SpoonTown

Etching sloyd knives

A day of spoon carving with master craftsman 'Mr Precision'.

Leather coasters with decorative stamping techniques

Plate turning on a pole lathe with renowned tutor Ali. Some physical fitness required.

Bowl or cup turning on a Pole Lathe with renowned tutor Amy Leake. Some physical fitness required.

From log to shrink pot - making a shrink pot with a fitted lid

Carve a pocket spoon, measuring with your eyes, drawing without a template. Blanks provided

Block printing. Devise, cut and print a unique design that might promote your brand or just be a beautiful creative experience. 3 hour sessions give plenty of time for prints, cards, totes, gift tags. Get lost in the process and love what you achieve

Bread basket for beginners - £4 additional charge to cover materials. Suitable for total beginners (including children 12+ if accompanied by an adult)

Sharpening course for sloyds, axes and hook knives. I'll be teaching hand sharpening technique with lots of time for troubleshooting and technique refinement. Factory fresh Mora 106 knives provided for practice.

Ginko leaf copper smithing for beginners

A roundwood straight spoon in 5 clear steps (beginners/advanced)

A roundwood straight spoon in 5 clear steps (beginners/advanced)

Learn how to chip carve with international tutor Jane.

The focus on this course is to fully prepare yourselves to carve a successful utensil before you pick up your axe. You will learn the fundamentals of rigorous idea generation for utensils and how to to develop successful templates.
Lee will talk through his own process of designing (across disciplines) and introduce a number of approaches to drawing that will help inform and develop your practice.

Join Lee John Phillips for a half day introduction to chip carving. You will learn the basics of single-wall and three-wall chips and how these can be used as building blocks to construct intricate patterns.
There will be a focus on designing for spoon decoration, but non spoon carvers are welcome as the outcome will be a standalone craft-piece.

Total beginners , cooking spoon , teaching as much as possible in a day to cover safe axe working , making a spoon blank to safe knife work learning 5-6 knife grips, a guide of balance and proportion in shape. Some discussion as the day goes about wood choice/ sharpening .Enough to get you going in the art of spoon craft, Friday only .

Learn how to elevate your items by using paint and oil stains in Maryanne's contemporary style.

Mikey will be teaching you how to design and make an asymmetrical eating spoon in his own unique style

Create something amazing from (almost) nothing! Learn how to make beads from raw clay. These will be fired Saturday morning, weather allowing.

Drop in session to learn to carve wooden beads - no need to book.

Various options, from hollow grinding your own sloyd knife, or I grind it for you, to purchasing a new hollow ground sloyd blade. You will then be taught to hand sharpen the final edge when the all important hollow ground geometry is perfectly set up. We will then move on to sharpening flat bevel sloyds.

Kolrose like a tattoo artist: Finish your given spoon and decorate your own key/doorhanger with the kolrosing technique. We will introduce some design elements, talk tools and pigments. You get: a eating spoon and key/doorhanger

Facetted Cooking spoon, knifework: During this workshop we will focus on knifework and the important role of crank, facets, form and function. We will discuss how small elements can change a whole spoon. You get: Start with a blank

Resting Spoon - Carve a Cooking spoon and a spoon rest. A great introduction and improvers session in spoon carving with a fun extra project to carve a place to rest your spoon during stirring sessions in the kitchen. Tuition can be tailored to all levels and there will be lots of useful advice on the skills needed to carve with an axe and knife efficiently and quickly. Plenty of discussion on different spoon forms and functions.

During this workshop I will walk you through how to create universal templates for spoons that will help you develop your own style.
We will introduce some techniques to allow for the realisation of your desired spoon. By tackling a few key areas on the spoon that really make or break the final look and function.

Square shrinkpots with milk paint and spirit stain finishes

Twca Cam Undercut Hollowing - essentially how to use the double edge twca cam and form the hollow to then take forward to carve into a cup.

Axing Demo - Following on from the hollowing course, Samuel will demo his process for axing out a blank.

Dive into the craft of frame basketry with this workshop focused on split hazel and willow. Whether you're a beginner or experienced maker, this course welcomes all skill levels. Learning heritage techniques to create baskets from natural materials. Connect with nature, discover traditional methods, and leave with your own handmade piece and a deeper appreciation for craft.

Learn how to make practical and beautiful brushes for you home, workshop, car…

Etching sloyd knives

A day of bowl carving with master craftsman 'Mr Precision'.

Spoon Holsters - for carrying your spoons!

Plate turning on a pole lathe with renowned tutor Ali. Some physical fitness required.

Bowl or cup turning on a Pole Lathe with renowned tutor Amy Leake. Some physical fitness required.

From log to shrink pot - making a shrink pot with a fitted lid

Finishing Cuts, How to make your spoon elegant and refined before burnishing and oiling. Bring a recently dried spoon that is nearly finished as well as a small finishing knife and we will finish it again!

Block printing. Devise, cut and print a unique design that might promote your brand or just be a beautiful creative experience. 3 hour sessions give plenty of time for prints, cards, totes, gift tags. Get lost in the process and love what you achieve

Bread basket for beginners - £4 additional charge to cover materials. Suitable for total beginners (including children 12+ if accompanied by an adult)

Ginko leaf copper smithing for beginners

A roundwood straight spoon in 5 clear steps (beginners/advanced)

Learn how to create beautiful fan birds inspired by the Slavic tradition with renowned international tutor Jane.

Learn Maryanne's elegant techniques using detail knives and gouges to enhance your wooden utensils.

Crank Works - Bored of flat spoons? Learn the mysterious art of the crank in this workshop whilst improving your axework.

Mini Spoons with Mikey - quick, fast and fun projects for when you only have a couple of hours but want to complete a whole project!

Drop in session to learn to carve wooden beads - no need to book.

Carve and decorate a needle case with lid.

Various options, from hollow grinding your own sloyd knife, or I grind it for you, to purchasing a new hollow ground sloyd blade. You will then be taught to hand sharpen the final edge when the all important hollow ground geometry is perfectly set up. We will then move on to sharpening flat bevel sloyds.

Dancing with the axe: You don't like the axe part of spooncarving? Or always have to much knifework left? Then this is the workshop you'll enjoy. We will focus on efficiency, but mostly dynamics. And how to axe more safely. During, you will get a confidence boost and become a real sloyd machine. You get: spoonblanks

Leaf Scoop carving. Carve a pair of short handled spoons great for supplying a table spoon sized measure of coffee, flour etc from one branch. We can have the option of carving the handle into a leaf pattern aiming to finish one scoop by the end of the session and for you to finish the other one around the festival or when home, if time runs out.

During this workshop we will design and carve a house totem, a small wall hanging wooden artifact that brings luck into your house.
We will learn some chip carving fundamentals and use milk paint to realise your ideas. I will guide you through some design and aesthetic key elements that you can apply in many treen projects.

Off the live edge with Rachel We'll create spreaders and spoons with a live-edge vibe. Leaning into asymmetry, and eschewing templates, we'll explore using curves to create forms. There will be time to make at least two utensils, and develop skills to make many more. Of course we'll also chat spoons and grips and wood, and probably fall down a couple of rabbit holes along the way. For improvers and confident beginners.

Square shrinkpots with milk paint and spirit stain finishes

Balancing Coffee Scoops - These are coffee scoops that balance and wobble on the ball of the back of the bowl like a wagtail bird! It's a fun little course. It'll start with hollowing a small coffee scoop bowl from a pre-adzed surface with the twca cam and then axe-ing the blank to find a balance point before carving a refining. Ideally aimed at those with some experience but those without will get there too.

Miniature Apple Sculptures - Feeling over spooned! It's a little, slow, tactile course to make little apple sculptures and a really fun way to tap into realism. We will be studying apple forms and asymmetry and looking at how to achieve this on a small offcut of wood.

Dive into the craft of frame basketry with this workshop focused on split hazel and willow. Whether you're a beginner or experienced maker, this course welcomes all skill levels. Learning heritage techniques to create baskets from natural materials. Connect with nature, discover traditional methods, and leave with your own handmade piece and a deeper appreciation for craft.

Learn how to make practical and beautiful brushes for you home, workshop, car…