Ready for Finishing

The carving and shaping with needle files has now been completed and the lovespoon is now ready for final sanding, finishing and polishing.

The finishing process will include three extra features to add contrast and interest to the general appearance of the spoon:

A slightly darker area behind the dragon will be added using the pyrography pen, I will be gilding the interior of the spoon's bowl with 24 carat gold leaf, as I did on an earlier lovespoon and an inlaid heart of a different timber is inserted at the back of the spoon.

The different timber was to be holly but I decided to use Queensland Silver Ash instead as it is also a very white timber like Holly but the Ash will keep the Queensland timber theme.

I had referred to the celtic knot section last time as the 'wiggly bits' mis-quoting my grand daughter as it happens, because apparently, the correct term is 'curly wurlies'. That's another key word I'll need to add I suppose.

The Queensland Silver Ash inlay, only showing the slightest contrast at present, should become just slightly more prominent when the finishing and polishing are complete as the different chatoyance of the timbers is brought to life by the finish.

"What you doing Grandad?"'

My grand daughters survey work on the current lovespoon. They've identified some things on the spoon they recognise; first, the dragon – (they recognised it as a dragon as opposed to a dinosaur), then the stars, the butterfly and the 'wiggly bits' ( celtic knotwork ) at the bottom.

Chloe is curious about the swivel...

Keira thinks it's taking a long time.., after all she's already found time to walk away from three requested videos, coloured-in, done some 'Nanna-craft', i.e. colouring cutting and gluing crafts with Nanna, played with the dog and it's still not finished!

The carving of the Welsh Dragon in relief is now finished and I have begun work on the 'wiggly bit' of celtic knot work leading down to the stem of the spoon.

The celtic knot work portion is to be domed in section, both across the spoon and as it tapers toward the stem. the underside of this section will be hollowed out to to leave the curved stem of the spoon standing higher in the centre.

Before taking the stem of the spoon to its final shape I will commence work on the roughing out of the spoon's bowl because any heavy handling and carving needs to be done at the safest time of the carving process.

Working on the Welsh Dragon Section

Work has now commenced on the Welsh Dragon relief on the front of the spoon. This has to be taken very carefully and slowly as any tear-out would be difficult to remedy because there is not much depth available to work into. When this section is complete the rest should be more straight forward.

I have planned to darken the background behind the dragon with a pyrographed texture. This should add an interesting contrast to the fairly white Timber of the spoon while the very white holly on the back will do the same.

There will not be a lot of extra carving on the back in a layered fashion just the reverse of the knot work and a few details on the spoon's stem.

When all the carving is complete and has been refined in parts then the sanding and finishing can be commenced. Until then there is still a fair bit of carving to do which should proceed a bit quicker after the dragon is complete.

Working on 'Southern Cross - Welsh Lovespoon'

I have now commenced work on the commissioned spoon which I'm calling the 'Southern Cross Spoon' because it includes the Southern Cross from the Queensland flag. This spoon is being carved in Queensland white beech, a bit on the soft side for my liking, but it seems strong and holds detail well. I used this timber before for the 'dragon Lovespoon' last year but this time the timber is a bit less waxy and therefore might be a bit easier to finish.

The spoon has been roughed out on the scroll saw and I have begun to lay in some of the motifs on the upper surface above the ball and cage section. Normally I would do the tricky and riskier parts first, like the swivel and ball in cage, but I needed to discover where I could get access to the cage.

After the plan view is designed the depth of the carving requires designing on the fly as work proceeds, that is, it's a more intuitive way of working that's needed. So only careful progress will reveal each new step to be taken.

It is from behind the butterfly and stars and trail that best access can be had. So it is now apparent that the ball in cage will not be a straight forward matter, but rather a problem to be solved as we go.

Another design consideration will be the thickness of the stars and the butterfly. They will need to be thick enough, especially in short grain areas to be strong, but still appear thin and delicate.

The two balls in the cage have been completed now and they were particularly difficult to round off, due to lack of access. This lack of easy access meant that the balls, or irregular cubes as they were, had to be separated from the cage sides earlier than it would be wise to do so. This in turn meant that the shaping of these uncooperative lumps into spheres, with little means of holding them, was a bit of a task.

The 'path' or strip on which the butterfly is attached winds its way around the back of the spoon and again, due to the depth of the piece, there needed to be a way of incorporating it into a pleasing design around the back. I am endeavouring to keep the design as simple as possible through the depth of the spoon, unlike the heavily layered designs of some of my previous spoons. However I still want the back to be interesting, pleasing and relate to the front design. This means utilising the stars and path on the reverse side and reducing the apparent thickness of these elements without compromising their integrity when viewed from any angle.

To achieve this I have separated the path at the back into two overlapping star trails with particular care to follow fair curves that properly relate to one another viewed from any angle. I have likewise separated the front and back of the stars into pairs flared back into the path to avoid a blockish thickness in them.

In a similar way I have begun to separate both faces of the open heart at the top of the spoon containing the swivel with a shallow rebate on the broad side of the heart. This very slight addition will create interest and relieve the heaviness of the top heart as it will be read as two thin and elegant hearts instead of one big chunk of heart.

The challenge with the butterfly is to keep it as thick as possible but yet have it appear delicate, I will be working on this illusion as the work progresses but now that the riskiest parts are in place, the areas where breakage is a danger, I can turn to the task of rendering the welsh Dragon in very low relief on the medallion like background. This should also greatly simplify the design of the back of the spoon from here on in, as there will be no need to carve both sides of the dragon nor will it mean incorporating a difficult set of shapes on the back of the spoon. Instead I will have a clear area on the back to accept a shallow inlayed heart of holly on which an inscription can be engraved.

The 'Birds' lovespoon is on hold at the moment but I am hoping to complete it for an up-comming show. In the meantime I am pressing ahead with my illustration work most of each day and thinking about getting back to the botanical art course I'd begun, plus the doll's houses.

Many 'Works in Progress' – Nothing Finished

Apart from finishing one version of the 'Young Dragon Hiding' Pyrography and seeing the article lay-out for the 2012 annual 'Pyrography Issue' of 'Scroll Saw' magazine. I seem to have been progressing slowly with a number of projects and acquiring new ones but not completing anything.

Most of my time is required to continue the picture book I am illustrating at the moment and schools have also now resumed after the holidays with scripture classes recommencing soon. Sometimes, ironically, regular routines can help you work more efficiently and so I hope to be able to post some completed items here before too long.

So here is the Lovespoon I am presently carving for a show in a couple of months. It is a little different in style from my previous lovespoons and has no Celtic elements in the design. I have a number of very different styles I want to try with lovespoons including some simpler ones to try and build up a bit of a stock.

This spoon is being carved from New South Wales Rosewood, a native Australian timber that is excellent for carving, a little like mahogany but a bit crumbly and dry in texture and not too strong in the short grain. It requires a great deal of care when carving the more delicate sections especially when they are essential to the design and need to have a presence without any discontinuance, like the ribbon threaded through the heart.

There is still a long way to go with this carving before I even get to the sanding and finishing.

In the meantime I have another commission that has to be started on soon, so that by working on it intermittently but consistently I will be able to complete it on time around Easter. It sounds like plenty of time doesn't it? But the problem is, the bulk of my current projects all need to be completed around this time and the others need to be well underway by then as well.

The other projects include some pyrography works and carving for the shows I regularly enter. One important project, on hold at the moment, is the pair of dolls houses I began before Christmas intended as part of the Christmas present for our two grand daughters to go with their 'Sylvannia Families' Dolls.

This pair of houses is designed to be fitted to a sloping base that will be the front yards of the houses. It will be like a small section of street with neighbouring houses meant for 'neighbouring play' to take place. I had thought, that as the deign was simple and deliberately toy like, then it would be a straight forward and easy build. This might be the case when I get around to drawing up the design again and constructing a second version that incorporates lessons learned along the way, but for now I will have to press on, designing as I go and realising, this is how it is with a prototype.

I have always intended to present many of my woodcrafts designs as step by step tutorial projects including patterns and plans. There is much involved in this however, much more than just making and documenting the process. The making just sets you up to commence the first set of credible working drawings, before making and documenting a final 'step by step' tutorial that is tried and tested.

I have also commenced ( last year ), a course on botanical art with Leonie Norton . Fortunately the course is open ended as far as time is concerned, as I have only finished the graphite pencil section of the course.

I am looking forward to getting into the watercolour painting part of the course. My illustration work, at least as far as colour is concerned has been only digital for more than a decade and a half and I am keen to use real materials again. The combination of art and science really appeals to me and also links to my distant past as a biological

( untrained, there were no courses then ) illustrator. This kind of work is also different in nature from the more whimsical and fanciful genres that I like so much but I feel that the two different strands of expression can only work well together.