Once a month on a Monday night you will find a small band of tool-wielding folk sat in a circle
in the common room of Nauti Studios in the Blue Mountains.
Some are chatting, some are concentrating, some wear aprons, some don’t, but all of them are holding a small piece of wood that they are painstakingly carving and shaping, ever so slowly,
until the wood begins to look like something
we can all recognise…a spoon!
Yes, the spoon carving club in Hazelbrook is in da house and upholding an age-old tradition and
craft. And, the first rule of spoon club is, wait for it…you only make spoons! Nope, no forks or
knives or tissue holders or other such handy items, because alas, as the name says, it’s all in the spoon.
They are seated in a circle, a Spoonie pow pow and talk soon turns to trees and tools and techniques.
How did Spoon Club start?
It began as a small group of people meeting at Georgina Donovan’s workshop in Woodford in 2017,
before it grew and needed to be moved to Nauti. Sometimes there are up to ten people who come
to the studio. Georgina jokingly refers to their weekly gatherings as ‘Monday Spoontaneity’
because ‘when you say you are in Spoon Club at Nauti Studios, it raises eyebrows.’
How long have you been spoon carving?
The answers vary from years to months. There are newbies and those who seem to have been born with a wooden spoon in their mouths. ’I have been spoon carving for 18 months,’ says Ingrid Errington. ‘This is a very slow and meditative hobby, a very nice combination. I don’t think I’ve ever met a spoon carver that I didn’t like.’
Georgina jokingly refers to their weekly gatherings as ‘Monday Spoontaneity’
because ‘when you say you are in Spoon Club at Nauti Studios, it raises eyebrows.’
What is the best kind of wood to use and how do you source it?
There are as many types of wood as there are ways to find them. It often comes down to personal preference and happenstance. Georgina is using a piece of Mulberry and explains how she is always on the lookout for wood on the side of the road. Lots of Spoonie heads nod in agreement with various people talking about the excitement of a downed tree.
Georgina explains that the wood needs to be wet, soaked in water, so it is easier to carve. When a
fallen branch is found, she chops spoon sized blocks out of it and then soaks them in water to
soften, which she then has to put in the freezer to preserve for later use. ‘It’s a constant negotiation
with one’s partner - the space for wood in the freezer!’ There are currently pieces of a Cherry Tree in hers.
‘Dry wood is hard work,’ Paul Crowe adds. ‘I am a biologist and a pretty keen gardener,’ says Ingrid, ‘I am
always looking around at trees. I like Birch but I find the willow is very soft, too soft for a spoon. If you tap on the side it makes marks.’
Georgina carving away!
So, how is it done?
A spoon shape is sketched on to a prepared piece of wood and then a whole range of carving and
chopping objects are used to carefully coax the utensil out of the wood. The Spoonies all seem to follow the mantra ‘Carve, Look, Examine’. But, there is always the risk that the wood will split and derail the whole thing.
After an hour of carving, Erik Sipiczki laments to the room ‘Oh no, it’s going to crack off, I just realised that his piece of wood has a small crack down it, but that’s the beauty of the whole thing,’ he adds, ‘it changes all of the time.’
Jill’s collection of wood carving tools.
‘ …but that’s the beauty of the whole thing, it changes all of the time.’
Do you use the word ‘whittle’?
A few laughs and then Paul pipes up, ’whittling is carving without a purpose!’. ‘That’s what I do,’ laughs Lindsey Pacchini.
How long does it take?
‘It could take me a day if I wanted to finesse it,’ says Jill Day, ‘or it could take an hour, and it also
depends on the wood’.
What are the tools?
Erik goes outside to split wood in the traditional way, on a block using a froe, which is an L shaped shake axe looking tool, that has a wooden handle, which is about the same length as the metal blade. There are tools of every shape and size and sharpness used for very specific jobs like hatchets for chopping larger chunks, or long thin bladed knives for fine tuning sharp turns. Then there are these awesome Hook Knives, think very sharp ice cream scooper, which are used to scrape and bore out the spoon bowl.
Erik looking like a lumber jack.
John Steel, a carver and a blacksmith, is visiting the group tonight and has an impressive collection of tools all laid out on the table. It looks like an operating room set up for spoon surgery. Another very important ‘tool’ of the trade is an apron. Jill has a beautiful kangaroo hide apron, which protects her from injury. A popular way to carve is by holding the wood against your sternum, elbows tucked in and pulling the knife toward you and accidents can happen. ‘You have to be very mindful really and you have to be quiet in yourself,’ she warns, ‘it requires a calm presence.’
We must know the nautical interests of all the Spoonies! What sea animal would you be?
Ingrid – King Penguin, Georgina – Squid, Paul – Octopus (‘so I can hold more tools’), Lindsey - Turtle, Jill – Sea Horse, John – Sea Horse, Erik – Worms that lunge up from the bottom of the sea
Raise your hand if you can’t get that image out of your head of
Spoon Bob Carve Pants and his merry band of Spoonies at the bottom of the sea?
For more info on joining the Spoon Club – get in contact with Nauti Studios here.
Assorted craving tools on the table at Nauti Studios.