THIS is a lovespoon!!!

With the Left Coast Eisteddfod lovespoon somewhere in the air over the continental USA, I thought I would use the time before Laura gets underway to put out a quick blog on this lovespoon I have just finished carving.
This spoon is the real deal! It would be hard to find a spoon with more love and depth than this one and it has been an honour and a pleasure to carve it. Emotionally, it has also been one of the hardest spoons I have ever done.
This spoon was commissioned by my friend D, who was in the final stages of a hard fight with cancer. It was a fight she knew she wasn't going to win, so she organized her passing with single-minded focus and did all she could to make life easier for her family and friends after she was gone. One of the things she did was to commission this spoon for one of her two best friends. If we are lucky in life, we are successful and happy...if we are really fortunate, we have good friends and a close family and D had both in spades!
For me it was crucial that this spoon focused on the depth of feeling that two friends can have for one another and the remarkable bonding a good friendship brings; a sentiment D very much shared. She wanted something of both herself and her friend M to be present in the spoon design, so we chose flowers to represent them. Among the flowers are a pair of hearts whose meaning needs no elaboration! Beneath the flower a circular ring (symbolizing eternity) is broken by D's all too early passing, but the circle is held together by the eternal Celtic knot within. The written message is reinforced by this knotwork to symbolize a friendship never forgotten.
One of D's top wishes for the spoon was that the sun would be present and the spoon would feel positive, light and affirming. Although the spoon will be given at a time of terrible grief, it's sunny disposition is a direct reflection of D's own bright personality. As the rays emanate from the distant sun, they seem to warm the spoon while also drawing the flowers upward.
The final section of the bowl is the twin heart-shaped bowls which gently merge the two separate handles, just as a good friendship can merge two very different personalities. The knotwork reinforces the idea of eternity and the stems are used as a symbol for the growth of a relationship now cut tragically short.

It was tough-going carving this wonderful spoon. But even though I feel heart-broken at the loss of such a beautiful friend, I also feel tremendous pride that D's powerful message of love and affection can be passed along through a simple wood carving. THIS is what lovespoons are all about and why I love doing them!