Tea Time ---

Okay, now.  Here I am on this early February weekend wondering if it will ever warm up again.  I realize that this is Winter in the Midwest and Minnesota has a reputation to uphold as the place where people learn to enjoy winter or self banish  to the warmer reaches of the continent with so many other extreme weather ex-pats -- like Arizona and Southern California (SoCal) -- complete with photos of white knobby knees, huge smiles and "wish-you-were-here" post cards signifying a total lack of guilt for jumping ship and leaving the rest of us to our miseries. 

So, I do what makes sense --  I make Tea.  Tea time, the act of purposefully pausing from current activities to make and drink Tea, is not in my personal cultural background.  I am Italian, Scandinavian and German so Coffee is my normal drug of choice,  but "Tea" has a sophisticated, almost civilized connotation at this totally primal, survivalist time of life!  After all, my Viking ancestors are roiling in Valhalla at my total lack of courage and fortitude.  I am a disgrace to the clan and have not earned the right to don reverse furs and leather boots ------  I have lost my ability to scoff at the discomfort of a frozen face and other important extremities as battle scares of a hearty stock or, at the very least, senseless competition among peers of who is the most foolhardy!  The mug of mead heated with a red hot copper rod fresh from the fire sounds satisfying enough, but I would be shunned for even thinking it.  So, I quietly slip out the side the Great Hall filled to bedlam with its raucous Coventry of boasts and challenges, and make my way to the cozy workshop in the corner of the barn.  I make my Tea and savor its full bodied scent, close my eyes and dream of warm winds, gentle breezes and Sunshine.  And when I'm done, I will spend the afternoon carving!!  ;) 

Take care all.  Stay warm, happy and safe!   Spring is just around the corner.  It's just that the snow to the corner is still pretty deep yet!!  Have some Tea! 

Hind Sight Perspective: Laments of an Artist Entrepreneur, or Coming to Terms With ADD and Discipline

When I started this venture, a year ago, I was naive and more than a bit ignorant of what exactly I was heading into.  Now, a year later -- I'm just a year older!!   I thought that time and desire would be enough to get things rolling. After all I just wanted to supplement my retirement with sales from the things I like to create.   It was a good idea but it was soon obvious that with no plan or direction other than just working on stuff and creating here and there nothing was getting done and the whole thing felt like a bad pin ball game.  Ideas were ricocheting off anything that was in the way.  Nothing was steady, everything was in flux.   I had some pieces done and ready to go but -- go where -- I had no idea.  I sold one piece on ETSY in all this time.  Lots of looks but no takers.  My ADD was having a heyday, and my anxiety was looking for a high place!!  I had to market, be more visible. 

I assumed that starting an ETSY page would be the panacea and I would soon be so busy I wouldn't know what to do. I assumed that all it would take was to put "it" "out there" and I would be crazy busy in no time.  I was still in "hobby" mode and no matter how much I wanted to believe, I still couldn't get it in my heart that this stuff was worth anything more than fun.  Why would anyone want to give me money for something that I so much enjoy doing?  Social Media is calling to me and I have no idea what to do with it.  The learning curve is turning into a terrifying roller-coaster ride and I hate roller-coaster rides!!  So I figure I can jump off, or take a deep seat, grab the nite-latch and hang on.  It's gonna be a great ride!!  

So, I have resigned myself to define this whole thing as a major work in progress.  If you want you can ride along.  I would enjoy the company.  If not -- who would blame you?  Heeheeheehee. 


                                 
                   

Welsh Love Spoon

The Love Spoon:
Is a traditional gift created by a perspective suitor as part of the courtship ritual.  The suitor would design and create the spoon and then present it to his love as a visual statement of commitment, love and devotion not only to her but to her family as well.  It was important that the perspective suitor was seen as patient, creative, dedicated and good at design and problem solving.  These attributes were well served in the traditional Agrarian Communities of old where practically everything was designed and crafted by hand.  There are unlimited spoon designs in the history of Love Spoons only limited by the individual carvers own imagination.  There are as many spoon designs as there are / were spoon carvers and it is well worth a search for more information. 


This traditional design Welsh Love Spoon (See ETSY Listing -- ghostwindcreations) is the perfect  wedding or anniversary gift for the giver and/or receiver who seeks and appreciates the other than ordinary.  It is the perfect discussion / story piece and a solid representation of the traditional values of commitment, dedication and love.

This particular piece is also being offered at a special reduced price due to an unfortunate accident that left some minor superficial damage to the tip and ball cage of the spoon (see ETSY listing).  It's not terrible but I know it's there! 

If you like this spoon, or are interested in a custom order, please feel free to contact me for ideas and pricing.  

Fresh Egg

Started chip carving a "fresh egg" this morning.  The beginning is always the most anxiety producing of the whole project.  It's when I find out if there is enough moisture content in the piece and if my hand is steady and confident.  Otherwise I get what are called "break outs" which are unsightly and unforgiving. 

I can always glue back in any "break outs" but I have a personal competition that I adhere to and that is that all my cuts will be clean and original.  That never happens but the challenge keeps me focused, lol, (read scared breathless) and my blood pressure up!!  It is a nerve wracking process but well worth the effort. 

It all seems to hinge on my ability to stay in the "here and now".  If I start to worry too much about the chip breaking out I loose focus and start to question my ability.  If I am worrying about something in the future I am not paying attention to the present and that is when I make mistakes.  Awareness, breathing and relaxation are key ingredients in the complete process.  When I am aware and confident, I can feel the difference, physically, through the whole chip carving process and the end result just seems that much better. 

Here is the beginning of the process.  The egg is marked out and ready to start the chip carving process. 

Here are the first few cuts and completed chips.  Things are going well.  Moisture content seems to be good and the knife is moving through the material freely and smoothly. 

Here is another shot of the first chips and the knife I use for the work.  I use a textured, rubber coated, clove for a more comfortable and safe grip on the egg.  It is a medium size egg and the smooth surface is difficult to hang on to when cutting without some sort of aid.  It also helps with the anxiety of cutting.  If I don't have to worry about the egg slipping in my hand that is just one more thing to help with the confidence of working the chips and the overall process of creating a chip carved egg. 

Here is a pic of the completed top of the egg.  I am breathing again (grin), and pleased with the results so far.  I've a ways to go to complete the egg but the start has been good and the project feels good to this point.  From here I work down the egg to the bottom.  Most of the design is already done but I always leave areas that I can create as I go.  It adds a bit of drama to the process and I don't get bored as quickly if I can create some as I go along.  I also like the sense of spontaneity and freshness it allows in the chip carving process.  

Hidden Faces -- The Legend of the Wood Spirit

Spirit faces aren't so much carved into the wood as they are released from the wood by what the carver does.  The Wood Spirit is hidden in the wood and just waiting to be allowed free by the woodcarvers knife.  My role, as a carver, is to remove wood and allow the Spirit to emerge. 

I use primarily "found" wood for my Spirit Faces and have collected Cottonwood bark  from Minnesota, the Dakotas and Montana.  I have also collected many driftwood pieces from along lakes, rivers and both oceans.

It is said that Wood spirits are magic and offer the keeper of the piece good luck and safe spaces. I remember listening to a story told many years ago one cold, dark winter night in an old cabin with a warm fire crackling in the fireplace. 

Legend has it that there was a young girl who lived with her parents in a woodland cottage on the North Coast.  Her father was a woodsman and her mother a healer who knew plants and herbs.  The young girl lived a  life filled with experience and lore of the forest.  This particular day the young girl had been helping and visiting with her grandmother who lived in a beautiful glen deeper in the forest from her cottage along the coast. The day grew long and the young girl was preparing to return home much later than she had planned.  Her grandmother suggested that she stay and go in the morning because it would soon be dark and the forest changes at night.  But the young girl wanted to get back home.  She wasn't afraid of the forest. She loved the forest.  It is what she knew and it was where she spent much of her life.  The path back to her home was a familiar trail through the forest that she had taken many times before so she decided to go along.

 All day, a storm had been brewing offshore moving in from the Northwest as they often do.  The young girl thought it out and, even though her grandmother warned against it, decided that she would have plenty of time to be home ahead of the storm as she had done other times.

Storms were a common occurrence in this part of the country, but there was something different about this storm.  There was a sinister intensity that accompanied the storm as it reached the coast and tore inland blowing branches and tangling brush as it bullied its way along.  The wind growled and moaned pushing huge black clouds blocking out the moon and stars making it so very dark that she was unable to see her way any longer.  Soon the old trail she was so familiar with was gone and she was lost in the woods she loved with the unforgiving storm.  As she continued on she became more confused and afraid  and very, very lost. 

As she stumbled through the dense woods, she remembered that if she went the wrong direction she would come to the edge of the bluffs that plunged into the rocks several hundred feet below.  And as dark as it was she already couldn't see, and as confused as she was she had no idea which way to go.  She was frozen with fear and began to cry.  She desperately looked around praying for a hint of something familiar to orient her so she could get her bearings.  But there was nothing to guide her but darkness and tangled brush and limbs .  She was terrified and fought the urge to run headlong in any direction she could.  As she desperately looked about she caught a slight movement in a tree ahead of her to her left.  She looked again and could just barely make out that it was the face of an old man in the tree and he was smiling and beckoning with his eyes for her to come to him.  She walked toward the tree and the old man disappeared, but then she saw another face several feet beyond, again indicating her to come to him.  She felt a calm assurance come over her as she walked toward the tree and the old mans face.  She followed the Spirit Faces through the storm and suddenly saw in the near distance a light among the trees.

When her daughter was not home by the time the storm hit the young girls mother became concerned and put the lantern in the cottage window as a beacon of safety and home.  The young girl ran to the cottage and just before she reached the door, she turned and looked back into the woods from where she had come and saw an old face smile and then wink to her as if to say goodbye and be safe. The young girl waved to the old Spirit and mouthed a heartfelt thank you, then turned and opened the door to the warm safety of home. 

So goes the tail of the forest Spirits, who help those in need, or at least as well as I can  recall it.  I am fortunate to be a carver who has been allowed to release Wood Spirits and make them available to those who would like to adopt them and give them a job to do.  Wood Spirits like having something to do and they seem to enjoy watching over those who take care of them. 

GhostWindCreations

Good morning.  It's Monday, the 14th day of January, 2013.  I'm sitting at the computer listening to Ian Tyson, Guy Clark and Joan Baez take turns singing while I attempt to come up with something that comes close to making sense for this Blog.

It certainly has been an interesting process putting this and the ETSY shop together.  Stop in at:  WWW.GhostWindCreations.etsy.com    and check things out at the Shop.  I'm just beginning to put up some listings and I would like the feedback.  I need to set up a photo shoot in order to get better pics for listings. So check back for new images.  I'm feeling a bit anxious because I've been talking for a couple years now about using my art to supplement retirement and, low and behold, it is now time to deal with the proverbial pot. So don't expect much.  I'm building as I go and any ideas would be appreciated.  If I don't do something now it will remain nothing but a topic of conversation.  I'm serious about it all but it needs to be fun too.  I've spent too many years doing too many things that didn't allow much time for fun.  I like to think that both the Blog and the Shop will have fun designed into them.  That is when I get over being terrified of the totally new way of creating money to fuel our main form of barter.  That is when I list something and you buy it and barter money for it and I turn around and barter it for materials to create more, and for house payment, elec, heat, food and . . . etc. All so I can create more art that you can't live without -- so you buy it and then I . . .  you get the deal.

Anyway, lets have a good time.  I hope you enjoy.

Take care and as always -- be careful out there!

Sonny

. . . JUST SAYIN'

If time gets going by any faster I'll have to walk backwards to catch up!!

 Well here it is Holiday time.  Thanksgiving already over and Christmas right around the corner -- like 10 days to the corner!!   Birthday come and gone -- 65 this year.  SS begins January 1 and first check comes mid February.  And January 1 I go to half time at my day job which gives me more time to do my art and leather work -- thank you Lord.   Damn, wasn't it just the other day I was turnin' 50 and exclaimed to myself that I had 10 years to get my ducks in a row.  Well it's been 15 and my ducks -- the ones still alive and somewhat able -- have flown South and the only things I have in a row are the aches and pains in my shoulders, back and knees -- old rodeo injuries. 

I had big plans to be up and running by now but, like everything else, am far enough behind to bring it into next year before anything is ready to go.  I still need to get this Blog ready to open up and I need a bunch of photos for my Etsy page -- but it's closer today that it was last year!! 

I hope all is well with everyone and things are winding up to be a good, peace filled, family centered, Holiday time filled with gratitude and love.  I know it can also be a difficult time for some.   My wish for those who struggle with heart ache and emotional pain this time of year, is that you are able to find one thing to help you smile and melt the ice of pain and hopelessness that holds you hostage.  I  pray that you all find the strength to just put one foot in front of the other and keep on headin' out into the journey no matter how hard it is right now.  God bless us all -- cause some of us really need it!