The Birth of a Spoon

The woodworker's friend, the spoon carver, decided to demonstrate the making of two wooden spoons  using traditional hand tools recently.  He used two different types of wood; silver beech and maple.  First he had to split a piece off a log to make a spoon blank.

 

Here is a the wood the spoon will be made out of.

Next he decides what type of spoon he wants to make and traces a template on the wood.

The next step is to cut out the basic shape of the spoon using a coping saw.

After the basic shape is made, he places the wood on his shave horse so he can use a spoke shave to round the handle and the back of the bowl portion of the spoon.

A bent gouge is used to gouge out the interior of the spoon bowl.

Holdfasts are used to hold the spoon securely.

Next he makes a smoother finish of the handle with the spoke shave.

He uses a metal scraper to finish the interior of the spoon bowl.

And there you have it....two completed spoons.  The lighter one is maple and the darker one is the silver beech.

Homestead House Memory Box

When we visited the homestead house in July, we found it in pretty rough shape.  The basement walls are starting to cave in.  The interior of the upstairs is mostly gutted and severely vandalized.  Realizing that this might possibly be the last time we would be able to visit the house before vandals burn it or someone bulldozes it for safety reasons, we removed some of the old rough cottonwood floorboards and brought them home with us in hopes of making 4 boxes.  The woodworker decided that he didn't want to sand the old boards down to a shiny finish as he wanted the saw marks on the boards to stay visible.  The nail holes are also not filled in in any way.  This first picture shows a piece of one of the boards before it was used.

Here you can see that the boards have been sanded slightly.  The dovetails for the corners have been cut by hand.

These are some of the tools used to cut the dovetails

Putty is used to fill in the joints

Here they are all puttied and waiting to be sanded.

Now that the box has been made, the top needs to be cut off.

Next a light coat of Danish oil finish seals the wood a bit.

Here are 4 boxes finished except for the hardware.

Once the hardware is attached, the boxes are finished.

Of course, one of the boxes is for us to keep.  We are considering using decoupage to fix a few pictures of the homestead house in place inside the lid.

Holiday Decor

In an effort to make the holiday season less congested, the womens group I belong to decided to have a holiday get together early in the season and leave the rest of the time in the next few months open.  Each table was decorated with ideas for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years centerpieces.  I am sure some were quite original and others came via Pinterest, but it was fun to see all the different ideas.

This one is for Halloween, of course.

 

 This elegant table decor is meant for Christmas, but I suspect could be changed to fit other occasions.

This is a Thanksgiving design.  The pumpkins are made out of paper strips.

This is another Halloween design before the dry ice was added to the cauldron.

These cute Christmas trees were made of materials found at Dollar Tree.

A bunch of flowers and leaves in Autumn colors makes an elegant bouquet.

How clever was this, to put pumpkins on top of candlestick or goblets to make a multi-layered display?

Next up were a variety of festive Christmas displays which could probably also work for New Years.

Another Thanksgiving display using glassware you might even have in your home combined with pumpkins, seeds and Autumn leaves.

This one is definitely a New Years Display!

After the dinner, we did two quick crafts, decorating pumpkins with thumbtacks and making a little nativity scene ornament.

We also learned several ways to fold napkins for our holiday tables.

Does this mean I can relax now for several months?  Will I be judged if the napkins we use are fresh from being torn off the paper towel roll?

Pumpkins

The hot summer weather this  year must have provided great conditions for pumpkins.  When I looked over the fence to see them this morning I was amazed at their size!  I bet some of them are around 100 lbs.  Certainly they are heavier than I wish to carry!

There are so many varieties of pumpkin nowadays.  I do like the Cinderella Pumpkins...the big orange ones shaped rather like a fancy carriage.