Yet Another Lettered Lovespoon

M and J Spoon

As you have probably already guessed, this Lovespoon was carved for a couple with the initials “M” and “J”.  Loyal readers already know that my lettering methodology dictates that the lady’s initial (in this case an “M”) goes on top while the gentleman’s initial (another Mr. “J”, I’ve had a bunch of them) goes on the bottom and that the two letters are somehow “linked together”. 

This is, however, the first time that I have had a “wide” initial composed of primarily vertical lines, in this case an “M”, located in the upper half of the spoon.   This caused me a bit of consternation on the design.  The spoon’s handle runs vertically so I needed to come up some sort of form of horizontal support for the M’s widely spread ”wings”.  That always seems easier to do near the bowl.

I have always liked incorporating organic, vine-like forms into spoon handles, so I decided to make a little crisscross at the bottom, run up and out to the two sides to get the width that I needed and twist them together to form a loop for hanging.

This was another of the church mission trip auction items and I wanted to add a bit of a religious symbolism.  I had just done a raised cross on my last spoon so this time I cut the cross into the bowl.  To make sure that I wouldn’t “punch through”,  I left the bowl  just a tad thicker than usual.  It was good that I thought ahead on that because the top and the bottom of the cross needed to go pretty deep into the curved surface of the bowl to ensure that the upright part of the cross was straight.  If I had gone potato chip thin like some folks like to, I would have been in trouble.

One curious thing about this particular spoon is that it is being given to “M” and “J” by her Daughter “J” and her husband “M”.  I had to make sure I kept track of that:--).

One for the Bench

          Most of the shadows of this life are caused by our standing in our own sunshine. - Ralph Waldo Emerson

 

 "Til next time...Keep makin' chips!