Spoonfest 2012

Here is the longer account to my twitter and Facebook feeds I have been posting whilst attending Spoonfest.

Spoonfest was born from a dream by Robin Wood and Barn Carder (Barn the spoon) and held at Edale in Derbyshire in the UK between 17th and 19th August 2012, and was to be "The first international celebration of  the carved wooden spoon"

I set off from North Essex on the Friday lunch time with a car packed with all the neccesary camping equipment and a bag of sharp knives and axe. I wasn't sure what to expect but knew that I would come back with more knowledge than when I went.

The journey should have taken about four hours but at just over seven and a half I was more than a bit anxious that I would miss the opening speech by Jögge Sundqvist.

As I drove high, by Mam Tor, there in the bottom of the Hope valley, looking like Shangri-La was the village and large white marquee, journey over phew. 

I checked in at the gate and found a place to pitch my tent. There were about sixty other tents already there with people milling around. I made my way into the marquee for the opening speeches. Robin and Barn must have been a tad nervous at this point, it was about to happen, all this planning and well over 100 people if not many more, had traveled from far and wide, for example there was James Carroll www.stickman.ie who had traveled from the Wicklow mountains in Ireland on a moped that in his words "didn't do over 40mph" there was an Italian from Germany (I couldn't attempt to spell his name), people from Sweden, Germany and many others so would spoonfest deliver? would people enjoy the weekend and how would it be judged a success or not?

Robin opening Spoonfest

There was a quick welcome with some house rules, tools away at 19:00hrs keeping them and the bar separated, an introduction to the first-aider and other bits of information. All the instructors for the weekend introduced themselves and then on to the presentation by Jögge Sundqvist.

 His talk was worth the long disjointed journey, he spoke enthusiastically, informatively and with the authority and wisdom of a master of his craft. He captivated the audience with a brilliant talk about his traditions and work, he told stories of old men in the mountains that didn't exist but who now form part of his professional persona, he described wandering the forests looking for suitable wood and showed us many examples of his work. It was a great start to what was to be a great weekend.

The event was on the playing field of the village, a large area was for tents, cars parked away from them, the massive marquee dominated the field. Behind it was an area with piles of wood separated into species which was there for the using. and general carving/socialising.

wood stock/carving area

Just along from that was an area where there were a couple of open fires, communal areas to chill and chat. Inside the marquee at one end was a large area used for presentations, in the middle, cordoned off areas for the workshops, these had ample chairs and chopping blocks.

The working areas looking toward the presentation end, in the foreground in the hi-viz vest is the first-aider who was ever present.

There was one brilliant area that had a large selection of hook knives to try and having the opportunity to use different knives in the same piece off wood at the same time was just great, personally I fell in love with a couple of Fawcett finishing knives made by Nic Westermann www.nicwestermann.co.uk and will be ordering one soon. Other people loved the Ben Orford or one of the others which highlighted how subjective these things are but it was a great place to try them out.

Next to the try out area was the shop, a three sided area manned in the main by two of the nicest friendliest people one could meet, a gentleman and lady who sold the tee shirts, organised the spoon shop where you could leave some of your spoons and they would sell them for 10% commission, there was also a small selection of tools for sale. This couple, like many of the volunteers and helpers, manning the gate, supervising the exhibition space etc worked for hour upon hour and all deserve a big debt of gratitude for making the event such a success.

The shop

Saturday was to be a day of workshops, queuing was to start at 09:00hrs on a first come first served basis. I got there at about 08:30hrs and the queue was already populated by about 80 people!

Queuing for the workshops

Don't get me wrong, the queuing wasn't a problem, it made opportunities to meet and talk to new people. The mood was always buoyant, calm and bubbling with enthusiasm.

The day was to be made up of workshop sessions, demonstrations and general carving around the site.

At 10:00hrs Jögge Sundqvist gave a practical demonstration and insight to how he works, again it was inspiring and a great start to the day.

I didn't manage to get onto any of the workshops as they where well over subscribed, I think they had underestimated demand but hey this had never been run before. Very quickly and seamlessly, other workshops were added, times re-jiggled and the day progressed.

We had rain and sun and rain but it didn't matter as the marquee was giant enough to cover all, no problem.

As I wasn't booked into any workshops I wandered over to the village hall where there was a small exhibition of spoons and treen from Robins and others collections. There was also a large collection of Stuart King’s historical spoons, books from Robins collection and an informal wall of any spoon that people wanted to put up on show.

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spoons by Wille and Jögge Sundqvist

Wille Sundqvist

Jögge Sundqvist

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Eric Rodgers

Sue Holden

Jarrod Stone Dahl

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Nigel Leach

Barn Carder

It was great to be able to see, feel and smell these spoons all together, and absorb inspiration.

On Saturday afternoon I watched a demonstration of sharpening techniques given by Sean Hellman.

Sean Hellman's sharpening demo

The day drew to a close, tools put away and and an atmosphere of general contentment settled on the site.

Sunday. I woke at 05:30hrs and wandered off to the loo, the carmine sun was just rising, and created the most wonderful rainbow in the sky above. A cup of tea and breakfast then off to queue again.

Carving in the queue

The spoonfest team had been beavering away to rearrange times so that more people could book into workshops and I managed to book onto one by Fritiof Runhall and another by Steve Tomlin.

The Workshops and demonstrators.

I didn't manage to attend every workshop but below is my impression of what went on from personal experience and the impression formed by talking to others. This is however only my opinion.

Barn Calder

I didn't get to attend or talk to Barn but everyone spoke well of him and his workshop, he seemed to have patience and time for everyone as well as a spoonfest to run.

Fritiof Runhall

I did get to attend one of Fritiof's workshops and he gave a passionate and informative demonstration of axe techniques using some interesting chopping blocks to do most of the carving with an axe in a quick and efficient manner mixed with body positions that are more relaxed yet controlled. 

Fritiof  Runhall

Jan Harm ter Brugge

I didn't attend but the general opinion was that it was informative and very interesting. He did a workshop on carving small scoops and one on engraving both of which inspired people to try techniques they may not have tried before.

Jarrod Stone Dahl

He did a workshop using bark and root, it was a popular workshop and he also did a demonstration on Sunday which very much left the question  as we have ample supplies of bark and root in the UK, a lot he has no experience with but hey, why not go and give it a try. great demo.

Jarrod Stone Dahl

Jögge Sundqvist

What can I say, both his talk and demonstration where truly inspiring. I feel very privileged to have seen him (sounds a bit sycophantic I know but he was inspiring)

Martin Hazell

He gave a talk  ‘The Hermit Spoon Maker; St Peter Damian and the Contemplative Tradition of Making’

I didn't attend but he had a huge audience and my impression was that he had a deep and interesting knowledge, I know little more but it seemed to be a great talk.

Mike Abbott

Mike gave a demonstration outside the marquee on using the shave horse to make a spoon, I overheard general comments that it was very useful.

Robin Wood

Robins infectious laughter could be heard everywhere, but far from someone who was taking it easy he seemed to be managing to organise, re-organise, instruct and keep calm and unfazed. I have attended one of his sessions at the bodgers ball in the past and would recommend them to anyone without hesitation.

Robin keeping the show on the road

Sean Hellman

I watched his demonstration about sharpening, informative and it didn't matter if you were a complete beginner or had some experience, Sean is a born communicator and his you tube videos are well worth a watch.

Steve Tomlin

I attended Steve's workshop which was deep and disturbing, deep because he knows his subject matter very well and oozes passion, disturbing because he makes you look and re-evaluate your own work, every facet and cut is there for a reason, great advice about copying other peoples work as a way of understanding but also about looking at design, balance and proportion. fantastic!

Steve Tomlin hard at it

Terence McSweeny

I spoke to some people who thought his workshop “Exercise, Posture, and Ergonomics for the Passionate Spoon Carver” would change the way they work and therefore was of great use.

The last event was in some ways one of the best. Spoon club was where everyone sat in groups of about ten people in circles, each person had a chopping block, axe, straight and hook knives. Everyone also had a spoon blank and was given five minutes to free carve, the spoon was then passed to the person one the left and you had another five minutes to work on that (already part-worked) spoon. Once the spoon had gone round the group you got your original spoon back but after nine other people had worked on it as well. It was a collaborative exercise, great great fun, quick and is a must do at any event.

The ten spoons from my groups spoon club

Conclusion:

Spoonfest was a first and I very much hope not the last. It was well organised, full of skill, excitement, dedication, insight and I left with my head crammed with ideas also I had acquired new skills and techniques.

It was a must see event and I sincerely hope it happens again next year. With this, the bodgers ball and other events, green woodworking has a great future in the UK.