Valentines Day Surprise!

A couple of days ago I had a really nice Valentine's surprise when I received a copy of the luxuriously high-end magazine Atelier and its companion magazine Arcade. I had been email interviewed a couple of months ago about lovespoons and their eminent suitability as Valentine's gifts and had submitted a couple of photographs to journalist Shaily Bhusri, so I knew to expect something about the lovespoon in this month's edition.

However, the arrival of these gloriously lavish magazines was really very, very exciting!

The magazines are gorgeous and it is a genuine thrill to see my spoons rubbing shoulders with glamourous Bollywood stars, haute couture, cutting-edge architecture and some of the most remarkable 'Valentine's Day red' footwear that I have ever encountered! For a guy who is accustomed to chipping away day-after-day in his little dust filled hidey-hole, appearing in a magazine directed primarily at India's jet set seems very surreal!!

But I am more than delighted for both the attention it brings me AND for the fact that someone has taken the time to realize the wonderful romance of the lovespoon tradition. This year I had sent out literally dozens of 'promo packs' to media outlets across North America trying to solicit some interest in lovespoons as a suitable subject for coverage at this 'most romantic time of the year'. From my neighbourhood community paper, to the New York Times, I canvassed everyone I could think of.

Alas, no-one showed even the faintest interest in the subject. The lovespoon, it seems, is no competition for annual tales of overpriced chocolates and flowers.

So that is why it is doubly gratifying for me, that thousands of miles from its home, on the other side of the globe, the lovespoon tradition has received this one moment of glittering celebrity!

My sincere thanks to Shaily Bhusri and Atelier Magazine for their kind permission to use their material in my blog!!

Happy Valentine's

With Valentine's Day creeping ever closer, I thought I would post a blog now...especially since I probably won't get a chance closer to the time.

If ever there was a day made for lovespoons, Valentine's Day has got to be it. It's the perfect opportunity to be sentimental, passionate and nauseatingly romantic and have everyone love you for it!!

Although I have carved loads of spoons over the years for all kinds of Valentine's lovers, the spoon I have chosen to picture wasn't actually carved for Valentine's Day at all. However, the reason I chose it was because it possess all the requisite romantic detailing and depth of feeling I feel is required for an occassion like Valentine's. For me personally, this would be the type of spoon I would want to make if I was going to send a lovespoon for Valentine's Day. (No doubt my wife is in the background yelling, "Fat chance of that!" in one of those classic cases of the cobbler's family going without shoes)

It has everything I would look for in a romantic lovespoon design, but what I really love about it (aside from its obvious romantic message) is its exuberance!! This is a spoon which is unabashed and heartfelt and that makes it really hard not to be drawn in to its passionate enthusiasm!

The spoon itself celebrates the union of a Welsh man with a German woman and features artistic elements of both cultures in a vibrant display of Celtic knotwork and Alpine-style chip carving. The design is very, very contemporary BUT retains a very traditional feel which would not have been out of place 200 years ago. In case you are wondering about the text found on the spoon it is the Welsh and German words for 'sweetheart'...go ahead, try to tell me you wouldn't like someone saying that to you!!

This is the stuff the lovespoon does best...it actually says how much you love and value that special someone. There's no 'last minute' desperation or 'I'll grab whatever comes to hand' half-heartedness about a lovespoon...they require thought, effort and emotional investment. As far as I'm concerned, those grossly overpriced bunches of wilted roses and sugary chocolates in flowery boxes are for those of a 'less decorous nature', REAL romantics would go for the lovespoon every time!!

So even if you read this too late to get started on a Valentine's lovespoon for this year, hopefully you'll now have it in mind for next. Unless, of course, you'd prefer to be like the media and content yourself with the familiar mediocrity of the same old mundane chocolates and flowers story over and over for eternity!!

Flattered or Offended?

Recently, while having a browse through lovespoons sites on the internet, I came across a couple of copies of a spoon design which I did a few years ago with artist Jan Buehler. The design originated with a delicate little sketch Jan had made of a vase of flowers. I modified it a bit so that it could be rendered in wood and stylized the flowers a little. Right off the bat, Tulips became one of my most popular lovespoons and is one of the few designs I have ever carved more than once. In fact over the years, I have probably made ten or twelve Tulips in a variety of sizes and wood types, so it doesn't surprise me that other carvers would find the design equally alluring!

I know there is an old saying which implies that copying is the sincerest form of flattery and I am right onboard with that sentiment.....until money starts changing hands.

If a carver wants to copy one of my spoon designs as a gift for a sweetie, as a personal challenge or as a fundraiser for a charitable event, I really am flattered!!

If another carver's version of my spoon gets posted onto a website to advertise that carver's skill, then I think the least that carver can do is acknowledge where the design came from by mentioning my name. That, I believe, is just common courtesy!

If a carver puts a spoon carved from my designs on Etsy or Ebay etc., then it is theft pure and simple....and I definitely am not flattered any more.

I work very, very hard to make the best lovespoons I possibly can. When my designs are taken to promote other carvers or to make money for them, I can't help but be offended. I certainly would never dream of doing that to them and I don't like it being done to me!!

Although I'm having a good old rant here, it's important to note that I am not a miserable old coot who wants to keep everything to himself!! I am approachable and I try to always be supportive and helpful with other carvers, BUT, I am trying to make a living like everyone else!

While I am flattered that the carvers of these two spoons enjoyed 'Tulips' enough to copy the design, I can't help but be a bit offended that neither bothered to acknowledge the origins of the design when they posted the pictures to the internet.

I would have been even more offended if I had found these on Ebay (fortunately, I didn't) as it would be a copyright infringement and a theft of my intellectual property.

The internet is a miraculous thing and is the sole reason I can make a business of carving handmade wooden lovespoons in this mass-production world of ours. Unfortunately, that same internet can be a bit of a 'Wild West' and things like this can happen. I can only hope that in years to come, I will be flattered more than I am offended!!