Wooden Spoon Carving

Information and Inspiration for Spoon Carvers

Interviews

An Interview with Greg Nelson

Early into my carving, I found Greg Nelson, aka @chasing_the_grain73 , on Instagram and was impressed by his work. I bought a spoon and it came with this thoughtful handwritten note. I thought, “Man, this is what handcraft is all about. Something from a real person.” Months later, I went to the Driftless Spoon Gathering in La Farge, Wisconsin. I had cut up some windfallen black cherry and brought it to share at the gathering. Later, I saw some beautiful spoons that Greg had carved from it posted on Instagram. Oddly, I probably handed him the wood he used, but had no idea that it was him. Regardless, Greg sent me a spoon for the wood, and that sort of summed up who he is – a kind carver who by his very nature shares his knowledge and work. I was bummed that I didn’t realize that he was at the gathering, but I’m grateful that he was willing to take the time now to have a conversation with me here about his spoon carving.

Tell us a little about yourself:

I’m a forty-five year old stay at home father of two wonderful kids, ages three and five. I met my wife through Match.com when the internet was just beginning to really boom. Before marriage I spent most of my days in retail management and sales, though I do have a Bachelor’s degree in sociology and a minor in creative writing. Pairing those two interests of study didn’t exactly prepare me for a six figure salary upon graduation! Not to mention my other interests in classical guitar and songwriting. Through my own ignorance of the real world or my sheer stubbornness not to achieve those precious things most consider the American dream, I was woefully unprepared for the wonderful life I now find myself enjoying as a husband and stay-at-home father. My last stint in the real working world was a bit of social work that finally utilized some of my college training and background. While I don’t miss the heavy case loads, I do often miss the diverse folks I got a chance to work with and learn a bit more about real life from.

How long have you been carving and how did you first get interested in it?

I began my carving shortly after the birth of my son. I played a lot of bad guitar at the time and needed something quiet to do during nap time. I was fumbling around the internet one day, doing research about carving walking sticks, when I bumped into something about hand carved spoons. I was already enjoying making walking sticks, but the hours of sanding and using a Dremel to grind out diamond willow sticks wasn’t for me. My decision to give up on walking sticks came down to the dust and the noise, not to mention the vibrations from the Dremel I could feel in my hands days after I’d done a lot of work. My interest in carving spoons like most, was peaked by the simplicity and quiet of the tools involved. There was no dust, only chips to sweep away and because the wood was green, it was easier on my hands. And so it was that I began doing some serious research about carving my very first spoon. Little did I know what would follow. I’ve been chasing the grain ever since!

What are a few of your favorite spoon carving tools?

With my new found hobby came the acquisition of some pretty crappy tools. Rather than buy quality, I did what most folks dabbling in spoons do first, I ran out and bought the cheapest and absolutely worst tools I could find. A year later after tons of research I found Hans Karlsson tools out of Sweden and never really looked to any other makers. I first acquired an axe from Hans Karlsson tools that I still use almost daily now, then a hook knife and last a sloyd knife from them. I love their tools for the simple fact that they are superb in quality and construction, are fairly priced and with a little patience, are actually quite easy to come by contrary to what some folks may think. If you save your money, and subscribe to their email update, about every six months or so they make a release. You have to be a bit patient and savvy to get to their web site first when the new tools release, but everyone gets the exact same opportunity to buy. Just make sure you’re committed to buying when the tools get released. If you snooze, they’ll be gone. I’ve tried other maker’s tools, but they just don’t feel the same in my hands. There are some really great other smith’s out there but I’ve simply grown accustomed to the HK line of tools. They were the first high quality tools I acquired and therefore have become the ones I’m most familiar with. It’s a bit like being married to my wife, I scarcely think at this point I could stand the company of anyone else! Other makers I really like include Svante Djarv, Dell Stubs, Deepwoods Ventures, and Mora. I’ve used all of these at some point along the way and they’re solid options if you’re just starting out. I’d like to try the legendary Nic Westerman’s tools but there’s about a two year wait and I’m incredibly impatient. I also feel that if a particular tool is working, there’s no need for another. I learned early on that I’d rather spend my time carving than searching for that elusive, perfect tool that’s going to some how make my spoons great. I’m a carver not a collector. But if anyone knows where I can get a Bo Helgesson hook, I’m ready to buy one!

Any suggestions of books or websites to learn about spoon carving or woodwork?

The only book I would really recommend for spoon carving is Swedish Carving Techniques by Willie Sundqvist. While the book is a bit dated, the photos and descriptions are excellent, and really capture the folk tradition of “Swedish Style” spoon carving and sloyd craft better than anything else I’ve ever read on the subject. A quick Google search will reveal a multitude of other spoon carving books and resources for further study, but Willie Sundqvist, in my opinion, is the best place to start. Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook are other good places to search as well to see what current carver’s are up to these days. These days many more folks are beginning to post live and recorded videos on various different internet platforms, some you can even join in and carve live over the internet with others. You’ll have to do a little digging but the content is out there for anyone that’s serious about carving spoons to discover it.

Are there any particular spoon carvers who inspire you in your work?

I could endlessly name other spoon carver’s that have inspired me to keep on chasing the grain, but the truth is they’re all equally inspiring. From beginners to experts, I’m simply amazed that folks are making time in their lives for traditional craft. I think our reasons for carving spoons are quite different these days than they were in the past. Most folks are simply looking for some kind of connection with others today, and spoons provide that positive link. Very few folks make a living carving spoons today, though I think that’s starting to change. Obviously I’m inspired by those folks at the top of their game, who can sustainably live off of what they make but I’m really more interested in seeking out those fantastic carvers I haven’t yet discovered and aren’t yet very well known. Every day I’m searching for new and inspiring folks to keep my creative wheels turning about the kinds of spoons I want to carve.

How have your spoon carving techniques changed over time?

I think my spoon carving techniques have basically stayed the same over time. I started out using the grips that I learned from reading Willie Sundqvist’s Swedish Carving Techniques. I’ve added a few modifications, and tricks that just came natural to me over the years. I don’t use my hook knife in a very traditional way. I use a thumb technique, that I don’t see other carvers using. Part of that style developed out of the hook I’ve chosen to stick with, a bit of ignorance, luck and bad habits in the beginning. I’ve stuck with it though and feel it makes my carving process more of my own now. I’ve tried more conventional techniques with the hook knife, but they just aren’t as comfortable for me. I guess if the results are good, I figure why mess with what’s working.

What are your thoughts on popular decorative techniques like milk paint, kolrosing, or chip carving?

I think a lot about this question. I’ve never been very interested in having a lot of decoration on my spoons. I mostly carve eating spoons these days and I want them to be functional first. Decoration is always an afterthought for me. I find it hard enough to get clean shapes, crisp lines and symmetry just by itself, let alone adding more work on top of that. Much of the cherry wood I source has color and grain so beautiful to begin with, I think that any thing else I added to it would just be gaudy. I’m not a flashy person and I want my spoons to reflect my quiet personality. I also just think that other folks do those decorations much better than I ever could. Once in a while I’ll add some extra decoration to a spoon just to experiment and see what folks think, but I always end up returning to some pretty basic bowl shapes and traditional handle styles. Experimenting, and playing around with the basic form of a spoon is where it’s at for me. The wood on its own is almost always enough decoration for me in the end.

What do craft, sloyd, or wood culture mean to you?

Those are three pretty big ideas! To me, carving spoons has always been more than just carving spoons. The whole process is about becoming a better person. It’s a never ending process of discovery and learning. I often tell folks it’s my “ikigai” which roughly translates from Japanese to “one’s reason for getting out of bed.” I think of spoon carving as a catalyst for change. If we want to make the world better, I think sitting down and carving a few spoons together is a good place to start. I’ve watched very disparate folks from varying backgrounds and viewpoints sit around carving spoons and by the end of the day really begin to understand each other. It’s funny how something simple, common and meditative can do that. Perhaps today’s world leaders should sit down at a spoon carving summit together.

If you had to pick few songs to listen to while carving, what would they be?

Right now, just about any song by Wilco will do! I’ve also got a long list of Tom Petty songs I like to cycle through when I carve. I like to have something going in the background with an energetic beat, usually acoustic and with lyrics that prompt me to think and feel a bit deeper. I want music that inspires me to use my emotions while I carve. I want the final spoon to be a direct result of what I was thinking and feeling at a particular moment in my life. If a spoon doesn’t project that energy when I’m done, then it’s not a very good spoon, even if it’s technically perfect. I can live with a few mistakes if a spoon projects a feeling of energy and emotion. Spoons are a lot like poems to me. I carve them with care and attention to detail making sure they look and feel great in the end, but I also want you to feel that underlying music every time you go to pick it up in your hand.

Lastly, why do you carve spoons?

I carve spoons in order to keep my life in balance. The world is a hectic place. Amidst all of the confusion, noise and distractions vying for my attention, spoons are the one constant source of peace, tranquility and relaxation that I can always return to. An hour of carving spoons let’s my mind wander and go for a saunter through the woods again. I begin thinking about all the things that are truly important in my life, the people and the places I deeply care for. For me it’s a form of meditation. Sometimes I hate to leave, and I think that feeling of being connected and aware of my surroundings, mind and body is what brings me back time and time again to hand carved spoons. At the end of each spoon, there’s always a feeling of accomplishment, however small. I congratulate myself on a job well done and before I know it, I’m already thinking about the next chance I’ll get to carve another spoon. Time doesn’t exist in that moment I’m creating a spoon. There’s only the this babbling conversation between my hands, the tools and the wood.

Thanks Greg! You can follow him and inquire about purchasing his spoons on Instagram at @chasing_the_grain73 . Oh yeah, and Greg, I’ll look forward to seeing you at the Driftless Spoon Gathering in the fall.

As I have said previously, my goals with this website are to learn more about spoon carving and connect with the great community of spoon carvers out there. I welcome carvers to contact me if you would like to be interviewed to share your thoughts on the craft of spoon carving.

An Interview with Aaron Sparks

I’ve enjoyed seeing the spoon carving of Aaron Sparks on Instagram (@sparks.spoons) for awhile, so I contacted him and he was kind enough to answer my questions about his woodworking.

Tell us a little about yourself:

I consider myself a Minnesota native, but I was born in Colorado. After growing up in Minnesota I was lured to Santa Barbara California for college – undergrad and then a few years later for my PhD. I now live in Durham, NC with my wife, two young daughters (3.5 and under a year), and my dog. I’m happiest when I am outside whether it be backpacking, climbing, hiking, camping, or just in my backyard carving a spoon. By day, I am a political science professor at Elon University. Being a dad is the best, and I also look forward to bedtime when I get a chance to carve.

How long have you been carving and how did you first get interested in it?

I have been carving since September 2017, so closing in on two years, but I wasn’t really sharpening until winter 2018. About ten years ago, I was living with a buddy who was in to bushcraft and had a Mora hook knife. We messed around a little bit carving spoons while camping in central PA – they were really rough but worked well enough to scoop beans into our mouths.

Fast forward a few years to when my first daughter was about to be born. I felt the urge to make something by hand for her. I realized a toy or teether was out of the question without more tools than I had the money or space for and thought back to spoons. I ordered a Mora 164(?) hook – the one with the double-edge – and tried to carve a spoon out of a 2×4 without an axe or stump, just the hook, a saw, a cheap chisel, and a Mora 120. I guess it was a semi-functional scoopy thing, but the experience was terrible so after a little try using redwood I gave up for a couple more years.

My first job out of grad school was at a university in a very small town in northwest Ohio. No beach, no mountains, no friends. But, there was a good supply of greenwood. So, I did some very important trimming of our landlord’s maple and mulberry trees and snagged some walnut from the neighbor. I spent many a very cold night in our garage and finally started to improve. For the first couple months I was just using a puck to sharpen the knives and a light tomahawk. (I wish I focused on sharpening earlier on in my learning process).

What are a few of your favorite spoon carving tools?

Mora is great for getting started and I still use the hook – with one edge rounded down – for finishing work on deep bowls. I use Matt White’s Souhegan pro grind for rough work and Phil Fuentes’s sloyd for finishing. I love my Reid Schwartz (pre) Woodspirit hook. I recently purchased a Deepwoods Ventures 50 mm twca cam and it seems great but I haven’t really figured out how to use it yet. My beloved axe is the Gransfors Bruks Swedish carving axe.

Any suggestions of books or websites to learn about spoon carving or woodwork?

Books and videos are great, but the only way to learn is by carving spoons. Pay close attention to the primary safe grips displayed by the masters and then just carve. For learning, I also think, it is very useful to get a few spoons from carvers you admire, learn what works and try to copy it. I only have Wille’s book and Barn’s book. Anyone doing tutorials on Youtube (especially Tom Scandian) or Instagram (Tom again, and Emmet come to mind).

Are there any particular spoon carvers who inspire you in your work?

Honestly, everyone out there trying to make a useful spoon. I get a lot of inspiration from people representing non-white male groups. I hope we, in this craft, can learn more from them and elevate their work and be a more inclusive community.

How have your spoon carving techniques changed over time?

Hard to say… I guess a little safer – though I currently have a big gash on my left thumb from my hook – and a little quicker. I have probably gotten better at using leverage and finesse but it is hard to put my finger on how. The other important technique is sharpening. Starting out, it easy to not know what a sharp knife is like and get too lax in keeping the edge sharp. My biggest advice to new carvers is to work on sharpening, it makes all the actual carving easier and more fun.

What are your thoughts on popular decorative techniques like milk paint, kolrosing, or chip carving?

I like it! Most of my spoons are plain because I don’t trust myself to add anything beyond what the natural wood grain already has. I’d like to be better at kolrosing and chip carving, but I don’t currently see myself getting into painting.

What do craft, sloyd, or wood culture mean to you?

I’m not embedded enough within this culture to know.

If you had to pick few songs to listen to while carving, what would they be?

Typically, I don’t listen to music while carving. It is either the sounds of the backyard – we have a lot of birds – podcasts, or baseball on the radio (go Twins). The podcasts I listen to are mostly educational and so allow me to be productive towards my work while also carving spoons.

Lastly, why do you carve spoons?

Maybe I shouldn’t listen to politics podcasts because a big reason why I carve spoons is relief from my day job. Paying close attention to the daily news cycle is a lot of work and a lot of worry for the future of our democracy. Additionally, so much academic work takes so long to see any fruit whether it be improvement in students or a paper getting published. Carving a spoon gives me a creative outlet and a project I am proud of that can be completed in a few hours.

Thanks Aaron! You can follow him and inquire about purchasing his spoons on Instagram at @sparks.spoons.

As I have said previously, my goals with this website are to learn more about spoon carving and connect with the great community of spoon carvers out there. I welcome carvers to contact me if you would like to be interviewed to share your thoughts on the craft of spoon carving.

An Interview with Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell

Recently, I watched a couple of Spoonclub videos with Deborah Schneebeli-Morrell and Barn. I had been wanting to interview more women who are spoon carving and I was really struck by Deborah’s comments about the emotional benefits of woodworking in one of the videos, so I contacted her and she was kind enough to answer my questions.

Tell us a little about yourself:

I trained in fine art and have exhibited my work… paintings/collage for many years. I have also written many craft books on a range of subjects and materials. I have always been interested in the meaning of making and the significance of objects. I love to discover new techniques and materials and to make useful and beautiful objects that can improve and enhance my life and those of others.

How long have you been carving and how did you first get interested in it?

I have only been carving spoons for about two and a half years. I was introduced to it by a dear friend who has now sadly died… We went to a day course together with EJ Osborne and I then went to a similar course with Barn the Spoon…… Going to Spoonfest and taking classes with significant makers has really has really helped my progress.I now try to make a spoon a day.

I have been carving little wooden figures for much longer, perhaps 25 years and through doing that I learnt about different woods and how house a knife efficiently.

Do you really make a spoon every day and why the deep need to make things?

I try to make a spoon a day…if I miss a day then I will catch up by making two the following day. I have always made things, ever since I was a young child. I can create a world of my own…I can be lost in making and when a spoon or another object works, I feel good, it embodies my ideas, my creativity and it reflects back the part of me that is good and OK.

I was really struck by your thoughts about spoon carving and mental health when I heard your conversation with Barn. Talk a little more about how a spoon is the reflection of the good in the maker.

You somehow know when something is right in the object that you make, its shape, design, decoration and function. When all this comes together in a spoon, for instance, it alters you a bit…. You know that from an impulse… something imagined by you…..you have used your skill, experience and imagination to create an object outside yourself… an object that embodies the process of making and all its intents…. from your internal world to its separate life as an object. When you hold something that was was once only an idea… and you are pleased with it, it reflects back at you all the ‘good’ things about you. It has a psychological function as well as a practical one. It can make you ‘better’ and than can make you healthier and happier too.

What is object relation and how does that fit into the world of spoon carving?

I don’t think I am really qualified to explain this very well but I will have a go
Object Relations is a psychoanalytic theory and I am interested in the work of Donald Winnicot who focused on early childhood experiences. I am interested in his theory of the Transitional Object… a baby’s first aesthetic choice, a blanket or a teddy or something that becomes symbolic and bridges the internal world with the mother to the external world ahead as the child develops.I do think of the things that I make as ‘transitional objects’ that have a function, they can provide safety, protection and reassurance as well as being useful to eat porridge with!

What are a few of your favorite spoon carving tools?

I have a lovely axe that was was restored by a friend. The axe head was made in East Germany between the wars and is just the right shape and weight. My friend made an ash handle from tree that grew near our allotments in north London. I use the Mora 106 and 120 and some special knives from Tomio Imaru in Japan… we did a knifes/spoon swap. I have a special finishing knife by Sean Hellman which I really love. My favourite spoon knife is by Wood tools from Robin Wood and I am lucky enough to have a couple of Nic Westerman which I have inherited from my friend.

Any suggestions for books or websites to learn about spoon carving or woodwork?

Spoonclub.co.uk
Barn’s book Spön
Anything by Wille Sundqvist especially carving techniques
EJ Osborne spoon carving
I still need to increase my library of reference books.

Are there any particular spoon carvers who inspire you in your work?

Barn the spoon
Adam Hawker
Jogge Sundqvist
Sam Cooper
Dan Lawrence
Dave Cockcroft
Anna Casserly

There are so many and so many that I don’t know…… I see lovely stuff all the time on Instagram.

Any tips for new spoon carvers based on what you have learned?

Just put in the hours…. do a course with a good spoon carver…. look at other peoples’ spoons… buy spoons from makers… copy spoons… join a spoon club…. again just put in the hours.. you will get better.

Based on your experience, apart from letting your work speak to the crowd, what suggestions do you have for someone who is new to the spoon carving world, yet eager and excited to be part of it? How can you best join the community of carvers?

Facebook (spoon carving, green woodworking and slöjd) and Instagram are good for reference and interesting spoon discussions. Do a course first learn the basics especially about knife holds and safety. Join a spoonclub in your region… these are often held monthly. Here in London you can join a live, weekly spoonclub as well as become an online member where you can view the fabulous archive of interviews that Barn has done with notable makers.

How have your spoon carving techniques changed over time?

The more I do the easier it becomes and the better the outcome. I still have a lot to learn.. you can never stop learning. I am more confident and my experience means I can now make the spoon I intend to make!

What are your thoughts on popular decorative techniques like milk paint, kolrosing, or chip carving?

I haven’t done much but I am intrigued …. I aim to try all these and see if I can make the techniques my own. This week I am going to do a course with Adam hawker on Chip carving and kolrosing.

Talk a bit about roasting spoons. I wasn’t familiar with until I explored your Instagram posts. Please talk about your technique and what woods are especially good to roast.

Its so simple there is really to much to it. I did it at first to strengthen a spoon that had some spalting….I find it good when the grain on wood is not very interesting like lime or willow. But I love to roast holly….it goes beautifully dark and develops a sort of patina of age. Best thing is to experiment. Different woods take the baking very differently, some woods you wouldn’t bake because the grain pattern or colours so beautiful.
I bake at 200 degrees Celsius for up to an hour checking every 20 mins or so to see how the colour darkens. Remove from the oven and whist still hot apply walnut oil. The heat makes it penetrate deeper.

What do craft, sloyd, and wood culture mean to you?

An ancient, archaic craft that connects me back to all those makers that have gone before.

In your spoon carving, you really explore the different varieties of wood. I think you told Barn that you may have carved 50 or more varieties of wood. What fascinates you about wood?

Its always a discovery, splitting open a log and finding how beautiful the grain is. I like to know how and where the tree or shrub grows….. to feel connected to it. I love trees and the natural world…. its all connected.

In addition to spoon carving, you garden, make collages and dolls, and write among other interests. How do you balance making different things while improving your spoon carving? What else would you like to make or do that you haven’t tried yet?

I worry about all the things that I want to do and there not being enough time. I have a big collection of rusted iron objects, found, dug up, I want to make some sculpture with them in combination with wood… I would like to know how to do welding!

But there is so much that I would like to try… the world of craft is endless fascinating… as long as I am engaged and interested then I suppose I am OK.

Why has spoon carving taken priority over your your other art forms?

I can’t easily answer that… Its very condensed, you don’t need much, space or tools you can do it anywhere….. Its just what I do now at this time in my life.

If you had to pick few songs to listen to while carving, what would they be?

English traditional folk songs or classical music

Where can people find you online? And how can they buy your spoons?

I don’t have a website yet…I hope to this year…. I need help from a younger person!! but DM me through instagram.

Any final thoughts on pursuing a craft like spoon carving?

Its very rewarding and enjoyable and the spoon carving ‘community’ is very friendly. Other spoon carvers are very generous and will help. Its nice to use your home made spoons and give as presents… They are always so much appreciated.

Thanks Deborah! As I have said previously, my goals with this website are to learn more about spoon carving and connect with the great community of spoon carvers out there. I welcome carvers to contact me if you would like to be interviewed to share your thoughts on the craft of spoon carving.

An Interview with Cole Holliday

I’ve been a fan of Cole Holliday’s spoon carving since I first followed him on Instagram. Cole is humble guy with a kind heart. I had the pleasure of meeting him when he was visiting Minneapolis for a concert this past Fall and he was nice enough to deliver a pair of walnut chop sticks to me. He also shared advice with me as I built my spoon mule. It’s always a pleasure to talk with Cole, so I’m grateful that he was willing to share his thoughts on the following questions I had for him.

Tell us a little about yourself:

My name is Cole Holliday. I’m 47 years old. I live with my wife and 2 kids in Wausau, WI. We have 2 dogs and live in a quaint neighborhood. My wife and I both work part-time in the healthcare field. I am a Registered Nurse at a hospital. We have 2 dogs, and we are homeschooling our preschooler and first-grader.

How long have you been carving and how did you first get interested in it?

I came across a picture of a handcarved spoon on Instagram, sometime in 2015 or so. My wife and I both became interested in spoons and started sending each other tags or posts or whatever, and then I came across Jarrod Dahl’s profile, and followed the link to his website. I was so excited that he lived to the north of me, about 2 1⁄2 hours by car! Anyway, many months later, on my birthday 2016, my wife informed me that she had been in contact with Jarrod for many weeks, and that she had arranged a one-on-one carving lesson at Jarrod’s homestead in Odana. I remember the morning of the first lesson and he said, “Okay, so what tools do you have, and what do you know, how long have you been carving?” and I was like, “I don’t have any tools, I whittled as a kid, and I’ve never carved a spoon!” He said “PERFECT!” and that was that – I was on the path, and Jarrod began with “The Way of the Knife.” I had a killer couple of days with him. It was really cold with lots of snow that year, and I slept in the Yurt that was also the workshop and where the lessons took place. So this February I will have
been carving for three years.

What are a few of your favorite spoon carving tools?

My kit is pretty simple, it consists of a Mora 106 and a Robin Wood open sweep hook knife. I have been using an old Keen Kutter drawknife since I began using the mule.

How has the spoon mule that you made impacted your spoon carving? Any tips on building one?

The mule is a beast. I have really enjoyed learning how to use since completing the build last August. I got to explore the thing on my own for about a month and was then fortunate to spend time with Dawson Moore aka Michigan Sloyd, and had the pleasure of learning from the man himself.

Carving on the mule has opened my eyes to a whole new way of carving, and it has allowed me to understand more clearly the fundamentals of spoon carving. Building it was a big deal for me, as I’ve never built anything like that before. I cut all the lumber in a friend’s shop with a table saw and a chop saw, so I actually cut all the parts for two mules and planned on building a second one from the get go but I only assembled one of them. It’s been almost six months, and the thing has been broken in nicely. I’m looking forward to building the next one now that I know what to expect in the build, but also because I understand now how the spoon mule works.

Any suggestions for books or websites to learn about spoon carving or woodwork?

I followed Jarrod’s suggestion which was to read Swedish Carving Techniques by Wille Sundqvist. I recently bought Slöjd in Wood by Wille’s son, Jögge. I am so impressed by it, and almost think it’s a better starting point for a new carver. I also have Spon by Barn the Spoon, and that is an excellent book as well.

Are there any particular spoon carvers who inspire you in your work?

Yes, there are many. Jarrod Dahl, Dawson Moore, Tom Bartlett, Derek Brabender, Fred Livesay, Tom Dengler, Darrick Sanderson, Jane Mickelborough, Mike Loeffler, Liesl Chatman, Pat Diette, Dane Licina, Yoav Elkayam, Emmet Van Driesche, Fiona Glover, Tim Dennison, Dierdre and Aaron, Adam Hawker, to name a few. There’s a ton of great carvers out there, more than we’ll ever know. I think about all the folks that AREN’T on Instagram…..

Any tips for new spoon carvers based on what you have learned?

The best tip I could offer a new comer would be to take a class with an experienced teacher, go to a spoon carving gathering, or find a carving club or group. Also, to sharpen and strop more than you might think you need to. I have learned so much from spending time with other carvers, watching how they do things, and listening to people talk about their experiences, process, etc.

Based on your experience, apart from letting your work speak to the crowd, what suggestions do you have for someone who is new to the spoon carving world, yet eager and excited to be part of it? How can you best join the community of carvers?

Just do it. Fishing for a good time starts with throwing in your line….

You seem like someone who is very humble. How do you let go of ego or self as you learn and pursue craft?

Thank you, that’s very kind of you to say. I tell people I got my good looks and humble nature from my father. But seriously, I try not to take myself too seriously and keep my ego in check. You’ll never hear me describe something I’ve made as “signature” or “trademark” or “wildly popular”, but if I’m really pleased or excited about how something I’ve made has turned out, I may remark that I’m proud of it, or that I’m stoked. I pursue craft out of a desire to learn, and because of the satisfaction I get out of making things.

How have your spoon carving techniques changed over time?

As my axe and knife skills develop, my techniques have changed. The more I carve the more I try and understand grain orientation in combination with understanding knife grips, posture, body mechanics, etc. and what kind of feedback I’m receiving from the tool and the material I’m carving. Learning to take longs, slow cuts is something I have come to enjoy. I wasn’t able to make cuts like that initially, it took time to learn. My techniques are constantly evolving. As my axe skills have developed, my process for roughing out a blank has changed, and so on and so forth.

What are your thoughts on popular decorative techniques like milk paint, kolrosing, or chip carving?

I’m reading Slöjd in Wood by Jögge Sundqvist and he says to to go all in and not to hold back when it comes to painting and decorating your creations, and I love that. I’ll admit, I’ve been pretty conservative when it comes to decorating my own stuff. I love the way chip carving and kolrosing looks, but I don’t feel like I do either of those things with confidence.

What do craft, sloyd, and wood culture mean to you?

It means more to me than I know how to describe at this time. Life before I carved my first spoon was so different. Basically, learning how to carve has been a life changing thing. My life has not been the same since being introduced to “the way of the knife”, and for that I am so grateful.

In addition to spoon carving, you weave birch and bake bread among other interests. How do you balance making different things while improving your spoon carving? What else would you like to make or do that you haven’t tried yet?

Well, I have a lot of interests and the further down the slöjd rabbit hole I go, the less time I have for many other things, so it’s all about balance. I have dabbled in making things from bark, though life is busy and I can’t do it all. I believe I can do just about anything, but I can’t do everything. I don’t know how well I balance things, but I know I overextend myself from time to time. Unfortunately, what that looks like is that I stay up too late carving so I’m not getting enough sleep, or I have to nap, or take another nap even, and then I’m not spending enough time with the family or I’m not pulling my weight with the kids… So like most people I’m just trying to find work-life-sloyd balance and there’s not enough time in a day.

In one Instagram post, you wrote about “spreading the word” by talking about process, sharing your work, and introducing young people to carving. Please talk a little more about that.

It was actually spreading the WOOD, which is a phrase I picked up I think at Milan. You get a bunch of spoon geeks together and everyone’s talking spoons or knives, this and that, it’s awesome. And then you go back to work and realize you’re babbling about something spoon related to a person who has no idea what you’re talking about, or maybe someone asks you a simple question like “what do you do with a wooden spoon?” and a half hour later you’re still yammering on about it… proselytizing, sure, and there’s a play on words of course, spreading the word, etc. But I do love sharing the virtues of craft, specifically, the craft of carving a spoon, with an uninitiated person, and sharing what sloyd does for me personally is something that I describe as spreading the wood.

We both have kids around the same age. What do you think children gain from watching their parents learn and practice a craft? Also, have your children started to carve? If so, do you any tips for teaching kids to carve?

My kids seem to enjoy being around when I’m carving, and they have both expressed an interest in learning to carve someday. My hope is that they learn to be self-reliant as they grow older and embrace their own creative processes, and that they value the importance of making things with their hands.

If you had to pick few songs to listen to while carving, what would they be?

I like to listen to a lot of different types of music. Lately, I can’t get enough of Charlie Parr, The Oh Sees, Richard Buckner, Reggae, or Dead Horses.

Where can people find you online? And how can they buy your spoons?

I post things on Instagram – @cole_holliday_handcraft -, and then to facebook as well but Instagram is the best way to contact me. Everything is for sale.

Thanks Cole! As I have said previously, my goals with this website are to learn more about spoon carving and connect with the great community of spoon carvers out there. I welcome carvers to contact me if you would like to be interviewed to share your thoughts on the craft of spoon carving.

An Interview with André Souligny

I was first introduced to André Souligny after he sent me an email of thanks for adding him to my list of spoon carvers. By coincidence, I had also read his article about spoon carving in Taproot Magazine right around the same time. One email led to another, and André was kind enough to answer a few questions that I had about his life and work as a spoon carver.

Tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been carving and how did you first get interested in it?

I have been carving since 1996. I encountered green woodworking, and subsequently spoon carving, that year in a course titled Earth Household Arts, as an undergraduate student at Goddard College. One of the instructors, 17th century furniture maker Robert Tarule, brought a froe into the classroom and demonstrated the use of the tool, riving some green white oak. From that moment on I was enamored with green woodworking and the use of hand tools. Another student in the course loaned me his bent knife from west coast tool maker Jim Wester of North Bay Forge, and over a school trip to Plymouth Plantation and New Alchemy, I carved a primitive spoon out of a piece of dogwood. I knew I was on to something that really satisfied me deeply and personally. Both of my parents are artists, my father a goldsmith, and my mother a fiber artist. Both had a passion for “old stuff” so I grew up in environments where material objects from the past were collected and revered, many involving iron and wood and carving or sculpture.

What are a few of your favorite spoon carving tools?

I have used the North Bay Forge Deep Bent Knife almost exclusively for concave work. I have in the past few years taken up the Mora 120 as my straight knife. I find it to be extremely reliable. I have an old Millers Falls chip carving knife that I use to make the primitive star design on the handles of most of my spoons by pressing the tip into the wood when it is completely dry.

Wester’s tools are beautiful and razor sharp out of the package. Since I rarely carve anything but green wood with them, they remain very sharp and need only a rare dressing with 1000 grit sandpaper. I’m experimenting with spoon knives made by the Vermont blacksmith Lucian Avery.

Why is “the studio” the place you want to be?

I used to just stare and stare at the book “With Hammer in Hand: The Dominy Craftsmen of East Hampton” by Charles F. Hummel. I just found the pictures of the workshop mind blowing. I have encountered a lot of workshops and studios over the years, from a Vermont icon painter to a picture frame maker to a yarn maker to a letter press printer to an empty Aikido dojo. It is something about how each craftsperson and artist personalizes their workspace, and their processes and tools and materials bare before you. I just love the work spaces created by craftspeople. Like when you visit college art spaces, ceramics studios, woodshops, to see the tailings and the Mr. Natural cartoons and hear the music being listened to…great places. Not like a beige cubicle with a window to a lot full of cars…

Any suggestions for books or websites to learn about carving or woodwork?

I must admit I am not much of a reader. I am a real hands-on, visual learner and I experiment a lot. I’ve found a rich source of photographs of antique spoons in coffee table books at the library from the 70’s and 80’s about things like “country kitchens”. From these close-up photos of well used kitchen ware, I find ideas and inspiration. I really learned by being handed a knife, and thankfully I did not injure myself at first. The things I love the most to visit and revisit are the old videos of Romanian and Swedish craftspeople, as well as the Turkish bow lathe and Chinese Uyghur spoon makers, and Drew Langsner’s (I believe?) videos of cooper Swiss Rudy Kholer from the 70’s or 80’s. All I’ve been thinking about lately is this tiny spoon my co-worker brought me from Tanzania, and where is the video of the person making it? I also have a book in German called “Grünholz Schnitzen” “Carve Green Wood” with fantastic kids’ projects. So, you know, hang out on YouTube for a while, or go to some old-timey exhibits/living history museums, and especially get into international travel, but spend more time making, or making videos of other people at work, or of yourself at work…Books and more so images/drawings/diagrams/videos should be like a slingshot that catapult you into something. Woodworking in Estonia. In Praise of Hands/Essay by Octavio Paz. The Artisan of Ipswich/Robert Tarule.

Are there any spoon carvers who inspire you in your work?

The people who inspire me most inspire me by their humble, unassuming nature, and their posture of welcoming, non-judgmental joy in the craft. I’ve never met any of the more famous folks in person, so I wouldn’t rely on what I’ve read or heard of them, but it does seem that there is a warm and receptive tone among many of them. The knowledge that others are carving gives me joy, and I like to believe I belong to this community keeping the traditions and enjoying each other’s creation and process. There is an endless amount to learn from and share with others. I tend to avoid staring too much at another persons’ work because I love making and I’m usually doing so! We all have so much to learn from one another, eh?


You wrote a great blog post about your father’s work as a goldsmith. What have you learned about craft from his experience?

Thank you for the compliment. As far as craft goes, my father rarely “took an order” and tried to make someone else’s design for them. I am much the same way. Not that I don’t like a challenge, but I find that I don’t really know what is coming in a piece of wood, and I like it that way. I set out with only the vaguest of notion of what I want to make. I think it’s the inspiration and energy one feels to make something, and the joy of making things, using tools, and seeing something through from a tree or a drawing to a spoon or a ring. The process is the root of the craft. End products send you right back to the process with new ideas and knowledge and more questions. But, upon reflection, I am also not so great with deadlines, and I’m a little fearful of not pleasing someone who’s made an order. With the finished product, they know what they are getting before they pay, right? The inspiration to make spoons comes and goes. I like the roughing out end of the work quite a bit more than the finish work…which is interestingly a reflection of me as a person in many ways, and a reflection of the difference between me and my father/his craft, where the micro-filing of inclusions in the finished ring would drive me bananas. I like tool marks. He does not.

What are your thoughts on popular decorative techniques like milk paint, kolrosing, or chip carving?

I love what people are doing! I make minimal and somewhat primitive embellishments on my spoons; a finial, or star, and I’ve experimented with some chip carving. I haven’t tried paint, but I think it is beautiful. I’m attracted to the three-dimensional handle carving (animals, etc.) on African and South American spoons that I’ve seen. But decorative carving is not my greatest talent. I’ve been thinking lately about making some ladles with copper handles for fun, I thought they would look beautiful, but I am still working on how to connect the wood and copper gracefully and durably.

Talk a little about the cycle of craft – how are forgotten knowledge, skills, and tools remembered again?

A reoccurring theme in my experience is encounters with elders. Last weekend I was talking with an elderly man who canes chairs, and who said it will be his last time at the event we were demonstrating at. He was telling me about a shingle-making machine he had that connected to his tractor and produced shingles by loading blocks of wood. As much as we can know in an instant about what is happening on the other side of the earth, there are few, like for example the Italian Bagpipe maker in Scapoli, Italy that I met this April, who keep the traditions. In the hollows of a dilapidated castle, he turns out traditional Italian bagpipes. The gift of going to his workspace, to hear him talk about craft with such passion, keeps me inspired. Much like that video of JoJo Wood apprenticing the clog maker. I think from each renaissance rise young experts and wise elders and craft ever evolves. What humbles me, though, are the postcards from the late 1800’s of the Russian families making spoons. 50-gallon baskets full. I look at those post cards, then at websites like Herriott Grace, and I’m like “what am I doing?”. I’m talking to the elders, as many as I can find. And digging through boxes for old tools in New England…every once and a while I find a book I didn’t know about. Truly each person can carry some skill from the past forward…seems many have some special part of the process they are most interested in, so documentation of some kind is imperative, and books are timeless while digital media is fickle and can be ephemeral. I’ve never cared to much for the over-used words “discovery” and “invention”, but I like the idea of re-discovery, “barn archeology” or “living anthropology” I like to call it, as well as the evolution of craft.

You’ve spent 15 years getting to know a small part of the forest where you live. What have you learned from it?

There is a never-ending amount of peace to be found there. Little can be done to influence blackberries. If blackberries are in the vicinity, unless you want to spread them, do not disturb the soil. If you hold still and remain silent, you will see wonderful things. I believe the forest wants us in there, instead of out here. To protect us from ourselves and remind us what true gifts are there to experience.

What does “new wood culture” and sloyd mean to you?

I’m just old enough to have been exposed to some trades in High School in the US. Surely, I believe that the US education system, and by association the citizenry, would deeply benefit from honoring the value of our hands and those who are better with their hands than with academics. While some places have programs available for trades, I believe if it were more mainstream, it would benefit many young people. Forcing people into things they don’t like, or do well, creates mediocracy everywhere. The big problem is money, right? We all need it to live…or do we? There is a false rush to decide who you are and what your career is, and, if you borrow your way through education, then you are trapped in the US work-$-debt cycle until you figure a way out. Would it not be better to discover that you are great with your hands, and take that road from a young age, without being “less-than”? It is much about what we value as people, too, which relates back to our nurture, right? It’s a complex question. To me, a person making on the street is my idol. Because I value what they know and what they can do that I can see. There is no mystery, and no life of making money off other people’s money or labor. There is a direct exchange. Couldn’t we, in a balanced way, value the hard work of green woodworking and the hard work of accounting, by offering similar wages? There may not be anything new about wood culture. Since the early 90’s, the internet has helped connect and spread these ideas, which were there all along, with many examples of those keeping the skills alive all over the world and in the US. The nice thing now is that there is a lot of energy around craft and its value, not just as a spoon for example, but as a process that yields satisfaction, perhaps even therapy, perhaps even community!

You’ve written, “The experience of green woodworking and spoon making all hovers around the idea of connection.” Talk a little about that means.

Well I’ve probably touched on this, but, you know you find an old tool and you say, “what is this” and you find out, you fix it, you try it out. Then you take it and use it in public, and an elder comes up to you and says, “you have that upside down” and proceeds to tell you a story about their father or grandfather. Or someone says, “didn’t dad make mustard spoons?” and you say, “what’s a mustard spoon” and that someone tells you about mustard spoons and you start to try your hand at them or look for information about them. Or, your elderly neighbor takes your workshop, and years later he passes away, and his wife calls you and says “these spoons were under the seat of his truck and I want you to have them”, and in exchange you find a picture of him whittling that you took at the workshop and give it to her and she’s never seen it. Little things like this. Bridges and acquaintances and bits and pieces of information. A spoon you made in a friend’s kitchen. It’s fantastic. I wish I’d started earlier…

Any thoughts about why the analog/traditional matter so much in our digital world?

None other than I wholeheartedly agree so much with this notion. I think people are starving to connect but are distracted by virtual connection. Maybe “making” will win? Although, I do have to give my deep appreciation to all the people who take the time and effort and expense to document electronically their work and share it with others. This is super valuable, in fact, underappreciated!

What do you enjoy most in teaching others about spoon carving? What do you think new carvers gain from learning this craft?

Teaching is challenging. I enjoy seeing each person problem solve problems and learn as they go along about wood grain. I especially enjoy the results of the first spoon. I’m disappointed when there is a person who really struggles, and it is maybe not their thing. I’m always adding to my repertoire different ways to hold the work without big benches and vices to try an accommodate different comfort levels with edge tools, to not leave anyone behind. I think there are some sure-fire ways for everyone to make a spoon. I think finishing something and using it to eat or cook or to give as a special gift really gives people a deep sense of satisfaction. And there is comrade and humor, and the occasional carved-too-thin or nick of the finger…

Talk a little about the quiet contemplation of spoon carving. How does it differ when you are teaching a group and when you are carving alone?

My mind is quite empty of “thought” when I’m making a spoon…it’s really a wordless harmony between the brain that controls my hands, the tool, my eyes, sound, the wood changing with every chop/slice. There is direction happening, but not like “I’m going to do this, then this, then this…” I see and do, and there is a little bit of “Ah, I see what this will become now”. There is both an overall idea of what you are making as well as some mystery until you get to a certain point, especially if an unexpected knot turns up, then you must make decisions instead of letting it flow.

If you had to pick few songs to listen to while carving, what would they be?

Lately I have been listening to a lot of music from Mali. It is super beautiful and conducive to chopping and carving. I’ve been getting obsessed with Africa for some reason I guess I want to know how they make spoons and I can’t find out through any conventional means I’ve found so far.

Where can people find you online? And how can they buy your spoons?

www.spoonderlust.com that’s my blog, and there you will find a link to my Etsy shop. My Esty shop is sometimes empty, but this will change. People can contact me through the blog and I can add them to the email list, where they will receive an email when I put a new batch of spoons up in the Etsy shop. Generally, one can find what my public outing schedule is on the website. I offer individual instruction and workshops in and immediately around Vermont, but I’m open to ideas. There is also a PayPal link on my blog to support keeping the blog going.

Any final thoughts on pursuing a craft like spoon carving?

If you have an addictive personality, and you like to collect things, be careful before you get started…I suggest that true beginners start with a class where everything is provided. I recommend carving green wood rather than dry wood. I think tools should be sharp and you should not wear gloves or thumb covers. I believe that spoon making can be really adaptable for people with special circumstances.

Thanks André! As I have said previously, my goals with this website are to learn more about spoon carving and connect with the great community of spoon carvers out there. I welcome carvers to contact me if you would like to be interviewed to share your thoughts on the craft of spoon carving.

An Interview with Emmet Van Driesche

I’ve been following Emmet Van Driesche since I signed up for my Instagram account last year. I admired his spoon carving, but I appreciated even more his generous nature of sharing his techniques and thoughts through his blog and Spoonesaurus videos. Emmet is is a busy man, so I truly the value the time he gave to answer some questions that I had for him.

Tell us a little about yourself. How long have you been carving and how did you first get interested in it?

Well, when I was in college, a guy tried to woo my girlfriend away from me by giving her a wooden spoon, which I thought was weird. I came to carving through a desire to do something tangible and practical with my time that I was taking care of my second daughter when she was a toddler, almost five years ago now. She would be exploring the yard, and I looked at the firewood stacked on the porch and thought to myself that I could probably make some sort of spatula things that I could sell around Christmas. From there it took a few years of poking along low key, except that I was inhaling all the information I could find, scraps from here and there, until two and half years ago I decided to quit a seasonal job I had and thought I could fill in the gap in income by getting more serious about selling my work. That was when I got a smart phone, got on Instagram and started to really engage with the scene. That took a solid year of effort before i felt like it was working out, but at this point carving earns me more than triple the amount I was earning from that job, so I guess you could say it’s worked out.

It seems like you have a lot of irons in the fire – spoon carver, teacher, farmer, writer, editor, publisher, and father – how do you manage your time to do it all and still keep your passion and sense of purpose so strong?

I think the diversity is invigorating. I would be less engaged if I only did one thing, and I would miss the synergy that each of these endeavours brings to the others. Not to mention the fact that I would be more at risk financially. I prefer to have my eggs in lots of different baskets. But it does rather feel sometimes like I’m juggling a lot. On the other hand, it sure does get a lot of stuff done!

Related to your thoughts above, how do you balance having so many interests? I often feel like a “jack of all trades, but master of none.” Do you ever feel that way? And if not, how do you approach it so that you are successful?

It is certainly awkward to try to describe to someone what I do with my life, let alone for a living. One of the most useful things I’ve done is not try to give the carving a business name of its own. I’ve usually shied away from my name (Emmet Van Driesche is a mouthful) but by having all of the carving be just under my name, it focuses the career trajectory and expertise on me as a person, which has a different flavor than if I was operating as Such and Such Woodworks. I think people just ASSUME I’m some sort of expert (even though I try to be clear that I’m not) simply because I don’t operate under a business name. As for how I feel about myself, I think I have a surplus of confidence. So that’s never been my problem.

You’ve written that you start carving at 5 a.m. What’s a typical daily routine for you?

Just to be clear, I wrote that I would get up to WRITE at 5. I’ve never gotten up to carve so early. But I did get up at 5 every weekday morning from January to June this year to write my forthcoming book that’s being published this winter. That was hard, but it was also when I could create the mental space within a busy day full of family and work obligations to make this happen. It would not have happened otherwise, and I would recommend to anyone trying to do something and finding it is hard to stick with it, make yourself get up at 5 and spend two hours a day doing it, and you will be shocked what you can achieve. The brilliant thing about getting up so early is that there is no other reason you are awake, so you just get on with it.

A typical daily routine is get up at 6:30 or 7, whenever the puppy needs to go outside. I have coffee and make my wife tea, get the kids up and on with their day, then walk the dogs for half an hour. Often by 8:30 I’m starting work, which varies tremendously. Sometimes I’m carving all day. Sometimes I’m axing blanks for part of the day. I try not to axe all day because that is tiring. Sometimes I’m editing manuscripts or running errands or teaching. One day a week I box up orders and go to the post office, reconcile checks and deposit them at the bank, all of which takes about half a day. Throughout the day I capture moments for Instagram, and try to be mindful of what I need to promote and how, whether it’s the Spoonesaurus videos, or some announcement or just something funny. Orders come in throughout the day and I enter them into my day planner, which has all of my work and information about customers roughly laid out over the weeks. I tend to wait until 10 or 11 to eat breakfast, then eat lunch around 2 or 3. At 4:30 or 5 I stop and go walk the dogs again, then help get dinner on the table. If I am strapped for time, I might work in the evening editing, but I prefer not to carve in the evening because it’s harder on my hands to give them a workout and go to sleep, they are much achier that way.

What are a few of your favorite spoon carving tools?

My kit is very simple, but over the years I’ve slowly, without setting out to, assembled a lineup of absolutely first rate tools. My axe is a Granfors Bruks Swedish Carving Axe, sent to me out of the blue as a gift by a young carver named Brian Dunbar. I use a Silky Accel21 saw. My knives are all made by Matt White of Temple Mountain Woodcraft, who is my business partner with Spoonesaurus. His Pro Grind Sloyd and Monadnock hook are amazing tools, made more special because many key elements, like the handle on the sloyd and the curvature of the hook, are things I had a hand in designing. Finally, I am very attached to my stump, although I’ve learned that the relationship is fleeting. I prefer softwood stumps and they can only take a couple of years of daily use before they break apart. But while they are there they have a strong hold on my affections.

Any suggestions for books or websites to learn about carving or woodwork?

Is there where I can toot my own horn? Matt and I run an Instagram account called @spoonesaurus where we create tiny, nerdy useful videos about the nitty gritty details of spooncarving that is a resource I wish was around when I was starting out. A more comprehensive source is our magazine we are just starting, Spoonesaurus Magazine, which has a combination of detailed articles, essays from other craftspeople, and interviews with professional carvers that are similar to this interview here. It’s a real, analog magazine that you can read on the couch without your wife feeling like your phone is tearing your relationship apart, and you can subscribe to it by visiting our website, www.spoonesaurus.com.

Are there any particular spoon carvers who inspire you in your work?

Yes. My two favorites are Dan Lawrence and Reuben Goadby, both in the UK. Both of these guys have an incredible grasp of what dimensions are critical to function and which you can mess around with. Here in the US, I admire both the work and the tone set by Tom Bartlett and Darrick Sanderson. There are a number of other carvers who I love and admire, including Peter Moule, Matt White, Yoav Elkayam, Eamonn O’Sullivan, Amy Mungler, Matty Hart. There are a number whose work doesn’t inspire me in that I don’t feel called to try to attempt what they are doing but I love it just the same, including Ty Thornock, Amy Umbel and Dawson Moore.

I’m relatively new to spoon carving, but I often feel a bit like an imposter since I created this website about it, yet barely can carve a decent spoon. I created this site though as a way to learn and help others as well, but also to be part of a craft community again. Based on your experience, apart from letting your work speak to the crowd, what suggestions do you have for someone who is new to the spoon carving world, yet eager and excited to be part of it? How can you best join the community of carvers?

This is a tricky one, because what you are saying is when do you start sharing what you know, given that we are all on a spectrum or a journey, and we will always know more next year than we know today? I think the trick is to just start. The nice thing about spoon carving is that the learning curve can be pretty high, and as long as you ease into the more didactic side of things, starting out by just sharing what you do, then by the time you’ve thought about it and done it and engaged with it enough to truly have an opinion, you will know it and can start firming up those statements. There will always be people who feel like you are getting too big for your britches. But I think as long as you are real and genuine with everyone and polite and kind and generous with your knowledge, you will always come out okay. I see a lot of holding back in people just starting out, in part because there is an element within the scene that can be less than welcoming unless you pay your respects and wait in line. I don’t like this aspect of the scene, and I work every day to change it and to set the tone I want to see. So I would say that joining a community is just that, about being a good human first, and a good carver second.

How has your technique changed since you wrote your informative blog post “How I Carve Spoons”?

Only in small ways, to be truthful. I got lucky there. When I wrote that was an arbitrary decision in terms of timing, I was just starting my blog (which is always linked to my Instagram account, @emmet_van_driesche) and felt like it was a logical place to start. How I articulate things has refined somewhat, and what I pay attention to and shoot for is different, but the order of operations is the same.

Your spoons are beautiful but unembellished. What are your thoughts on popular decorative techniques like milk paint, kolrosing, or chip carving?

I’ve tried it. It’s not for me. I love color and pattern, but I find it keeps me from appreciating the object as something whole unto itself. It starts to be a canvas rather than a thing. Also, it adds an element of risk into the end of the process that I find unacceptable given that I’m trying to keep my prices reasonable, not to mention the extra time.

How have your sense of design and spoon forms changed and evolved?

I used to really chase the facet and the clever detail, and as I’ve gotten better at making the wood do what I want, I’ve really backed off of this. Now I’m fascinated by forms that are not driven by facets, but rather are curves meeting other curves with distinct lines at the junction. I’ve also homed in on the forms I want to explore, and find that by holding more and more constant, it gives me a more intense thrill of exploration to mess around with one tiny detail. I’m obsessed with making wooden spoons feel totally normal to non-wooden spoon using folks, and find that this has led me to a very simple set of shapes, where the feel has to be perfect and the finish as flawless as I can make it. The trick is to get good enough to make the flawless seem easy. I’m getting there.

In your blog post, “Perfection“, you wrote, “I want to own it to the point where things don’t need to be perfect to be perfect.” Please explain and have your thoughts changed since you wrote that?

Ooh, I should have read this question before answering the previous one. So for awhile I have wanted to push towards a mastery that doesn’t need to chase absolutely precise lines and symmetry but uses confident cuts to achieve sweet lines. As I’ve gotten better, though, I’ve come to realize that part of this imperfect perfection IS THE PURSUIT OF PERFECTION, at least in the sense that each spoon strives to be better, cleaner, more sweetly proportioned than the ones before. But I don’t obsess about the current spoon. I obsess about the trajectory.

Related, you wrote about how we only see carver’s successes on Instagram, so talk a little about failures or disappointments you’ve experienced with your own carving and how do you cope with ongoing challenges of learning to master a craft.

For me, the challenges have always been social. It’s been sticking with Instagram even when no one was there, continuing to promote my work even when no one was buying, and pushing through the times when I’ve tangled with other egos. Those failures are hard. Having a spoon fail is nothing really, just a few minutes of my time. It’s the larger arc of whether it feels like it’s working out or not that matters. Thankfully, I’ve persevered to a place now where I feel like this is a success. It always takes longer than I think it should, and that is a lesson I’ve had to learn over and over again.

You’ve written in the past that you dream that sloyd will be a deeply understood and respected way of understanding our humanity. What does “new wood culture” and sloyd mean to you?

Eh. I’m less crazy about the Scandinavian side of this heritage than most. I’m a mix of a lot of ethnicities, but none of them are Scandinavian. So I’m naturally skeptical at the preponderance of those cultures represented in the scene. But I do think it’s a wonderful thing to gain a comfort and familiarity with working with your hands, and that’s something I’ve had for much of my life. I used to work on trail crews and then sailing ships and then farms, so working with my hands has always been more about how you interact with the broader world than it is about making precious objects. I think, in fact, that this is what I love about spoons, at least how I make them: they aren’t precious. They are just everyday objects, made to be just a nice detail in someone’s life. And I’m acutely aware that that life is rich and full of many important and wonderful things, and that my spoon is not really one of them. It’s just a spoon.

You share a lot on social media and are very good at using it to inspire, instruct, and market your businesses. How do you personally balance the analog and digital worlds?

Hmm. Well if you asked my wife she’d say that I’m bad at that. I do try to be mindful of being present for my family, but I also know that Instagram and how I use it is responsible for more than a third of our income and a much greater proportion of my opportunities going forward. So I try to be disciplined about it, and thoughtful about it. I also find that my community on Instagram is a great deal of my social interaction for the day. I work alone, for the most part, and it is nice to chat with friends and acquaintances online while I work. But (and this is a big but) it is also quite addictive, so I do feel that tension. I try to be in a position of using the app, and not letting it use me.

You’re a very active writer. Share a little about your recently launched spoon carving magazine Spoonesaurus. Why did you want to create a print publication about spoon carving and how can people get a copy?

Ha, another question I foolishly answered too soon. The part I haven’t addressed is why I started it. I started it because I wanted it to already exist. Sadly, it did not, but I realized that I was maybe crazy/stupid/optimistic enough to be the one to start it. It also felt like the timing was right. I realized almost immediately that I didn’t want to do it alone (although technically I’m doing about 90% of it by myself) so I called up Matt White (who I started @spoonesaurus with six months before) and said that I wanted to start a magazine and could I stick it under the Spoonesaurus umbrella. He thought that was fine, and I like the idea that we are building something bigger than either of ourselves. While it’s nice to have the spoon carving be under my own name, for the really big, foolhardy, brash projects it’s nice to have a partner in crime to give you cover.

If you had to pick few songs to listen to while carving, what would they be?

I go lots of different directions. There’s an amazing Scottish trad band called Talisk, whose amazing track Abyss I just carved a spoon to on a live Instagram Stories thing in ten (10!) minutes. You can find that on my YouTube channel. I just wanted to see if I could carve in the way that these musicians play, so fast it seems unreal, and at a level we as spoon carvers don’t even think about yet. On the other end of the spectrum, I have a deep love of pop music, and not just the retro cool stuff, so you would find me listening to Meghan Trainor, Michael Buble, that sort of thing. I’ll be the guy singing his heart out. Don’t sneak up on my if I’ve got earbuds in.

Where can people find you online? And how can they buy your spoons?

My website is just my name, www.emmetvandriesche.com , and that had a million different ways to get in touch. My books are closed for spoons for this year actually. I’m running about six weeks out, and then in mid September I pivot from spoon orders for non-local sales to getting my Christmas tree farm up and running and doing some carving for stock to sell during the holidays. I am booking work in January already, so if you want something, don’t hesitate, because it wouldn’t surprise me if by the time New Year’s rolled around this year I was working with a two month waiting time. My website has a shop that is not enabled, but it does have pictures and up to date prices on all of my options. To order, just get in touch.

What’s next in your busy life?

Well, the magazine is just getting off the ground, and my book is in the editing phase, so Matt and I are starting to discuss how we can educate ourselves in making high quality videos that are both beautiful and informative, and package them in a way that is most useful to people while still paying us for our time. So expect to see that, my guess is some time next winter.

Any final thoughts on pursuing a craft like spoon carving?

It’s not about the spoon. It’s about you, and what you get out of it. Pay attention to that, and the spoons will take care of themselves. And thank you for giving me this opportunity, I really appreciate it.

Thanks Emmet! As I have said previously, my goals with this website are to learn more about spoon carving and connect with the great community of spoon carvers out there. I welcome carvers to contact me if you would like to be interviewed to share your thoughts on the craft of spoon carving.