David Western Lovespoons

Really happy with this one. It's a cutie!

International Celtic Art Day today! Here's some knotty ideas I had.

I've been away from FB for a couple of weeks. I find it too depressing and with all its rage bate, wars and horrible politics, it was really starting to affect my work. I've spent my time away trying out some new design ideas and making some spoons 'just for fun'... like I did in the old days before the internet took over!! Anyway, here's a little 5 inch spoon I made that was inspired by some lacework and embroidery.

Some very simple and very old school traditional style Welsh lovespoons. These are what they would have looked like in the old days before they got modernized for the tourist industry. They're all for sale so let me know if one catches your eye!

I've made some ornate and really over the top spoons during my long career, but I have to confess that this simple little series of spoons carved from a salvaged furniture offcut is one of my favourites. I basically just sawed a chunk into four slices, then carved a simple bowl and fretted a little heart on each. I left the wood's fabulous spalting and figure to do all the talking!

Lovespoons don't always have to be over the top. Even the simplest designs can pack a punch if they are made with some heart. These are some of the spoons I've made my wife over the years. A couple are old school and pretty basic. The others are a little more 'out there'. They all tell her I love her!

I've been waiting a long time for a design idea to pop up worthy of use on this SPECTACULAR piece of old-growth Douglas fir. I've had it in my shop for a number of years ever since it was salvaged from salvage! One day very soon, wood like this will be extinct and the only way to find it will be in reclaimed wood from old bridges and buildings. There's probably a thousand years of history bound up in this gorgeous little piece. Hopefully, I can give it a couple more before it winds up in a landfill or compost pile.

I miss my carving companion more than I can put into words. He was definitely the best shop mate a lovespoon carver could ever wish for! And yes, it's true, dogs and their people DO get to looking alike!

I've carved a LOT of lovespoons during my long career...well over a thousand I would think. Of all those, I think the baby/Christening type spoons have (as a subgenre of general lovespoon carving) become my absolute favourite spoons to create. I love their joyousness. From my first little copy of an antique Welsh 'Birth' Spoon through to the 'story on a handle' spoons I have become known for, these little spoons announce a new life in a way very few other things can!!!

I've been carving lovespoons a very long time now and am never tired of it. I may have been pretty s**t at all my other careers, but lovespoon carving is something I can get behind! There is literally no end to the possibilities and every day brings a new challenge or discovery!