Capital City Carvers

Toolsforworkingwood.com has a selection of Ashley Isles gouges and knives. Selection may be limited.

You Tube has many carving videos available for viewing. Another spot to sample is the Woodcraft website. Go to www.Woodcraft.com. Click on Learn then Learning Center to find what they might have available.

Lovespoons

Some of our carvers have been interested in carving love spoons. A master of carving these objects is Dave Western. An article he wrote for the British magazine Woodcarving included some interesting facts about the spoons. Welsh love spoons have been associated with courting practices of the 17-19th century. They were also a popular love token throughout Europe and were carved and gifted in countries from Scandinavia through to Romania.

Many theories exist to explain why spoons were such a popular romantic gift; they are relatively easy to make, they are portable and making one doesn't require much equipment. It is likely they came about as a way for rural folk to mimic the metal spoons that were in vogue in 1600s Europe. The designs and patterns found on many Scandinavian spoons show distinct similarities to metal spoons and virtually no love spoons found in Welsh collections have the rounder bowl of the soup spoon.

Several types of spoons exist. Feeler/tester spoons were carved in numbers either by the young man or by professional carvers. They would be lightly decorated and given to a number of young women that had caught his eye at festivals or gatherings. He would judge the response of each lady to his gift. In this way the young man could test the waters without being overly committed.

Courting spoons are a type of spoon carved after a courtship was underway. The purpose was to astonish the woman and to impress the father and family. Courting gifts were objects of sentimental and material value and were much more highly prized and valued than tester-type spoons.

Lovespoons are likely the style most think of when they consider the spoon as a romantic token. Welsh spoons were very much works of unbridled passion. They were most likely given as relationship initiators rather than betrothal or courting gifts and were generally carefully and scrupulously carved. Simplified versions of these spoons are sold as tourist souvenirs.

Breton festival spoons are from that particular region of France. They would be carved by young men or hired professional carvers then taken to social gatherings such as weddings fetes, or celebrations. Here the spoon would be shown off ostentatiously, either as a sample of the young man's carving prowess or as an indicator that he was financially well off enough to afford the services of a craftsman.

Wedding spoons are unique in that they are presented and used at the end of a courtship when vows are undertaken and the union formalized. Most frequently, the marital couple uses them to enjoy a first meal together and symbolically signify the notion of two becoming one. The Norwegian chain-like spoon is likely the best known of this type of romantic spoon and features a pair of panel-type spoons united by a length of hand-carved wooden chain.