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Sweat Lodge in the Vosges Mountains

Undressed lodge in the snow

I was enjoying a Val Heureuse beer in the Chez Narcisse bar, Val d'Ajol and waiting for a friend. She turned up and I offered her a beer, 'what are you doing' she said, No alcohol before a sweat lodge'. Opps! It had slipped my mind.

We were going to a sweat lodge on a cold February night. I have actually been once before with some of the same people, but it is still a new and slightly scary experience which, I thought I would share with you.

I am definitely no expert on the sweat lodges but I have read up a bit on the web and now have my own experiences to call upon. The following link is an interesting article that explains a lot and amusingly describes how its all the fault of us unclean and corrupt Europeans! Seems likely. http://www.barefootsworld.net/sweatlodge.html 

The host, and sweat lodge leader lives in a beautifully remote spot in the Vosges mountains. She is a very natural person, at ease with herself and nature, she is also a very creative and accomplished artist. So you get the picture, its back to nature and leave behind all your worldly shit and lets spend time on getting real. Not an easy process for most of us.

Taking part in a sweat lodge is not a case of turning up when its ready, we all help with the preparations. Building the fire, adding the stones, dressing the lodge with coverings. Then there is getting to know the other lodgers and relaxing from worldly affairs. I already knew 3 of us and met 2 more for the first time, they were lovely very friendly and kind. I don't think nazi's or knobs go to sweat lodges very often.. We were all there for very spiritual and meaning of life reasons.

When all was ready some simple rituals were performed, blessing the fire and preparations, then the fire was lit, well twice actually as it didn't catch the first time (must have left something out of the blessing!). This was a great time, it was starting to get dark and the fire kept us warm and excited (me) nearly time to go in!

The fire burnt down and the stones were really hot, we all discreetly got undressed and wrapped ourselves in our towels and the sweat lodge leader went into the lodge, a bit more ritual, then we all went in one by one but leaving one of us outside ready to pass the stones in.   

Note: You may think that I am being a bit sarky or dismissive of the rituals but that is not true. I respect them but don't understand them yet and as they were delivered in one of 2 languages. A native american indian, which I don't understand at all and French which I understand a bit.. but not this subject area! I didn't really know what was being said. So no offence meant. Everybody was really helpful and friendly and did try to explain stuff.

We were all inside and the hot stones were brought in and the door closed! There is more blessings and a drum is beaten and it is dark.. I mean pitch black, I can't see anything.. not even me! Its hot but not very, then water is put on the stones and there is a wave or cloud of heat that washes over you.

There are four sessions or doors that get steadily hotter and the whole thing can last for 2 hours. The last time I just did the first door, and when I came out I was very unsteady.This time I was looking to stay longer.

Each session follows a relaxed process of blessings, speeches, songs and chants.. and heat, lots of heat.

I am sure that each person has a very different experience but for me, I found myself going from being acutely aware of my body, hot, sweaty, cramped, heavy breathing and aching joints to, feeling like I was floating and no sense of my body at all. I had heard that when meditating it is useful to concentrate on one spot and to through out any thoughts that come into your mind, I did this some of the time and enjoyed a very peaceful and calm feeling.

I should of mentioned that before the sweat lodge, my head was not in a very good place and I was disappointed about this as I thought it might get in the way. It did a bit but I still benefited tremendously from the  experience.

I only managed to stay in for 2 doors as I was not comfortable and had a nagging thought that I should be reasonable for the sake of my health.

If you ever get the chance to go to a sweat lodge, I would recommend you give it a try.. with an open mind.

Wood Bookmark

Something simple that makes a very personal gift. You will be remembered each time they read their book.

I have made a couple of these in the past and managed to cleave the wood very thin and didn't have much work to do to finish the item.. This one however was a bit troublesome mainly because I chose to splt the Y of a small branch I had found. The final split tor a small hole in the middle which is why I ended up creating a heart design.

The idea has a lot of scope with more exotic wood.

Nose Carving

Panic!! A hand made Christmas present and little time to make it!

I had seen simple joss stick holders in gift shops but to make one of those would be too simple.. how could I make it a bit different. Not sure what went on then in my head but I started sketching an idea to carve a nose.. then what? I know lets give it a cold and make it a runny nose.. oh disgusting.

The present was for my daughter, and she knows me well so I thought she would see the funny side.

I used a bit of silver birch branch I had lying around. Cleaved it with an axe to make a simple blank, then used a carving knife and a couple of gouges to create the sculpture.

I drilled a couple of small  holes in the nostrils for the joss sticks and a screw eye so that it could be hung on a wall.. if it didn't end up in the fire basket!

To finish I thought it would be good to excentuate the carving by using a bit of dark wax, BRIWAX. I have used it before with some success but it really didn't work on this.. made it look cheap and crappy.. I managed to wash most of this off with some white spirit and then cleaned again with some sand paper. I finally used several coats of danish oil.

Kuksa in plum

Hi, A friends birthday has been creeping up on me and I was stuck with what to make. Another spoon? I am sure she would have appreciated it but it wasn't novel. The end of the summer I had spent some time near Lake Madine which is in a region in France famous for Mirabelle fruit. There were lots of orchards, and some of which had recently cut off branches lying around. Never having worked with Mirabelle I thought I would give it a go and pick up a few choice pieces.

My first attempt to make something from the wood was a failure, primarily because it cracked and deformed as it dried.. tried to rush it really so probably partly my fault. But what wonderful colour and grain it had, reds and yellows and off white. It would have looked gorgeous all oiled up but was a bitch to work.

So should I go for Mirabelle again? Not confident, so started looking for something else. I asked a friend if they had any fruit tree off cuts and they came up with Prune (Plum). Great I thought, that should work.

This was going to be my first attempt at a Kuksa so not very sure about dimensions and the bit of wood I had been given wasn't that big.. particularly once cleaved. It looked like I might just about get something from the remaining heart wood. It was then that I realised that it was looking a bit familiar  Yes you are right, the same family as the Mirabelle, same colour and same hardness. To late, I had started, so I will finish.

The shape and design just evolved.. I did do a sketch before I started but the wood just took over. The colour and grain are magnificent and it is a shame that I didn't have quite enough heart wood to work with. But hey, this stuff is natural, doesn't follow rules.

Most of the work was carried out with a gouge, knife and my fabulous new (well 2nd hand) spoon gouge. I had bought this from Old Tools online and with a bit of care I got a nice edge on it and it did its part of the job very nicely. Because of the severity of the sweep it was only good for clearing out the bottom of the cup. I used a gouge for the near vertical sides. I know that ordinarily, making a Kuksa is done just using a spoon knife, and next time I will try this approach.. But I just wanted to play with my new tool!!


To finish the thing off I added a simple design of the Scorpio birth sign with a few stars, It works OK but next time I will create a more original design / pattern. I used Walnut oil to finish as suggested on someone else's blog.

Ovi's Journey - Art Retreat

This is a little exhibition of the creative efforts of a few friends from one weekend in October.

My friend, Raymond and I have been encouraging each other to do stuff, creative stuff for sometime now. We skype each other, he's in UK and I'm in France, and we cugol, blackmail, enthuse and persuade each other to get more done. It is a brilliant way to keep one going as it can be a bit solitary just chipping away alone. No sympathy required!

I invited Ray to come and join me and work together, here in the mountains.. just being creative. And he came!

So if you decide to do a arty retreat thing then, what do you actually do, what is the theme? We came up with ideas about putting some words in a hat and then choosing one to use as the theme, didn't grab me. So when Ray arrived we went for a walk in the woods to see if we could find inspiration. Ray did some photos and I just ambled along and related a story.

"One day, I was clearing up on the Sunday after a party the night before and had some old bread left over. I said I was going to throw it away but Marie said, why not give it to the horses, Horses! what horses? Well with no resolution I went and stood in the garden and looked around.. Bugger me! There was nobody around, it was a quite Sunday, and there down the road comes this guy, with a horse and a dog. I was mesmerised. When he reached me I asked him if he wanted any bread for his horse, like you do. Sure, he said and so we started chatting and eventually I invited him in for coffee. His horse and Perceval, his dog came too.

Wonderful character, full of stories and his own life story to tell.. he has been wondering the countryside for years, setting off from Germany via Switzerland and now in France."

The guy's name was Uwi, but that got changed through not being able to remember it properly.. sorry Uwi.

 Ray liked the story and we agreed to use it somehow as the theme. We came up with, that Ovi's Journey was a metaphor for every man's journey. Finding our way in the world and making sense of our lives.

This gave us total freedom to do what ever we wanted but with the backdrop that it was loosely related to our new friend.

So we did drawings, photos, a bit of carving and Ray even wrote a poem. Ray likes dark and sinister ideas whilst Louisa prefers a happy ending.. So she wrote her own version.. You Choose!

It was a brilliant time and got me doing stuff outside my comfort zone.. recommend..

 Ovi's Journey by Raymond

Like a seed on the wind he drifted
Home, just empty shells along a shore
Forever hunger in his belly
Un-nourished like his soul
But for a constant hound, his lone companion
A dog named Percival.

Across the land they journeyed
At a Great Wood’s edge they stand
The signs he follows into darkness
Their meaning higher, destiny planned?

But nature fools him into thinking
The paths he chooses read as true
Further forward, falling into
False believing, signs that rarely tell the truth.

Like a flash of inspiration
A horse of spirit and afire
Cantors freely through the floor ablazen
Leaves all red and gold in hue.

Ovi’s journey nearly over
One final sign he sees
A last single revelation
Or one final bitter tease.

Too long alone, not trusting
One way conversations, never joining in
Putting off the invitation
Of a warming home to enter in.

The life we live is human
So with people we must try
To live a life worth living
And without love, alone, we will die.

Uwe Walks by Louisa
Rain made wet his hair
his horse walks nearby, silent,
Perceval follows behind,
he sniffs the path, moving his tail.
It smells good, leaves underneath.

Mushrooms at the edge of the road wink at them, drops still sparkling out their heat...

May be this night we'll be sheltered under a roof, in front of fire and we'll talk quietly with our guests, a hot soup will warm our hearts and stomachs, and a bed of woven blankets will cradle our nice dreams.

Tomorrow, this is sure,
Sun,
will accompany our departure.

Note: Louisa's poem was written in French and she also made the above translation.

Alien - Gargoyle - Doodle

Hi, Not sure where the idea for this one came from.. I think it was a development of adding a bit of weirdness to a utensil.. I sketched the idea, thinking that it could be a "Meat tenderiser" but most people have laughed at that possibility.. so I have just kept going as I am enjoying the organic nature of the result.

I wanted a heavy piece of wood as it was going to need to be used as a sort of hammer.. Oak is heavy but not very stable during drying so I looked up different woods and their weights. It also had to be fairly common as I was going to be looking for a suitable branch in the local woods. Well the books said that beech was similar in weight to Oak, so off I went with a friend to the forest with my trusty folding saw. Luckily we have had some storms and a number of trees had been blown over. We found a fantastic Beech tree which supplied the necessary bit of branch.. I spend a lot of time in the woods looking for likely bits of wood for projects.

Unfortunately I didn't take any photos at the start, but you would have seen that I had not made things easy for myself as I needed to push the wood back from the end grain to make the face. The nose was, of course to stand out more than the rest and it has not been easy getting some depth.. I think I still need to do some more here. The eyes are wonderful. Not finished but they stand out well and really make the character.

Here are a few more photos.. and I will post again when more complete.