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.