I know I’ve been pretty sparse with posting, so I’m going to try to post as much of my work, even if it isn’t directly spoon related. These egg cups, however, only make it easier for you to crack open that hard-boiled ostrich egg that you have every morning (which involves a spoon). Without further ado, the egg cups…

We’ve got some lovely curves in Brazilian Bloodwood, Mahogany, Utile, and Mesquite. I recently purchased a new bench grinder, so my razor sharp skew tore through these blanks like crazy (The mahogany was especially lovely, with ribbon shavings all over the place).

I also got a chance to work some Utile, which I reclaimed from a pile of wood that an old woodworker and framer in England let me snag somethings from and it was pretty wonderful stuff. It shares the same chatoyance and funky cross-grain as mahogany and you can get some really smooth curves out of the stuff (I’m particularly fond of the tallest Utile piece).

I’m still confused about how Utile is actually related to Mahogany, especially since I know that it’s also called Sipo and that could be related to Sapele (which does look quite like Utile/Mahogany anyway). So if anyone who reads this is a woodnerd and could hook me up with the info, please do. 

I also love the red color of Brazilian Bloodwood, it’s like cherry cough syrup (although I’m sure there’s more of a glorifying way to describe the color). It smells a lot like vanilla when turned (which is sort of weird) and I think it comes off beautifully!

Let me know what you guys think (and if you want to see more they’re here)!

H

As I was perusing tumblr this morning, I found this wonderful post by whogivesastitch, which inspired me to make some chunky-monkey crochet hooks. I had worked on a double-sided, jedi-knight style pecan hook as a custom order a while ago and that was loads of fun, so I knew today was going to be A BLAST OF AWESOME. And it was. First up, we got Mrs. Cherry: 6.75 inches long, 36 millimeters wide with a super-creamy, cafe complexion. 

In color it’s actually very similar to pecan, but the light texture of the wood makes it way easier to work.

I love the little lines of pink along the growth rings in cherry; such a fine wood! Anyway, moving on to Mrs Mahogany, who is also a 36mm and just a tad longer at 7 inches.

This mahogany was reclaimed from the cutoffs pile in a lumber yard in Warwickshire, England, so it has traveled around plenty! The color of mahogany is wonderful and chocolately and contrasts pretty well with the custardy, Ambrosia Maple stand that goes with the hook.

 The stand idea just sort of popped into my head while I was working on the hook, and I think it’s a great way to show off the hook while it’s not in use. I know that these big hooks are free spirits with a lot of momentum, and like to roll around the table when left to their own devices, so the stand is meant to hold it down (or up, rather) and keep it from escaping! 

Both are available for sale here! I know that last time a posted a huge hook there was a lot of good reception ( I know right, 26 notes is HUGE!!!!!) so let me know what you guys think!

H

This whopper is a full 50mm of pure pecan awesomeness. I had a lot of fun turning the pecan (even though its really really hard; called pecancrete by lots of woodworkers) and the double hooks were even more fun to carve.

Put next to the little Ziricote 5mm hook you can see that this puppy is in the kung-fu-grip category of fiber craft tools. This was a custom order so it’s not for sale (unless you’re the customer, of course) but I thought it required its own post since its so big.

Happy Hooking,

Harrison

ME. After a whole bunch of end of school craziness, I’m finally back, crafting, and businessing. On Sunday I went to my good friend Annie’s house and we did a sweet photo shoot of 22 crochet hooks and some honey dippers.

I’ll post the group photos here of both hooks and dippers but you’ll have to check out Furls for the individual shots.

So these beauts made of live oak, water oak, and redbud (from left to right) and are made to the same exacting standards of super smoothness and food and organic friendliness as usual. The REALLY exciting thing about these dippers is that they come from a wonderful wood vendor in Katy, Texas who practices sustainable collecting of naturally fallen trees. SO THESE PUPPIES ARE RECLAIMED AND UPCYCLED, which always makes me feel good. On the other hand, these crochet hooks come from a variety of exotic and tropical locations.

 We got some Ebony from Gabon, Cocobolo from Mexico, Tulipwood from Brazil, Black and White Ebony from Laos, and Cherry Burl from Northwest USA. These guys have obviously been keeping me busy for quite some time, but I’m able now to rocket out quite a few in a day. 

Since I was worried about making so many crochet hooks from tropical woods, which I know are a VERY finite resource, I wanted to make this process resource-positive. So for every crochet hook that is purchased, we donate money to ensure the planting of one tree in a tropical rainforest in Southeast-Asia. Since one hook uses much less wood than one tree, this should be very good for strengthening our global environment! (which makes me happy)

They come in quite a variety of shapes and sizes, from 3.5mm to 8mm hooks and from 4.25” to 5.5” long and, as Annie captured, the range of colors is wonderful! The idea behind the design is that conventional crochet hooks cause quite a bit of wrist stress and hand tensions BECAUSE the bodies are so thing that you have to over flex the muscles and tendons that control your upper knuckles. Hence the chubby teardrop shape of these curvaceous bodies, which allow your hand to grasp comfortably without over-flexion. Also, the ornamentation on the tail is designed to allow a resting place for the pinky and ring finger, which on a conventional hook often are left “hanging loose” and can cause knuckle stiffness. 

All of these have been posted up here and are ready for shipping! SPEAKING OF, I finally have to time to mail a crochet hook to a very good friend of mine DAINTYLOOPS. I’m hoping that she likes it and hope to be posting again soon! (All photos by Annie Melton)

The past few weeks have been really hectic with two family deaths and preparing for an enormous move this summer, but I’m back on my feet (for now :D) and making more spoons. Believe it or not, this post isn’t actually going to be about spoons because I’m waiting for my camera battery to charge before I take any pictures of the five that I did this week. I’m finally getting to a good working pace and I chopped a whole bunch of really good blanks this weekend.

In other news, I’m really happy with what’s been happening on etsy lately. I’ve made it to the front page several times this week because of the awesome new group I joined called Beautiful Home. It’s a wonderful little team focused on professional quality home decor and I absolutely love it. Here’s to more views :D

In other other news, I’ve been marathoning some crochet hooks recently (as well as spoons) so pictures?

Yes. I recently ordered some very nice native Texas woods and gave them a spin. Most of them turn excellently and I’ve recently started stropping all my tools, so woodturning has definitely become more enjoyable.

I’m pretty sure most of these are going to make it to Furls, but at least one is going to be gifted to my girlfriend. The one above, made out of Texas Ebony, is definitely one of my favorites and I find it nicer to turn than Nigerian or Malagasy Ebony because it is just not as brittle.

They are all about 5.5” in length of varying hook sizes and, I think, they feel wonderful in the hand. They’ve all been sanded down to a silky smoothness and been finished with organic, handsafe, and baby safe beeswax. Anyway, more pics to come and esp more pics of spoons to come. Hooks here

OH AND A PICTURE OF ONE THAT I TURNED LAST WEEK AND THAT I SOLD TO A WONDERFUL CROCHETER SOMEWHERE. The wood is pecan and it’s 5” long.

Another European Pearwood spoon, this time a little more refined then it’s curly cousin (from tuesday). On this spoon I really wanted to experiment with a teardrop bowl trickling down a long stem and I think I got what I wanted (though there are definitely more spoons to squeeze out of this concept).

It’s deep bowl and teardrop shape lend it to more of a measuring spoon position in the cutlery drawer. I wasn’t very careful carving the bowl, however, so it measures only 2.13823 tablespoons and I’ve only found a few recipes requiring that quantity of crushed lemongrass seed.

If you’re into the whole adding-zesty-but-unknown-quantities-of-exotic-spices thing then I guess this is the spoon for you. It’s beautiful either way and would work fine if you were into super-sized portions of cereal, ice cream, or honey in your tea.

Sanded smooth, finished naturally and available HERE! Spoon safely!

Harrison

For working so hard on this AWESOME MASUR BIRCH.

Believe it or not, the crazy spotty, mottled texture on this spoon is created when a boring beetle of the Finnish province of Karelia eat their way into the local birch trees. The trees fight back and once they have healed the area they’re left with this famous but rare figure.

This spoon really was a pleasure-and-a-half to carve and I’m definitely going to have to sequester summore Masur Birch for carving. I wanted something with a traditional bowl shape but with a handle that was a little more contemporary-minimalist and I ended up with this. The bowl, by the way, is great for scooping (here, it’s digging into some fresh Mexican avocado but ice cream and yogurt would also be great for this spoon).

This one’s definitely going up on Furls right HERE and I hope someone loves it as much as I do! Silky smooth (sanding this burl was AWESOME) and mouth and baby safe. EAT UP!

This spoon. THAT’S RIGHT, this monstrously well-endowed salad spoon was carved into curly cadence out of European Pearwood. They call pearwood the wood of woods, and MAN-O-MAN I CAN SEE WHY.

Its beautiful cafe color with a hint of pink really exudes woodiness and, when curled as exquisitely as it has been here, this pearwood reminds me why I fell in love with wood in the first place. That’s right, this spoon has saved my relationship with wood, or at least rekindled the glorious bonfire that the relationship once was.

But enough about the aphrodisiacal properties of pearwood, and more about this spoon. Personally, this spoons is the perfect compliment to a salad: not only is it a salad spoon but it’s large bowl makes tossing a pleasure, and it’s bodacious fiddlehead curve provides a lovely contrast to the organic crispness of a fresh salad.

Curly-Q is available for sale right HERE. As always, sanded to a lovely, satiny texture and finished with organic olive oil. You and your baby are safe!    

Oh yes, the sweet comfort of domestic hardwoods. This little guy was rescued from an enormous hackberry log that was felled on a construction site a couple months ago.

He’s been repurposed as a teeny but resilient workhorse; despite his small stature and gentile appearance he can scoop the toughest of grains and most frozen ice cream (imagine the love child of a Mini Cooper and a Ford F-350).

I had a lot of fun carving this guy. Since he’s so small it only took a little while and with the extra time I added a little tail ornament and some engraving on the top. Why a “T” I don’t know, but if you’ve recently had a baby named Terrence, this spoon has his name on it (GET IT?>?>?).

I don’t know if I’ll put this spoon up for sale, since he has a few very light splits near the bowl, but they are really only aesthetic (no structural damage, pu-lease). Enjoy!