A FEW decades ago, wooden spoons were made by woodworkers in villages or rural areas as a means to make a living, but times have changed as people began to appreciate the beauty of the curved spoons and the skills behind the hand-carved culinary tools.
In recent years, there has been a surge in interest to pursue wooden spoon craft, with many coming up with creative and stylish designs. Spoon carving has become much more than just a trend in the handcraft world, now developing into a niche art.
Passionate woodcarvers around the world have been turning the simple kitchen tool into small sized handmade work of art.
Carvers have been discovering woodworking skills and techniques from other wood crafts and applying them to making uniquely curved small-size sculptures, creating aesthetically beautiful and functional pieces
In Malaysia, artisan Silver Yang, a Taiwan national who is married to a Malaysian, has been handcarving gorgeous wooden spoons in contemporary designs.
At first, Silver made the wooden spoon for her own use in the kitchen. Silver’s husband is a woodworker himself, and thus the craft tools were easily available to her.
Intrigued by the craft, Silver began to research and read books about wood crafting and spoon crafting, specifically.
Then, Silver purchased a couple of basic spoon crafting tools in Taiwan.
“I felt excited to try and create based on the methods I read in the books but somehow, I found that there were insufficient details,” she said.
“We decided not to refer to the books, instead to go with our own guts and learn the craft along the way.
“I have also picked up various techniques from other spoon makers, whom I have met in person.”
Since then, Silver has been making gorgeous spoons in a range of simple to complex designs that looks like sculptures in an array of shapes and sizes, and posting images of her various creations online.
Much to her surprise, she received many orders through her Instagram page, @silver_100woodenspoons_project.
A work of art
The creative process begins with Silver first cutting the outline shape of the spoon from a block of wood.
“Then, I will use my hook knife and a small knife to start carving. It depends on the size and design of spoon the I make, but most of the time, it will take a few hours to finish,“ said Silver.
Silver uses a great range of woods like mango wood, rambutan wood, mangosteen wood, acacia wood or longan wood, but she prefers to work with cherry and walnut wood.
“I like to work with cherry and walnut wood due to its texture, stability, and its warm colour,” she said.
For Silver, each piece, – whether it is a small or big spoon – is special, and she will try not to repeat the same design. “I try my very best not to repeat any of the designs, which I feel is the hardest challenge.”
One of her most memorable pieces is a soup ladle. “It took some simple tools and a few days to finish it.”
Silver recently finished handcarving 100 wooden spoons. It’s a personal project, which she embarked on about one-and-a half years ago.
“It started as a fun challenge from me to myself. I have no big dreams except to have a small exhibition to exhibit, perhaps.”
Lately, she has been making other wooden tableware. “I wish to learn more wood carving techniques other than spoon carving, so that I can apply those techniques into the making of the spoons and tableware that I make,” said Silver.
