Join Bob, an experienced educator and woodworker, as he provides a hands-on presentation on how to carve correctly with quality tools.
Participants will start with a softwood blank, and leave with a perfectly usable 6" spoon with a personalized love handle. Choose a simple heart spoon of your design or try your hand at a Welsh Love Spoon. Read about Welsh folklore below for more information. This is a perfect gift for Valentines. A wood burner will also be available if you wish to personalize it.
Wood carving gloves as well as high quality carving knives and chisels are available for use in class. Option to bring your own tools or purchase our tool set during registration or after class.
Minimum age requirement: 13
According to Welsh folklore, ornately carved spoons were traditionally made from a single piece of wood by young men as a love token for their sweethearts. to show their affection and intentions for a loved one. The earliest surviving example, displayed in the Welsh Folk museum in Cardiff, is dated around 1667, although the tradition probably dates back long before that.
The love spoon originated from the “cawl” (soup) spoon. Over generations decorative carvings were added to the spoon and it lost it’s original practical use and became a treasured decorative item that would be hung proudly on a wall. Over decades certain symbols came to have different meanings. Sailors would often carve love spoons during their long journeys, which is why anchors would often be incorporated.
Today, love spoons are requested from all over the world. They are given as gifts for weddings, engagements, christenings, birthdays and anniversaries or as a love token and as a souvenir from Wales.
Robert Lindemann
