Swedish wood carving

Sweden has a long history of wood carving of both utilitarian and decorative items.  We recently aquired a couple of gems.  The first is a much older version of the well know dalahäst and the second is a very modern little brown bear both valued family treasures.

The perfect partner to a butter knife

I have recently finished a new batch of utensils just in time for the latest release of Peppermint Magazine which includes photos of some of my butter knives.  I have tried to make some new items with slightly different shapes including a butter dish to go with my standard line of butter knives. Hopefully many more to come.

Keep your eye on the Falling for Florin website or my Etsy shop if your interested in buying some of the latest stock.

Spoons and Spatulas

I have had a productive couple of days in the workshop using up the last of my apple wood.  The apple wood is heavily figured and, now that it has dried, it is a very hard wood to work but I have managed some very nice small wooden spoons.  By contrast I also carved some larger items from my birch wood and even though it is dry it is still nice to work.

I will list some of these items on the Etsy shop soon.

Why wood is wonderful

After my last post I had some feedback about the range of colours in my latest batch of butter knives.  Believe it or not these items are all from the same birch tree.  Uncovering the colour variation in wood is one of the real joys of green wood working.  One source of colour variation is the growth rings that are used to age the tree.  As trunk growth speeds up at the start of spring the wood tends to be a lighter colour and as growth slows down in winter the colour darkens leaving distinct lines.

The other source of colour variation is the transition from sapwood to heartwood.  Sapwood is the younger, outermost, layer of the tree trunk which transfers water from the roots to the leaves.  As the tree ages and new layers are added to the sapwood the inner layers are transformed to a darker heartwood.

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New butter knives

I have been busy sanding and polishing my new batch of butter knives this weekend.  It never ceases to amaze me just how my colour variation comes out of the one tree.  All these butter knives have been cut from the one birch tree and range from a uniform pale yellow to heavily figured rich nutty brown colours.  I am very happy with the finished product and am sure they will be well received.

A lot of the spreaders will be going to Falling for Florin but I will be keeping some to list on my Etsy store in the coming weeks.

Thanks to every one for waiting patiently.

http://www.fallingforflorin.com.au/shop/

https://www.etsy.com/shop/elkcraftstudios

Roughing out. A perfect way to relax

What better way to relax on a sunny long week end.  Sitting in the workshop with the radio going roughing out a new batch of butter knives.  The birchwood is very dry so they are a bit tricky to carve but still a very satisfying job.

The first items from my new applewood

I have recently finished some of the first items from my recently harvested applewood.  

It has fantastic colour and grain and is a joy to work.

I will be listing some of these items on Etsy in the coming weeks.