Slow making and thoughts on joy

carving a spoon from Aspen Wood

Last week, I spent half a day outside in the canyon with Mr. Ira, a naturalist teacher at Manzanita School, and a few other parents who were there to learn knife safety and spoon carving. I was given a small piece of Aspen Wood from the Eastern Sierra. It had a beautiful texture and tactile weight that can be found in natural materials. Over the following three hours, Mr. Ira taught us patiently how to handle a knife in carving wood and the steps to sculpt a spoon by slowly taking materials away.

Initially, I could not quite coordinate my right and left hands to work together as the movement felt so foreign to my body. Slowly, though, a small bowl shape of the spoon emerged on one side. When the workshop ended with a half-finished piece resembling a spoon object, I thought I would let it be as is, a souvenir from the morning I spent outside with like-minded folks. I took it home and placed it in a drawer to let it dry. After all, I didn’t have a specialized carving knife at home.

At the end of the initial workshop, my work-in-progress spoon is at 8 o’clock.

A quick documentation of how the spoon looked like when I brought it home.

Next to the work-in-progress spoon is the practice piece I used from the same Aspen Wood. I