Greenwood Fest is now a month behind us, and Plymouth CRAFT is jumping right back into gear. Paula Marcoux just posted notice for a spoon carving workshop coming up in August.
You – stump #3, it’s best to keep your eyes on your work!
It’s a mostly new venue for us, The Wildlands Trust building in Plymouth, not far from where we have held Greenwood Fest. We hosted a lecture/demo there last year by Kiko Denzer, but now we’re going to make some chips fly. Come make some spoons, we’ll have a good pile of freshly cut green wood, lots of examples to study, tools to try and more.
roughing out a spoon with a hatchet
The usual two-day format, featuring the Plymouth CRAFT crowd, Paula will run it, and make lunch, Pret Woodburn & I will guide you through the steps of spoon carving. Others will be around. Hope you can make it – Sat/Sun August 11-12, here’s the website: https://www.plymouthcraft.org/spoon-carving
We’ll have some Morakniv 106 knives for sale there, as well as Barn’s book Spoon. Jögge Sundqvist’s book Slöjd in Wood and more.
At Greenwood Fest, our friend Peter Lamb https://www.instagram.com/gerrishisland/ came in on Saturday night to make a presentation of the Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship award. The Fellowship aims to honor Wille and Bill and continue their legacy.
Wille Sundqvist
Bill Coperthwaite
Here’s a blurb about the Fellowship –
“The Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship is awarded to craftspeople to further deepen the meaning, skills, and connections among those passionate about simple living and handmade objects. The Fellowship provides financial support to green woodworkers and other craftspeople to travel from their home country and share their thinking about handcraft, showcase their skills and design work, further their own research, and extend the international community of interest.”
This year’s recipients were Dave Fisher and Robin Wood, both well-deserving. Dave dressed down for the occasion, not wanting to show Robin up…
Robin Wood and Dave Fisher
Today Jögge Sundqvist wrote on Facebook about contributions being made in Wille’s memory to the fund for this Fellowship – spurred me on to spread the word. You can also make a spoon to contribute to an auction in September.
Another blurb:
“Memorial contributions in honor of Wille Sundqvist may be made to the Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship Fund at the North House Folk School, via check (noting “Slöjd Fellowship Fund”) and sent to North House Folk School, P.O. Box 759, 500 W. Highway 61, Grand Marias, MN 55604, USA …….or via paypal.me/Slojdfellowship
Also, craftspeople and other Slöjders from around the world are invited to make a spoon in honor of Wille and contribute it to North House (same address as above) in time for their on-line auction to be held in early September. All proceeds from the sale of spoons will be added to Slöjd Fellowship Fund.
Questions can be directed to Peter Lamb at PeterLamb@kneetoknee.com or to Jögge Sundqvist at jogge@surolle.se or to Tom Morse at North House Folk School at tmorse@northhouse.org ”
At our Fest, we had most of the previous Fellowship recipients – just missing Beth Moen
Wille Sundqvist and Bill Coperthwaite Slöjd Fellowship group photo
back, left to right: JoJo Wood, Jane Mickelborough, Dave Fisher, Peter Follansbee
As we’re preparing to start setting up Greenwood Fest tomorrow, news came today that Wille Sundqvist passed away, aged 92 years old. We heard from Jögge earlier this week that the end was near, thus he stayed home in Sweden to be with his father.
We’ll all miss having Jögge with us at the Fest, and our thoughts are with him and his family. I’m so glad it worked out the way it did, he could have easily been on a plane headed our way when Wille’s time came.
There’s no exaggeration about Wille’s impact on so many of our woodworking trajectories…I’ve written and talked at length about what I often call “craft genealogy” and I trace mine back to a very simple event – Bill Coperthwaite bringing Wille Sundqvist down to meet Drew and Louise Langsner, c. 1976. That visit led to the creation of Country Workshops, where I often traveled to learn from Drew, Louise, Jennie Alexander, Jögge, Curtis Buchanan and Wille Sundqvist – and on & on.
Plymouth CRAFT has dedicated this year’s Greenwood Fest to Wille Sundqvist and his life’s work.
Well, this has nothing to do with me, other than I was there to watch it happen. Now I get to see it again, from the comfort of my own home.
Here’s the blurb:
The Slöjd Tradition
with Jögge Sundqvist
Learn some of the methods and techniques behind Slöjd, the self sufficient tradition from Sweden that emphasizes hand work and handicraft. Jögge Sundqvist walks you through the process of making a spatula and a cheese board from green wood. He also demonstrates different types of letter carving and decorative carving.
Jögge Sundqvist is a Swedish woodworker and carver who started learning knife and axe work at the age of four, at the side of his father, Wille Sundqvist. Jögge works in the Slöjd fine craft tradition making stools, chairs, knives, spoons, and sculptures painted with artists’ oil color. Jögge is also a teacher, writer, and gives lectures about Slöjd tradition and techniques.
Over two months ago, I lost my everyday knife. I looked everywhere and came up empty. I decided it either broke off the strap, and fell, or got dropped into a bag of shavings & went the way of all things. I have lots of slojd knives – so I could keep carving spoons without any discomfort. But usually I like wearing one for everyday use. I finally gave up looking, and ordered some new blades. I tried to be positive about it, thinking maybe someone found what would become a really good knife for them.
before it was lost
I had the blade since about 1992, it was on its 2nd handle. (I split the first one using the knife like a little froe). When I replaced the handle, I made the sheath. That was about 12 years ago. A friend at the museum made the leather work. Once the new blades arrived, I made a new knife and sheath. It was OK, but not the same. This one, I tried my hand at the leather, but for one thing my model was gone! Here I am boring out the blank for the handle, to fit the knife’s tang.
Paring the new handle.
here is the end result, works fine. But doesn’t feel right one way or another. The leather I used was too thick for one thing, so it didn’t conform quite as well as I wished. Handle is the only piece of boxwood I had. Why did I try that?
Here’s the knife out of the sheath. It works, I was carving spoons yesterday with it. Clicks into the sheath like it’s supposed to do. I was thinking I’d do it over at some point, but things are getting busy around here right about now.
Today I was sorting & cleaning inside & out. In the shop, it came time to climb up & hang this year’s Greenwood Fest poster. I’m not a huge poster fan, but Greenwood Fest is a pretty special affair for me, so up it went. Right above last year’s version. While I was there, I grabbed that basket for the tools & materials in it. I made some basket rims & handles from the hickory I wrote about last time, and this week I’ll install them. Needed the clips and other bits in there.
And don’t you know – in the basket was my old knife. Made a good day a great one.
It’s always the last place you look, my father used to say.
PETER FOLLANSBEE: JOINER’S NOTES 