This 'Dragon Lovespoon' design is my next intended carving piece and will be worked on at nights mostly, and will also give me something to do at woodcraft meetings. I have some illustration work to attend to on week days and as good as it is to have that work, it will be a welcome respite to have something a bit different, like carving to look forward to and enjoy doing at the end of most days.The challenges of this new work however will undoubtably bring about their own toil and struggle as I enjoy the work and the means to do it, by the sweat of my brow.
The meaning behind the symbolic elements in this design is generally intended to represent a couple being sustained and protected through both the pleasant times and the trials, that accompany life, in this 'present evil age'. Not much more ought to be read into the design however as the particular meanings of the elements have more to do with such simple things as, simply wanting to include a celtic style dragon and some knot-work partially entwined with floral elements.
The dragon is, in this case, implicated in the trials part of the story, instead of being a protector and this in turn is in order to make something of a turbulent section of figured grain in the timber I'm intending to use for this carving. The timber is white beech, an Australian native timber that is valued as a carving timber.
It will be the first lovespoon that I have carved in a timber native to my country, but I am eager to try a few such timbers for this kind of work. It will also be the softest timber I have carved so far and I'm hoping that it will be strong enough to stand up to some heavy carving. This particular piece of white beech also seems a little bit on the waxy side so I'm also hoping that this will not interfere with the finish. Since finishing the 'Cariad Spoon' I have purchased some palm handled tools, which seem to be more suited to the smaller scale carving encountered in lovespoons and I'm eager to try them out on a real carving.
