Mavis and Heather Take a Wooden Spoon Carving Class in Brunswick, Maine

Last Saturday my buddy Heather from Massachusetts and I took a 7 hour wooden spoon carving class in Brunswick, Maine and it sure was fun. The class was small, with a cap of only 5 students and our instructor, Jason Weymouth of Carved Wooden Spoons did an excellent job of guiding us through the spoon making process from start to finish.

Our small class of 5 students included:

• 1 Woodworker {I can’t remember what he does but he did have experience working with wood, he had just never carved a spoon before}
• 1 Christmas Tree Farm Owner {She had carved a few spoons on her own before}
• 1 Guy who makes the coolest pepper grinders {and who made sure I was wearing 2 gloves while using the tools so I wouldn’t hurt myself!!} 😉
• 1 Graphic Designer
• 1 Rug Hooker

Jason, our instructor, wanted us to get the whole spoon carving experience and so he had us first start by designing the spoon we wanted to make {basically folding a piece of paper in half and cutting out a shape}.

I wanted a rough and kind of large Colonial era looking spoon for my rustic kitchen with a long handle {one that could hold plenty of meat and potatoes on it} and Heather was aiming for a stir fry type of wooden spoon with a blunt edge that she could use in her cast iron pans.

Heather showing off her axe skills.

Man hands. Let’s just say the instructor was AWESOME at stepping in when he thought we could use a little help. 😉 That’s my {soon to be} spoon he’s gluing a hand drawn template to. Spoon carving is definitely a skill, and if I was the one responsible for making all the spoons for our family so that we could eat…. I’m pretty sure we’d all starve.

I learned that axe carving is not exactly my best skill, but with a little teamwork, hey, anything is possible.

My spoon, beginning to take shape.

Not to shabby….

More carving, and a little sanding later, the split log I had started with was beginning to look like an actual spoon. How about that!

To say I am a visual learner, would be a BIG understatement. Even with the instructor and pepper mill guy trying to show me how to use the chisel thing a ma bob, it still took me a good 10 minutes or so to figure out how to grip and turn the tool correctly.

But I did it. And I managed to carved a wooden spoon!

And so did Heather. Check out her spoon! It’s exactly the spoon she had in mind when she started.

Because the spoons were still “wet” when we were done carving them, they’ll need to completely dry out for a week or two before we can finish sanding the spoons and then apply a food safe stain. I’ll be sure to show you a picture of my spoon once it’s all finished {and I’ll see if Heather can snap a photo of her spoon as well}.

All in all, it was a totally fun class and well worth the $75 class fee we paid. We learned a new skill! The people were great, the instructor was awesome and I can’t recommend getting out there and trying something a little out of your comfort zone enough.

Spoon carving! Who knew?

Have a great Thursday everyone, enjoy the sunshine.

~Mavis

*****

You can check out our instructor Jason’s spoons here –> Carved Wooden Spoons

And Kim, the guy who makes pepper mills here –> Dailey Wood Working

Both of these guys support their families by doing something they love {and I think that’s pretty amazing!}. Hobbies. You just never know where they are going to take you. 😉