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Showing posts from October, 2023

Cooking Spoon #4

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  Price $30 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com This is a new design I came up with, that I really like.  The wood is paper birch, and has a nice, straight grain.  I was able to follow the grain to make a very attractive shape. It is a nice, large cooking spoon, sturdy and functional.  The wood has some very attractive grain patterns which allowed for straight carving lines and gentle curves. I think whoever buys this one will enjoy using it.  It is sealed with Walnut Oil.  As always, my woodwork is sustainably sourced from trees that are storm damaged or that must be thinned. Each piece is entirely hand made in the ancient greenwood tradition. I use only a hand saw, a small a

Salad Set #1

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  Price $50 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com This week, I decided to carve a salad set from paper birch.  These are designed to toss, dress and serve salad.   As a forager, gardener and herbalist, I enjoy salads most days.  My favorite is a mix of greens, herbs and fresh veggies, including lots of ramps or garlic chives, with blue cheese or feta, homemade croutons, smoked fish, boiled eggs, bacon and a homemade dressing. I carved these in the Scandanavian style, with hooks on the back so that they can hang conveniently on a rack or on the salad bowl. I think whoever buys this these will enjoy using them.  They are sealed with Walnut Oil.  As always, my woodwork is sustainabl

Pine Needle Basket #2

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  Price $100 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com This basket is the result of a walk in the woods.  I happened under a pine tree where squirrels had been eating pinecones.  They actually eat the seeds, or pine nuts.  Our native pines don't have nuts large enough to gather for human consumption, but we have millions of big grey squirrels, some red squirrels, lots of flying squirrels and my favorite, the fox squirrel.  Well, one of them left me this partial pinecone under the tree. The shape and size of the pinecone was perfect for a knob on a box type basket with a lid.  So, I gathered a bag full of green pine needles and let them dry for a few weeks while I figured out the

Scoop #1

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  Price $30 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com I have been wanting to carve a scoop for some time.  My grandfather's last project was a living history museum.  He bought an old homestead and several period buildings such as a post office, tack shop, general store, etc., and began filling them with antiques.  His vision never became a reality, but I grew up around a LOT... literally thousands of items from the 17-1800s.  That included many scoops. Every household before 1900 or so would have had a variety of scoops.  They were used for flour, sugar, beans, coffee, rice, etc. in the kitchen and to scoop seeds, feed, etc. on the farm.   In the many books I have collected on

Pine Needle Basket #1

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  Price $75 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com I spent much of my childhood in the southeastern NC swamps where making Pine Needle baskets is a very old tradition.  These were made both by the several Native American tribes in the area and by the settlers.  My grandmother told me that several members of our family in her grandmother's generation were basket makers back when baskets were an essential part of farm life. I learned to make Pine Needle baskets from a Lumbee lady when I was in 3rd grade or so.  I learned the Cherokee style of Honeysuckle basket making and the Appalachian style of While Oak basket making in my teens when my family returned to the mountains. Makin

Eating Spoon #10

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  Price $30 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com This is a leaf shaped backpacker's spoon.  It is not too big, but nice and sturdy to stand up for rough use. This one is a bit different from my other backpacker spoons.  The design is another of those that I didn't necessarily carve intentionally... I just let my knife follow the wood and negotiated the knots and growth patterns.  I think it has very nice lines and I always think the natural/organic patterns are the most attractive.   This will be the last spoon carved from American Holly for a while... the tree is all used up! I think whoever buys this one will enjoy using it.  It is sealed with Walnut Oil.  As always,

Ladle #1

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  Price $30 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com Admittedly, this is an odd pic.  Well, the lighting isn't good in my kitchen so I took the cast iron pot/dutch oven that I use most often and sat it on a tea towel on a white fabric piece furniture for background.  The point is that it allows you to see how this Scandanavian style ladle hooks on to the pot.  This the same design I used for the Gumbo Stirrer I posted last week.  I love this design, and I use it in my own kitchen.  I just hook the spoon or spatula on the side of the pot or pan while cooking and everything is right there when I need it. There is a long tradition among Scandanavian carvers of using birch for kitc

A Pair of Pocket Spoons - Fall Special!

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  Price $30 with free shipping in the continental US. I ship using USPS Ground, which is the least expensive option that included a tracking number.  If you prefer Priority Mail or another shipping option, international shipping or would like to combine shipping on multiple items to save a little money, please email me at  judson@judsoncarroll.com I wanted to do something special for Fall, because it is my favorite season.  I do a lot of cooking this time of year, so pocket spoons seemed perfect because they are easily carried in a shirt pocket for convenience in the kitchen. These were carved from the same piece of Holly, so I think of them as a "his and hers" set, but of course you could keep them both for yourself, give them to your kids as a gift, etc.  I usually charge $25 per (with $5+ covering shipping), but to celebrate the season, I am offering both spoons for $30 (including shipping). You will notice that the spoons are not identically carved, although