicker round stem is more comfortable on the levering hand and much better than flat section steel. The extra thickness in the blade is also useful for big cuts, any flex is energy lost! One of the massive benefits of using round section bar is that you can drill a hole straight into the handle without messing around trying to create a slot at the correct angle, these blades are already slightly set back so you don't need to drill wonkey! The bend in these first blades have a continuous 60 mm radius, this is a fantastic all rounder, and the size I carry in my pack. This knife is ideal for those looking to add a different design element to their spoons, those looking to get a cleaner smoother finish to the bowl of their spoons, and those looking to speed up the hollowing process. 

Here's an endorsement from a fellow spoon carver who bought a spoon from me recently:

"your bowls are so good it makes me sick" 

Which is hilarious (they don't actually make you sick I promise). The fact is that although there is a touch of skill involved and certainly a technique to using this knife it is the knife giving the good finish not me.

Here's another:
"After seeing how easily you create a really smooth interior with that big open hook I find myself desiring one quite fiercely. That is one of my biggest battles; achieving a smooth finish on the inside of the bowl without sanding".

Here's one from someone who had tried the type I made for my courses last year and was so impressed he went off and made his own:
"I have to say the symmetrical curve and long handle are brilliant. Almost feels a little like cheating".

The beauty of my new Blades is that they are extra agressive in terms of removal of wood but are even better at giving a good finish. The agressiveness comes from the new design, a combination of the cross section of blade and the special way they are bent. As a result I am hollowing my spoons at an even faster rate. They have really invigorated my carving adding more excited to the already hysterical way I feel about spoons. 

Spoons from the Wood 21st - 26th May 2013

I've just ran the last Workshop I had booked up in London. I don't tend to post comments that punters have emailed me because it's difficult not to sound smug or like I'm trying the "hard sell" but here are a couple of comments I got from last weekend.

"Just a quick message to thank you for the course on Saturday! It was an absolutely brill day and one that I took loads from - already started on another spoon using my Ben Orford knives which work great. Would love to be able to make SpoonFest but am abroad all of August - I'll have to take my tools with me! Anyway - great course, great instruction, great company - I will be coming to work with you again."

"I just wanted to say thank you for a great Saturday. I really enjoyed the course and I think I'm addicted - started on spoon no.2 today!"

I always choose venues very carefully and I am very grateful to those that organise them. The Friends of Tower Hamlet Cemetery Park have always been incredibly supportive of my work and it now looks almost certain I will be residing in the East End of London for this winter, the 30 acre woodland that I have been running my courses from will house my workshop for the winter what an amazing opportunity for a full time Spooner, a beautiful wood where I can source my materials and axe out blanks within walking distance of the eager London Public going crazy for Spoons!

I have just one Course of my own planned for next year "Spoons from the Wood", I am very excited about this, as you will know I pride myself on taking my craft into Cities, but after a Winter in London I will want to be away from them. It's going to be a 6 day course at Mike Abbotts Living Wood this will be an amazing week. I asked Mike if I could use his place because it is one of my favourite places to be, and Mike is one of my favourite people, he has got to be the most experienced person at running woodland residential courses and it shows, his venue will be absolutely superb, with a beautiful open fire to relax around in the evenings, a giant Oak table in the woods to sit around for communal meals and try out some spoons! Just thinking about it is putting a massive smile on my face.

For a while I have been thinking about the very best way to teach my style of spoon carving. During this week I will cover all of the different knife grips that I use, I will teach advanced axing techniques, and  everyone will carve a Bowl using an adze, this is fantastic because it is a great way to introduce adzing before needing the accuracy that you would need for a spoon, a bowl also gives a great understanding of the grain direction when hollowing, being the same as the bowl of a spoon but much bigger. I will be able to spend more time on wood selection and making Bent branch spoons. I will go into the complexities of advanced spoon design and there will be plenty of Spoon inspiration hanging around that you will be able to use during the week. Even a complete novice will be able to walk away with a bowl and several spoons, but those with more experience may wish to learn some of my production techniques, there is much scope for extension of your knowledge you will be able to take on as many projects as you like, including making ladles/kuksas/skrink pots, chip and letter carving, putting a hook on a spoon, using a twca cam, etc etc (if there is something in particular that you would like to do please let me know).

 The teaching will be a mixture of demonstrations and coaching your individual projects. Each Day I will do a  few specific short and snappy demonstrations for the whole group including sharpening all the tools we will use, whilst the rest of the time I will move between your workstations helping you individually, all within sight and earshot so you can learn from each others questions, discoveries and mistakes! a week is a perfect amount of time for a course in the woods, and I can't wait!

ps there will be singing in the woods.

Twca Cam

My first introduction to smithing was from James Wilkes www.handmadetools.co.uk I lived in the same wood as him for a while, he is a great person, we used to eat the biggest cooked breakfasts imaginable, it was him that first introduced to me the idea that one person could eat a whole large tin of beans as part of a cooked breakfast. He trained at Holme Lacy widely regarded for it's forge. James trained there because amongst other things he wanted to learn how to make hook tools for bowl turning, he had a forge down on the farm - the same forge I ended up renting a few years ago. From James I learnt about forging, drawing, fire welding, normalising, hardening and tempering, hammering techniques using a swage block and methods for bending, as well as sourcing metal from car springs etc etc. These were very exciting times for me and opened up whole new avenues to my woodwork.

Tool making is a highly skilled craft, it takes much practice and experimentation, it takes time to perfect designs and manufacturing techniques. Each type of tool still has many species within it, spoon knives are very much like spoons themselves, the different materials they are made from and how they are shaped means that they can be very different things though to a novice they may all seem the same.

 When I started making a lot of spoons I realised short handled knives weren't helping. I could see all the photos of people from the "olden days" they were using long handled knives, they knew what they were doing. For a long while I was using the large svante djarv spoonknife on a long handle, it was Peter Montanez of http://www.woodandrush.net  whose linisher I used to make the bevel longer, Pete and Linda were of great help to me in the early days of my spoon carving, I understand back in the day Dave Budd set up his first forge in Pete's workshop.

There are many types of spoonknife and many ways of holding a spoonknife, all of which have pros and cons. Tom Hawken (who was Tim Gatfields apprentice a few years ago at the Cherry Wood Project  a lovely place) told me of  a technique using a bit of rope around your shoulder and the neck of the spoonknife so as to act as a pivot I like this idea, though I still haven't tried it, Tom is like a talking encyclopedia on traditional woodwork and squirrel catching.

As I have mentioned before I have settled on the Twca Cam with it's symmetrical blade made up of a continuous radius. This is by no means the only way to make a spoon, but is what I use for the vast majority of my spoons from small shallow eating spoons to large serving ladles. The continuous radius of the blade allows you to create wide shavings this gives you the most efficient removal of wood, and also leaves a nice smooth finish, removing the need for sand paper/scrapers/hundreds of tiny finishing cuts. It also gives you a constant that you can work to, and using this I have gained a much deeper undersatnding of the 3 dimensional space created when two the surfaces meet, this has enhanced my carving regardless of the tool I use.

Even back then I knew I wanted a symmetrical blade but it wasn't until I went up to Robin Woods that a lot of my growing knowledge started making sense. Robin has a very wide knowledge base, he has the largest collection of different spoonknives of anyone I know and also had an exact copy of Ion Constantins spoonknife. So much of my spoon knowledge has been built upon what he taught me, endless discussions about spoons well beyond everyone else getting bored, not least his spoon collection. It was with Robin that I first forged a working Twca cam, I am so glad he agreed to co-host Spoonfest with me - who else has done more to spread the good spoon word in this country? his courses come highly recommended from me.

So apart from a dull autobiography what was all that about? well I'm bringing out my range of Spoon knives, and I think it is important for people to give credit where it is due, I would hate for people to think it was me that invented the Spoon!

People are often wanting to get hold of a twca cam like mine, but there is nobody making anything that I would recommend. I had told everyone I would do workshops and sell twca cams at Spoonfest, but hadn't actually made a plan to mass produce them! Most bent/crooked/spoon knives are made from flat section steel ground then bent and stuck in a handle, these definitely work, but are difficult to sharpen (most people I meet have blunt spoon knives) and the higher end knives definitely work better. The knives I will be offering will be unique and I am really proud of my design which has come about from much knowledge seeking, experimentation and a lot of spoons.

The blades for these knives will be made by Ben Orford, he is a very experienced toolmaker, Ben and Lois are good friends and were founding members of Spoon Club, much of my carving and tool making knowledge has come from Ben. I have been using Ben's knives on courses for the last few years and  we have been working together experimenting with different manufacturing techniques to come up with the "perfect" twca cam at a good price (I hope to sell these for ~ £50).

Ben has been keen to put the time in to get the design down exactly how I want it, which has been the frustration for me with other toolmakers. I had spoken to a smith who called me once asking for advice, I suggested things to try such as forging a hollow on the inside of a spoonknife, this would make the inside easier to sharpen (most people don't get it flat enough any rounding on the inside is bad), it would create the convex bevel/blade that the outside needs (the reason why his blades were chattering before) and also create a strong shape, but he wasn't keen for me to be involved in following through with my idea and his blade will be much the worse for that. These blades from Ben that I am selling will be the same as the ones I want to use. 

Email Amnesty

Woops I'm awful at replying to emails, in my defense if I wanted to work in an office I would work in an office. That said I'd like to think my customer service department is not too bad? anyway all apologies if you are awaiting a reply to an email, sometimes I don't know what to say and leave it too long and then I don't know what to do. There are so many now I think I have decided to draw a line under them and start again. Please check out my making contact page.

It's great to be on the move again, though I'm still very busy in and out of London and spending half my time in houses in cities, I am very much looking forward to an even simpler life returning in June. I'm sorry to say I won't be posting out any spoons this Summer, I know in my last post I suggested I might but it is not possible to keep up with the demand at the moment and I don't want to be a constant disappointment. Street selling is going well and when Autumn comes round and I settle again I intend to sell one off bent wood spoons online, the prices will start from £25 each and will reflect the time put into them, once made i'll post a photo and sell them on a first come first served basis. I am extremely excited about the winter prospects of street selling in London, and if you would like to get one of my standard artisan spoons i'm sure you can send someone to one of my regular London haunts to fetch you one.

I have been on a long journey to get to where I am now and though my hands work in the present my sights are set firmly on the future. When looking for inspiration I am really looking for guides on my journey. It is surprising where inspiration comes from, I would find it hard to name many mainstream woodworkers whose work I admire, more often than not I am looking to a few people who post online (many of whom I look forward to meeting for the first time at Spoonfest), and historical artefacts to point me in the right direction.


I know some very talented musicians, a while back when a guitar playing friend was singing a song, it was so beautiful I wanted to cry but because it was just him and me I managed to hold back, maybe I should have let go, I think i may still be crying if I had! Music is lucky to have so many teenagers obsessed with creating it, if only more of them dreamt of making the perfect spoon! but of course there are more and more people out there making nice spoons.

My good friend Tom Ball from Marthas and Arthas was in the woods where my "Green" woodwork training began, it is not possible to separate the way I feel about spoons from the music he played in the woods, just as it cannot be separated from the way an Ash tree bends in the wind and the smell of burning Birch Bark.

Music is so accessible, more often than not I find myself turning to music, whether overjoyed or looking to channel pain, it's the wind in my sails. Happiness is not a chemical it's a song that sings in your heart. If I could write music I would write you a song - spoons are the song I am singing, and I want them to sing their way into your house and to dance around your kitchen.

last orders at the bar...n

Sorry for the crap joke,

Thanks for all the spoon orders and the wonderful feedback, selling spoons is a fantastic way of life and i am very grateful to those of you that have bought spoons online for making it such a pleasant experience, i now have spoons in Australia, South Africa, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, France, Germany, Itlay, Spain, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, India, China, America, Canada.  I am very pleased that at least half of my sales are repeat orders so i must be doing something right. It won't be long now until i will be roaming free, like some giant wild spoon carver, so i'm afraid no more orders, i may well be selling online again come Autumn.

If anyone is desperate for a spoon then you can try and persuade me, but expect a no.

The weather recently has been amazing and has made me realise quite how soon i will be back on the road again, still a little time to shed some of my winter coat! (i hope).

My true calling is street selling spoons, i often get emails from people wanting to know where i am so they can come and buy a spoon but don't like telling them, sorry if this seems funny, but a large part of what i do is based around the freedom of not needing to be anywhere and it just wouldn't work for me. I won't be posting Journal style about where i am during the summer but will no doubt be putting some crap up here! hopefully photos of spoons too.

If you a keen to get a spoon in person i am more than happy for you to turn up at the end of one of my courses, as a rule i don't do "shows" unless it's for friends but i shall be at the Bodgers Ball which is the Pole Lathe associations annual get together, the APF show with the bodgers, and of course Spoonfest.

Bring on the Summer!

ps if you saw the hilarious interview in the Guardian Fashion section you'll be glad to know i've got some new trousers! Emily Stein (the photographer) saw me in a newsagent in London and said i looked amazing (she has a thing for funny looking people) and that she would love to photograph me, Emily emailed me several times over the last year and half and i finally gave in not least to entertain my new young friends in Bristol. The interview was done over the phone lasted around 45 minutes and was condensed into Becky's own words.

Spoon Design

Another quick video with a few ideas about spoon design, having watched it I feel I should have done some preparation for it, but the main idea was to give a good 3D view of a couple of my spoons which is much better than just a photo, even better is to have a real solid 3D spoon in your hands! And what better place to get your hands on some beautiful spoons than Spoonfest?

Axe Blocks

A quickie video whilst i'm still in a house with a large chopping Block. There are obviously a million and one different ways to use an Axe with a block but this hopefully gives a brief idea of the ways I often find myself doing things. This is not an instructional video which i think would be irresponsible, the safe and efficient use of  Axes and Knives will always be best learnt face to face with someone who is an experienced teacher.

My Axe Blocks from barn carder on Vimeo.

We have added some more exciting news to our "what's on" and "Lineup" at   spoonfest.co.uk

********Spoonfest**********

spoonfest.co.uk

Brilliant we've got the website up and running so check it out, this is going to be an amazing event and i'm really excited about it. 

ps i have made a love spoon for you all and put a little vid of it up here (if anyone wants it let me know), can't imagine i'll make a habit of making these. Happy Valentines Day xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Untitled from barn carder on Vimeo.

The Good Man Hellman

Nice blog post giving some useful info for those wishing to start up in spoon carving (the finest art/craft form that exists....) Sean has done brilliantly in cutting the crap and getting down to some good facts.

http://seanhellman.blogspot.com/2012/02/get-woodworking-week-5th-11th-feb-how.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SeanHellman+%28Sean+Hellman%29

Carving Video

Here's a video i've made of me making one of my Octagonal eating spoons, i'm hoping to do some more videos to talk about spoon design and how to set yourself up for carving. The video was produced by my housemate Chris, there isn't much missing he just edited out the repeated bits but i will put the full length online at some point (~14 min), the spoon knife i'm using is a bit big for this spoon because i snapped my normal one by being too strong (it may have benefited from being normalised before being hardened). Now i'm settled i am using a Ben Orford hand adze to start the hollowing but forgot to bring it downstairs so didn't bother, it only saves a couple of minutes per spoon and is quite heavy so when travelling around i don't carry one, i'm hoping future videos will be more useful but this is a start!

Spoon Carving Courses

At last new dates for London! I apologise for the delay, it has been difficult to decide which days I can commit to so that I can work on Spoonfest and also make a visit to Scandinavia. For now I am Just putting in dates for London, those of you keen to come on a few days please book early because I may not be able to put more courses on until the winter.

Saturday 24th March Beginners 

Sunday   25th March Developers 

Saturday 26th May Beginners 

Sunday   27th May Developers 

Saturday 23rd June Beginners 

Sunday   24th June Developers 

The idea being that you can come on developers courses once you have been on a beginners, many of you will prefer to do these concurrently, but you can also then go away and practice before you come back on a 3rd and 4th day, this is an extremely efficient way of learning and though perhaps harder work for me allows you to get great teaching value for your money.

I very much enjoy teaching and look forward to welcoming new carvers as well as those coming back to perfect their techniques. These courses are unique because as far as I am aware I am the only Artisan in Britain making a living from carving spoons using just folk tools (axe/knife) to create practical utensils. I am also passionate about teaching and have extensive teaching experience (I was a professional teacher before I was a professional woodworker).

I am increasing the cost of the courses to £65 for the day, and if I move to London next winter there will be a further increase to at least £75. To soften the blow I'm giving a discount for early bookers this will be available until 14th February 2012, and will remain at last years prices £50/day.

For more information have have a look at my London Courses Page

If you would like to chat about my courses feel free to email barnthespoon@hotmail.co.uk or give me a call 07950 751 811.



Bristol Spoon carving courses

31st   March  Beginners
5th     May     Beginners
9th     June     Developers


Sorry to those I had to turn away for the last workshop, hopefully these dates will work for you if not you might be able to persuade me to do some personal tuition (but probably not now i think about it).

I now have a much larger room at the Quaker house which is turning out to be the best place ever for courses (clean, light, large and well organised) I might be able to put some photos up as some customers took photos last time. I really have been very lucky to find this venue, you've got to love a quaker! i am much more comfortable renting a space in a place like this than arty workshopy places.

Please take advantage of the early booking discount, it is much more convenient for me and saves you money. I do know what it's like i often get the coach up to my London courses and if only i would be organised and book them early i'd save £15 each time!

There's more information on the Bristol Courses Page

Happy New Year!

There were some gloriously sunny days street selling spoons last month, and then there has been the last few days! Sorry i haven't posted for a while I have been busy with wood, and since the weather has been bad i have been in doors and feeling very grateful to have a home. I am pleased i finally came round to the idea of selling online and though i am definitely happiest selling sat on the street, i have very much enjoyed parcelling up spoons and sending them off. Thank you all for the kind messages you sent back.

The two handsome men above are me and Paul Wylde of Grounded Ecotherapy, put this in because i have discovered that although i had been telling everyone the hat was the black bit from a Panda Bear fur, turns out it's Rabbit, i definitely don't condone causing extinctions but can't see what's wrong with wearing fur next they'll be saying you can't shit in the woods.

December was busy i ran two courses - a beginners in Bristol and also a developers in London, i only had one day selling in London and it rained till lunchtime but it was a fantastic afternoon at a new location  (London streets really are paved in Gold). Although i very much enjoy teaching beginners, it has been great getting people coming back on the developers workshops. I never take photos when i should but here are some of George's spoons who has been on two of my workshops (thanks for sending me these George).

An amazing year 2011, my favourite time was spent in Oxford, I had a couple of weeks there and was very productive, it was nice to see so many people i had met there the year before and even better when they came back for more spoons. I also had a fantastic time At Mr Abbott's Living Wood, I missed the old man and was very pleased to be asked back to teach, i'll be heading back for one of his development weeks as a holiday sometime in Spring.  

I am currently making the spoons I dreamed of making, this is hugely rewarding, and is made possible because you buy them all. Having worked my head around a couple of new styles, I am now looking forward to making several new designs and offering these online.

I am very grateful to all of those that have helped me towards my goals, Mike Abbott who gave me my foundation in working green wood his general philosophy permeates my work, Ben Orford who was the first person I saw  skillfully carve a spoon with an axe and a knife, and Robin Wood who has given me much help over the last couple of years and is the only person who seems to be happy to put up with me talking endlessly about spoons and spoon design without these people I would be scratching around with blunt chisels and sandpaper. There are many more people that have helped me along my way thank you.

I definitely made the right decision living in a city this winter, the last few years of my life have just seemed to get better and better but the winters have been less good, this year i have broken that habit! Those of you that know me will have heard me talk about my "new young friends" who have been extremely supportive of my endeavours, not least putting up with wood shavings all over their houses every time I turn up unexpected and do my washing.

Something to get off my chest, this is my little sugar spoon I've been making a few of these recently,  it's stained with coffee, an interesting phenomenom i have discovered is how people love the look of dirty/stained spoons, if ever I have an old spoon out selling (which i sometimes do if I'm copying one) people want it straight away. Ironically many of my spoons end up not being used because they are too precious! this is ridiculous and  I find it very frustrating.

I do not regret turning down the offer of having a book published, the stuff which I would have wanted to write about is personal and deserves to stay that way, i can understand peoples interest in my way of life but this blog is a good outlet for anything i have to say and is free! I do regret not getting to all of the people I had hoped to carve spoons for, and would be happy to send a spoon free of charge to any of those people I did not make it to. The only other regret of 2011 is that I did not dance, maybe that will change in 2012.

Spoon On!