Last week we had a great snowstorm. so I pulled up a chair, got out the binoculars and spoon knives and had at it…
In between watching out the window, I got to do the knife work on some cherry and birch spoons.
Last summer I asked Drew Langsner, “what happened to the boiled potato?” – for those puzzled by this, we learned years ago to rub a green-carved spoon with boiled potato, then we could sit the spoon near a heat source, and it would dry without cracking or checking. Drew replied “microwave.” – seems he would give his spoons a blast in the micro to drive the moisture out. a few seconds every so often over & over til the spoon was dry. It works. Then when the spoon is dry, you can make your final cuts that will leave a clean, burnished surface. I tried a few in our microwave – ours is very noisy; so it drives me crazy. And it left some weird discoloration on birch spoons…
So I boiled a potato and tried the “old” method, old because I learned it in 1988 from Jogge…
I rubbed it all over three birch spoons I carved this afternoon. We’ll see what kind of shape they’re in tomorrow. The snow is all but gone…here’s hoping for more.
Maureen has added a bunch of stuff to her Etsy site, and while it’s still cold enough for woolens, she says spring stuff will be coming up soon… http://www.etsy.com/shop/MaureensFiberArts
On another note, yesterday marked the death of Pete Seeger – a true American hero to many, me included. Here’s my vote for why he was such a great figure – his testimony before the House Un-American Activities Committee – read about it here: http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2014/01/28/pete_seeger_huac_transcript_full_text_of_anti_communist_hearing_courtesy.html?wpisrc=burger_bar
So Long, Pete, It’s been good to know ya…