[copper & enamel]
I made a spoon yesterday. Rather, I made four spoons, this is the spoon I managed to enamel, late in the course of the evening. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at crafting flatware for a couple of years now and finally found myself with a dash of creative impetus yesterday afternoon whereupon I declared, “I’m going to go make a spoon.“
So I did.
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You know, I’d like to try making and enameling little dishes, teacups, dessert plates (I did make quite a large copper bowl five years ago but I didn’t enamel it)….all of those items that are used on an daily basis, objects that are woven in to our mornings and evenings so seamlessly…namely because I think making such things is a healthy return to the root of craft! I know jewelry is incorporated into daily life as well but it is an adornment, not a tool. I often daydream about making things besides jewelry that can become seamlessly enmeshed in the daily life of the individual who uses them. I guess I mean: Art that works. Allow me to illustrate this statement with the following comparison. In my mind, there are two kinds of beautiful men. There are beautiful men who are a pleasure to look at and there are beautiful men who can build houses and replace the fuel pump on their truck. Do you get my drift? I want to make beautiful things that are beautiful for the sake of soul stirring. I also want to make beautiful things that work and fulfill a need in daily life!
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People used to make things because they needed them. They made clay pots, cups and dishes because they needed to eat off of something or they needed something to hold their wine. They forged metal because they needed a teapot or a sword or a new horse shoe for their war horse. Craft used to be a necessity and understanding how to make something and executing that ability to craft actually contributed to your own or another’s immediate and daily life. This spoon is just a spoon, heck, I could go out to the nearest grocery store and pick up a bundle of spoons, but for me, crafting this particular spoon is a return to purposeful craft — I need a spoon to stir my tea, I will make a spoon that fulfills that need. There’s something sort of magical about that, don’t you think? Now I’m just randomly pondering out loud, tell me, what are your thoughts on this topic?
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Of course, I’m still smitten with art for the sake of art. That’s wonderful too and it demands soul searching and a deeper internal process at times.
But this week, I’m mostly interested in spoons. Spoons for stirring. Spoons for sipping.
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Good grief! Today is the start of March! Can you believe it? I keep thinking about tawny lions and shabby little sheep and wondering if the month will hold snowstorms or tulip sprouts. We’re keeping a nice pair of house guests here for these next whiles so do pardon me if my presence out and about the interwebs is a smidge spotty.
I’ll be daydreaming of you all.
xx
This was good for me to read right now, what timing you have.
Enjoy your the company of your guests, I know they will enjoy yours.
Be well.
B,
I have a book to lend you. One of my grandmothers gave it to me. But I think you need to read it. I will send it. It will help you dig deeper into clay. xx
Haha, I love it >> “..there are two kinds of beautiful men. There are beautiful men who are a pleasure to look at and there are beautiful men who can build houses and replace the fuel pump on their truck.” So true. So true.
I had a jewelry professor who used to extrapolate the virtues of the tools we were using over the objects we were creating. At the time, I didn’t get it. I was like, “Yeah, so what? It’s a pair of pliers.” I so get it now.
Lovely spoon!
🙂
TOOLS!
I’m glad you get it, beauty. Thanks for being here today. xx
agreed. imagine how soulful our homes would be if we crafted some of the tools we use each day. that is why my manifesto includes being a maker. back in the day when we had NO money i made so much more, and i truly miss that connection to material possessions. that is why i buy the lovely things that you make– to “know” and appreciate the hands that created them. now i feel called to do the creating as well. it’s another way of living deeper.
“it’s another way of living deeper.”
That’s so true and so beautiful.
A darling wee spoon! =) I love when those two worlds–beauty and functionality–collide. It’s certainly my favorite form of art…(and perhaps explains my slight obsession with salt lamps).
My favorite piece of functional art: a pen my sister gifted to me years ago. Made from ancient kauri (30,000 – 50,000 years old) dug from a bog. It was so exquisite: golden and beautifully polished, its aged rings brought to life. Now, the varnish is gone, it leaks EVERYWHERE, the patterning is indistinct from water damage and the oils from my hand…but, it still smells like honey and continues to pen my stories. Every day. I couldn’t love it more.
Happy March! Woke yesterday to a couple more inches of snow on the ground and glorious sunny skies!
xxx
ACK! That sounds like a gorgeous pen (and handmade functional object)! Email me a photo of it, I beg you.
Happy March to you too!
I can’t believe spring is almost here…
Oh golly, enchanting this craft. I’ve never felt so satisfied than while sitting at a wheel, throwing clay. It’s tapping back to grassroots, learning to provide, create and construct for ourselves – because really, we are all artists. whether it’s from being out in the field, in the kitchen, or with a paintbrush… Life is Art. And in some form through out our day take it’s form.
I just found a new home *phew* and could just imagine using this soulfully crafted petite stunner. love.
XOXO
Lu,
I’d love to see some of your ceramic bits sometime:)
x
The “Earth” without “art” is just “eh”.
Last weekend I used time I could be doing work and created a few tea bowls on the wheel. It felt so good to make build something, trim it, imagine various glazes and all the while wonder what it will be like drink out of it. Love the spoons!
Wendy
Wendy! You beauty! Love this little comment and glad you made something to love and live with over the weekend. x
Oh my! What a nifty little spoon! How fantastic to be able to make your own.
(and I definitely get your drift on the beautiful men! Hehe, great analogy!)
HA! Glad you liked the beautiful man analogy! 🙂
What will March hold in its leaves, you tell me please. I fell in love with the spoon before I read about it. I personally prefer functional art over adorned art, because of many reasons, and I imagine you just raised your eyebrows thinking you would not have guessed. : ) Well it is true! Only because I like to travel lightly and beautifully, mismatched but purposefully, ready to let go but loving in the process. I like to adore what I chose to use. I decided that years ago, and still stick to it the best I can. I love your pictures. I love your spoon and a few other things of yours too. : ) xxx
“…I like to travel lightly and beautifully, mismatched but purposefully, ready to let go but loving in the process. ”
Just love this, so much!
You blow me down.
I agree with all of what you said. It was my favorite part of working with clay- art that works. It is what I love about wool- art that keeps warm. And leather bags- art that holds. I love the beauty of a well-crafted object of utility. Sparkly things have their important place, but it is a whole world away from tea sipped from a handmade mug.
xox
I agree!
Art and functional art are very different things. I love them both. For different reasons.
although i agree that i need a cup for drinking and a spoon to stir tea: my noisy plume and heirloom jewelry pieces are tools to help me through times of no-word self-expression, through tiring work days, through low tides.
xxxx
🙂
And these are beautiful reasons for wearing jewelry and hand crafted objects. Just beautiful. xx
Ahh…you have hit the nail on the head. I am a potter. First and foremost, and whatever I may dabble in as far as art or crafts go; at the end of the day I am a potter. Even though since the birth of my second child I haven’t touched clay, I am still a potter. I knit, I make jewelry, I sew, but my first love is clay.
I used to sell my work – and will again some day, I’m sure, when time and space allows. I taught ceramics at art museums for years. What oringinally drew me was that it was useful art. A bit of handmade beauty, held in the hand, and filling a genuine need. All of our mugs and bowls were made by myself, and I love that our everyday needs of food holding and drink sipping are met with something beautiful from my own two hands.
And spoons….:) another love of mine! Our current main business is making vintage spoon jewelry, and stamping works into old silverplated spoons – so that just made me smile!
And for the record – I much prefer the beauty of the working man 😉 Good thing I’ve got one!
Lovely post and lovely work, Jillian!
Thank you Erin!
Love hearing a bit about your maker’s life — just lovely in every way.
x
I perked up when you mentioned your spoon forging. Like you said – art that works. A different kind of satisfaction. It reminds me of your solo skiing trip – a confirmation that you can still do something when so much is done for us.
Lyd, it does make for a different kind of satisfaction! You’re right. And now that you mention it, I think one of the reasons I like making spoons is because I don’t have to.
What a fun spoon! I have a spoon on my bench that I started 2 years ago (in school, as a final project for Metal Forming A class) – however I got a little enthusiastic with my forging and the “fix” would have taken longer than the deadline, so…. I am going to finish it though, I think it’s just fantastic that I can make a silver spoon with my own 2 hands and hammers! Maybe it’ll be my spring project.
I love the results of sinking and raising; and my brass bowl (made via sinking) and copper cup (made via raising) are two of my proudest accomplishments from my time in school. Too bad my tendons don’t agree!
I hope to see more bowls, spoons and cups from you – esp. if they’re enameled!
Val! Finish that spoon! And then send me a picture of what it looks like!
Half of my house guests just left and I’m going to spend the afternoon making a few paper models for smallish teacups. I hope my ideas translate into metal.
sweet spoon. i appreciate it for its beauty and its function. the best of both! i am a maker of art of which i often ask to have a function beyond its appearance. and i appreciate those artists who can make useful a thing of beauty. alexander calder is a solid example of this, and a perfect inspiration. however, my gut, my heart, also finds great purpose in visual worlds that seemingly hold no practical purpose. they keep me alive! help me know my soul! seems they can sometimes be the most purpose-full of all.
i love this and think you might too: http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-06-20/making-wooden-kitchen-spoons-and-similar-utensils
Rebecca! Wonderful article! I’m going to try to carve a spoon this summer…
*love*
love and light
Back at you, babe. xx
There is such beauty in the everyday object! LOVE
There SHOULD be! 🙂
this theme is delicate and exciting…really you coldn’t be closer than with A Teaspoon For Soul Stirring!
“objects that are woven in to our mornings and evenings so seamlessly…”…you are genious!
…and you’re sweet. I’m not the first spoon maker in the world!
That is one sexy spoon but mostly one beautiful and useful spoon! Good to look at AND good to stir, win, win.
I agree — double win! xx
I WANT ONE! STAT!
KELLY!
xx
That’s a beautiful spoon.
I love to go about my everyday moments with pretty, handmade objects. Somehow it slows down those moments. I find I’m more likely to stop for a second and look at whatever object it is more closely (today it is the thick glass creamer – with tiny hearts on it – that held the milk for my tea). I like to find those tiny signs that say “This was made by a person” and let me feel a sort of connection to the maker.
“I love to go about my everyday moments with pretty, handmade objects. Somehow it slows down those moments.”
I agree.
Such a lovely spoon…
On the theme of using beautiful handmade objects in daily life – a practice that has been lost in this modern world – I so wholeheartedly recommend “The Unknown Craftsman” by Yanagi Soetsu.
He writes about the fact that it is use that gives these objects their beauty.
Of course, he puts it into words too eloquent for my clumsy summarizing…
Suzanna, thank you for this recommendation! I’m going to go take a peek at this book on Amazon.
Why am I NOT surprised that The Silversmith is making flatware!
I fully expect to see amazingly raised silver bowls and beautifully designed silverware…
And I love your enameled pieces…must get to a class on how to do that! Are you going to be offering any soon (hint-hint) 🙂
xx
HA HA!
You know, someone else asked me to teach them how to enamel once and I declined — NOT because I didn’t want to teach them but because my knowledge base feels inadequate. I’m entirely self-taught and am never really sure if I’m doing things correctly, though, for the most part, they turn out beautifully! I’d like to take an enamel class sometime, to be frank. 🙂
Do I understand. DO I!
xx
wow, a beautiful, sexy spoon…. Moi aussi, j’en veut un!!! (or 4)… really beautiful. I too love the idea of using things everyday that I or someone I know made. Really beeoooteeful… xx
Well. First I’d like to find a shape I really love….then I’ll make four for you. 🙂
Love it! And love seeing how your work continues to morph and evolve, just like the seasons, just like life. What is life without evolution??
Thanks girl! I’m just exploring, you know, that’s what this is all supposed to be about anyway. EXPLORATION!!!
It’s soooo cute!!!
Goochie goo!
me need to discuss this at length… in person.
(it won’t surprise you that I’ve been thinking much about purposeful/useful every little moment beauty to enhance one’s life…?)
I’m not surprised by our little cerebral connections anymore. They make sense. Can’t wait to chatter about this stuff with you. SOON!
yep um hum, totally catch your drift. beauty & purpose. yes, beauty so nice, purpose, so good. then the two together, like making rainbows in the sky.
DOUBLE RAINBOWS!!!
Thanks for the reminder and inspiration to make more of the things we use in our daily lives. February can get so long and I loose all motivation to do anything. I’m inspired to go knit some mittens for my little girl who is outgrowing hers and to make some bread by hand, without that handy-dandy kitchen aid mixer that I sometimes love so well when I need free hands for other mothering tasks. These were just the words I needed to hear and I needed to come back and tell you so.
Thanks for telling me so.
I’m glad these words were meant for you.
x