Täljfest at Sätergläntan

I left Spoonfest as soon as the dust settled – off to the airport to get over to Sweden so we could start all over again. Täljfest featured a similar format; 3-day “pre-fest” courses, then an influx of more carvers and instructors for the actual festival itself. My first trip to Sweden – it was pretty exciting.

Sätergläntan http://www.saterglantan.com/ is a magical place Beautifully inspiring buildings, contents and people, nestled into the woodsy hillsides. When I left home, temperatures had been in the low 90s (around 32/33C) and in Sweden, I could have used a sweater at times. When I spoke to the kids back home, I told them it was nice October weather!

Sätergläntan

There were several courses running at once; I saw next to nothing of them, being busy with mine. JoJo Wood was doing her masterclass on eating spoons; Beth Moen worked a group through her bowl carving; I did the 17th-century carving designs, and the other class was figure carving with Joohyun Im & Hyungjun Yong of South Korea.

In the festival itself – it was, like Spoonfest, an embarrassment of riches – inspiring craftsmen & women everywhere you turned. Also like Spoonfest, I know I’ll miss some names. Magnus Sundelin again, Fritiof Runhall carving spoons, Del Stubbs http://www.pinewoodforge.com/index.html all over the place!, Jonas Als http://www.woodcraftbyjonasals.dk/ Jarrod Stone Dahl https://www.instagram.com/jarrodstonedahl/;  Barn Carder https://www.instagram.com/barnthespoon/ ; Masashi Kutsuwa https://www.instagram.com/masashi_kutsuwa/ with his green woodworking in Japan, also his wife Madoka with her Urushi lacquer work; Jane Mickelborough https://www.instagram.com/janespoons/ presented some of her research into Breton spoon history, Niklas Karlsson https://www.instagram.com/_ahardslojdlife/ on spoon carving; Vesa Jussila, carving birds, but more importantly, showing me local birds https://www.facebook.com/Vesa-Jussila-Naturdiorama ;

It was crazy – I saw very little of it. I did wander around some, seeing people carving everywhere. On the last afternoon, there was a panel discussion, led by Jögge Sundqvist, about craft in our respective countries – we had Denmark, Japan, US, UK, Sweden all represented. JoJo’s biggest challenge was to speak without profanity, and she aced it.

Lots of pictures, I’ll just add captions.

Del Stubbs presenting his fan bird demo

Del’s bird – mind bogglingly good

each tool has a number, and each slot a corresponding number

JoJo with a spoon carving demo

on the windowsill in my bedroom

from the woods, looking back to the woodshop

one of the tool cabinets

Fritiof’s spoon class

This one gets a sentence of its own – this man is Claude Veuillet, one of the co-authors of a great study of Swiss chests &  boxes. One of my students from Spoonfest, Helen, came to Taljfest too, and spoke fluent French. So she helped Claude & I get acquainted. Thanks, Helen.

Here’s the book – and a post I wrote about it way back https://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2014/03/09/i-havent-forgotten-about-furniture/

The dining hall is particularly inspiring.

birch cannister. I don’t even drink tea, but had to look at it in detail

Bengt Lidstrom bowl

the place is headquarters for woodenware

 

nice blue chair outside the room I taught in

 

Bla Salen, door frame also by Bengt Lidstrom, painted door by another hand

My thanks to all those who worked & attended the event. And to Jogge Sundqvist & Beth Moen for including me.

Here’s a link to some photos from Saterglantan:

http://www.saterglantan.com/samarbete/taljfest-2016-album/

Spoonfest 2016

I’m back home from 3 1/2 weeks over in England and Sweden. Lots to catch up on, I’ll start with Spoonfest. But first, I said many times while I was there, that no blog post, video or anything else can convey the feeling being at this event. If you get a chance, just go. I was amazed in every way; by the folks running it – Robin Wood & Barn Carder; along with a host of support staff & amazingly good volunteers, both young & old. The attendees worked as hard as anybody much of the time…

This was year 5 for Spoonfest, and it moved to a new venue, about a 5-minute walk from the original site, so they tell me. This one was great, a huge field for camping, carving, eating around the fires – and above at the top of the field, two long stone barns for the classes. During the festival there are many 90-minute classes that serve as “taster” sessions. There were often 8 of these going on at one time! that’s around 80 people chopping away in unison. First, they post the offerings on a blackboard. People line up in the morning (queue, in British) and patiently wait to sign up for classes. It works amazingly well. Not sure how this would fly in the US – I tried to teach those in the back of the queue to create panic & tension, by shouting & shoving…it was no use.

checking the board to see what’s available

a partial view of the inside of the barn, just as some classes were beginning.

down by the woodpile – there were always people here, either carving, talking – or helping you choose some great wood.

Under these tarps (not sure what they are in British English) were benches, chopping blocks, fires, and people carving almost all the time.

This table was unbelievable. The spoons-for-sale table. This is a FRACTION of what ended up there. Staggering. Hanging around this table cost me some money, but made me some too…

When you got overwhelmed with inspiration, you could just step back & enjoy the view. Edale is really something.

Part-way up one of the hills.

My view is that the event is about people – I said a number of times, it was as if the internet came to life. There were so many people to meet, there’s no way I can get them all. Plus I took lousy photographs. Here’s a few that I happened to have photos of.  Barn, aka Barn the Spoon. what fun to get to spend time with Barn. He & I sorted out the world while others stayed up through the nights quenching thirsts.  https://www.instagram.com/barnthespoon/

Magnus Sundelin https://www.instagram.com/sloydmagnus/ Magnus is the man, plus, like me, he hates the Beach Boys’ music.

Fred Livesay https://www.instagram.com/hand2mouthcrafts/ There is no one like Fred. he might have made the first 2 spoons of Spoonfest this year. I look forward to seeing him in Minnesota next spring.

Steve Tomlin https://www.instagram.com/stevetomlincrafts/  For someone who would rather be cutting the grass, Steve is a great spoon carving teacher.

Among others that came to life – JoJo Wood of course, https://www.instagram.com/jojowoodcraft/ and Jarrod Stone Dahl. https://www.instagram.com/jarrodstonedahl/ The three of us were on the circuit this season; Greenwood Fest, Spoonfest and Taljfest.  Jarrod still is on the road…

Alexander Yerks – had so much fun he hasn’t come back to the US yet! https://www.instagram.com/ale_axe/   I got to meet Jan Harm ter Brugge http://www.houtvanbomen.com/HoutvanBomen/Produkten.html   I knew of his Wille Sundqvist connection, plus we have mutual friends. It was great to meet him finally. Jane & Peter Mickleborough https://www.instagram.com/janespoons/ (a treat, saw them in Sweden too…) Martin & Jon Hazell – I had several nice chats with both of these guys. Saw Richard Law there – 2 summers in a row, Richard – https://www.instagram.com/yellowcyclist/ 

The volunteers who fed us, chopped, cut & fetched wood and helped make sure us newcomers had what we needed – Harry, Tom, Nicki, Ria –  I know there’s more – but they really were great. Just fabulous workers, and nice people.

And Robin Wood of course. I have no pictures of him this time. He straddled the edge the whole time, and seemed to calmly keep things going. He & Barn are yin & yang of festival organization.

And many, many more. Sorry to make a partial list. It’s not a slight. I have to get to sleep.