First Commision cont.....

Well, I finally completed the spoon, spreader, fork set that I was making for my friend at work. He is an art teacher and so appreictes the time and work that goes into making spoons. He wanted them as a Christmas gift for his wife - he wanted something unique and original.

They didn't quite work out as well as I would have liked. I carved the spoon first, loosely copying a Jogge Sudqvist design, out of green oak. I admit, I was really pleased with it and so didn't mind the prospect of replicating the design another two times. What I didn't bank on was the variation in the wood. Carving the spreader was fine, but I left the chip carving for a while with the intention of finishing it off later. The fork was a nightmare - the oak had dried and rather than carving in nice smooth shavings, it splinterd and tore.

When I finally came to chip carve and add initials, the wood had been indoors for quite a while and was thoroughly dried out. It was rock hard - a bit like chip carving iron - so much so that it really bruised my fingers working the wood.

I have a couple of really old books of gold leaf knocking around from back when I worked in a sign-writers, so thought I'd add a little bling to the pomels - perhaps divert the eye from the mistakes.