Here is the romantic old story of the Welsh Love Spoon...
The pictures here are spoons that I have carved myself. Some I carve purely for decoration like the fancy, more traditional spoon, in the center. Others I carve so that they can actually be used in the kitchen. I use various wood including mohogany, walnut, and basswood. I create my own original designs on graph paper and carve each one by hand. It takes several hours to do the actual carving. It then takes even more time to sand it smooth and do the final hand shaping of the bowl. It is a pretty labor intense project to carve a spoon in this fashion. It really makes a person appreciate what a sailor went through to make a spoon at sea, with little more than a pocket knife. Sandpaper in those days was probably made from sharkskin.
I sometimes sell a few of these on Etsy, or at the antique shows. There are a couple spoons on my sidebar that you can click on to go see some more, and maybe purchase one, if you like. I think they would make a teriffic Mother's Day gift.
I hope you were all as thrilled hearing this historic bit of romanticism as I was for the first time. I plan on doing a tutorial on Welsh spoon carving soon, so check back, if you are interested in tackling one of these yourself.
Keep up the good work.
Rory
In the 1500s, during their long voyages at sea, longing for affection, Welsh sailors would carve spoons for their intended sweethearts. Most of the sailors could not read or write in those days, so they carved what they wanted to say, in the form of a spoon. Each symbol that they carved had a special meaning. A cross for faith, a heart for love, leaves for a growing family, an anchor for the sea, intertwining ropes for their life together, a flower for rememberance and lots more. Hence the phrase "spooning".
The pictures here are spoons that I have carved myself. Some I carve purely for decoration like the fancy, more traditional spoon, in the center. Others I carve so that they can actually be used in the kitchen. I use various wood including mohogany, walnut, and basswood. I create my own original designs on graph paper and carve each one by hand. It takes several hours to do the actual carving. It then takes even more time to sand it smooth and do the final hand shaping of the bowl. It is a pretty labor intense project to carve a spoon in this fashion. It really makes a person appreciate what a sailor went through to make a spoon at sea, with little more than a pocket knife. Sandpaper in those days was probably made from sharkskin. I sometimes sell a few of these on Etsy, or at the antique shows. There are a couple spoons on my sidebar that you can click on to go see some more, and maybe purchase one, if you like. I think they would make a teriffic Mother's Day gift.
I hope you were all as thrilled hearing this historic bit of romanticism as I was for the first time. I plan on doing a tutorial on Welsh spoon carving soon, so check back, if you are interested in tackling one of these yourself.
Keep up the good work.
Rory
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