Celtic Hearts - Lovespoon Gallery

The 'Celtic Hearts Lovespoon' is carved from a single piece of rock maple and features; chain links, a swivel, a celtic-knotwork-heart, the initials 'C - D', a pierced heart-shaped cage, holding a heart-shaped captured ball, leading through a short stem, to a heart-shaped bowl with a central spline. This lovespoon is the second lovespoon I carved. It was carved in 2011 after my first lovespoon carving in 2007.

The first lovespoon was carved from a single piece of english walnut after my initial attempt with Huon pine  broke during the carving process. This first lovespoon was carved as, what I thought an appropriate gift for my Welsh uncle, when we visited during a retirement trip to the UK. This lovespoon was inspired by a woodworking magazine article that I had read many years before, about the lovespoon carver, Ralph Hentall, and his craft, which I thought worth a try.., someday.

I had no real intention of doing any more lovespoon carving after this until, I came across 'The Fine Art of Carving Lovespoons' by David Western. This was a great source of inspiration toward the idea that lovespoon carving, could be a rewarding, not to mention a giving, form of artistic expression. A very optimistically 'forward', inovative and positive expression, that paradoxically rested firmly upon historical tradition.

So it was with this inspiration that I carved the 'Celtic Hearts Lovespoon' to commemorate our 38th wedding anniversary.