A lesson from Jarrod Stonedahl.

Last year at spoonfest Jarrod said something to me which made my brain whir… it went something along the lines of –

‘when I make something I really like, sometimes I like to give it away. Because then I can chase the idea.’

It might have been because he was trying to get a spoon out of me which I didn’t really want to be parted with. I was never quite sure. But nevertheless the words stuck with me.

Memories can be in ways so much stronger than physical things. When you have a memory of something no new knowledge can change how you see it. You’ll always have that memory of the moment when you’d just seen or made the thing, and it was the most beautiful thing in the world to you.

If you hold onto that thing then over time as your knowledge grows you will realise it isn’t actually all that good, and now you know better you could make better.

But if you give that thing away, and just hold onto the memory, you can chase that memory forever, pushing yourself further along the road of improvement.

I gave him the spoon.

There it is, the big yellow-y on on the top right. In Jarrod’s collection amongst some other spoons you may recognise..

Anyway when I first came up with a makers mark and signed my first spoon I gave it away. To my wonderful friend and mentor Mike Abbott. And I’ve been chasing the idea ever since.

..until Spoonfest 2014!

You may or may not have heard of Keith Matthews and his infamous 365 spoons challenge.. after Spoonfest 2012 he was so inspired he carved a spoon a day for a whole year..

Quite amazing really. I’m not sure many people could pull it off. I certainly couldn’t. 10 spoons a week, however..

It’s been something I’ve been fancying for a while, but never quite got round to committing to. There was always an excuse. Now I’ve actually succeeded for the past two weeks, so I’m telling the internet so I can’t back down!

Week 1 happened almost by accident. Enjoying myself sat out in the sunshine in the woods carving spoons and ooh would you look at that I’ve carved a dozen* spoons!

And if I’ve done it once, I can do it again.

For me, this is a challenge to my perseverance and motivation. I can have off days and not carve any spoons. But I still have to make time for spoons week in week out.

I’m hoping to do some more blogging about it too, I know I’ve been rather slack lately.. but this will be interesting for us all. See it as an insight into my design process. We’ll go into that further shortly….

*the astute among you may have noticed some discrepancy in numbers. There was another one which went to my darling Mother as a birthday gift, and one more which hid behind the sofa when I tried to photograph it..

These spoons are SOLD OUT!! Check out my shop with lots of new exciting goodies here.

Hello everyone, long time no see.

I have been busy busy and have finally accepted that I have too many spoons and simply must let some of them go on to homes where they can be loved and used. And so, spoons for sale.

Grouped into three categories – ‘large’, for big mouths and lots of yummy food; ‘medium’, middle sized eaters; and ‘small’, ideal for kids, getting into yoghurt pots, people who prefer a small eating spoon.. any number of things really!

If you’re interested in owning any of these beauties, post a comment below or send me an email at jojo.wood@hotmail.co.uk with the number of the spoon you want. Paypal is my payment method of choice, but I can also take UK cheque at a push.

Spoon #1 – SOLD
Birch, large eating spoon
£39

Spoon #2 – SOLD
Birch, large eating spoon
£39

Spoon #3 – SOLD
Birch, medium eating spoon
£29

This time next week I shall be teaching workshops at Spoonfest. I thought it might be beneficial to have a little practise run on some family friends first. They were an interesting bunch, to say the least..

From left, Michael, Elara, Grace the knifemaker (I’ve mentioned her before!) and Miranda.

We started on axing, as that’s what I’m planning on teaching. It was a great group to practise on, a wonderful mix of capabilities and physical strengths. After a good practise session turning willow sticks into woodchips and stakes (useful for vampires and sisters, I’m told!), we got cracking on some spatulas. Or is it spatulae?

Usually I would prefer to use large diameter softer wood for first time spatulas, lime or willow or similar, but birch was what we had so birch was what we used! Mmmmm lovely birch…

Grace enjoying the Big Walloper.

I think we may have some potential Axe Women of Great Britain here, am I right?!

Miranda showing us how to use a BIG axe!

Michael had the pleasure of playing with my shiny little axe, he kept commenting on how lovely and sharp it was. A proud moment!

After we’d finished our axing the weather was starting to darken, so we moved indoors for a tea break and some knife work. And naturally, the sun came out.

Busy hard at work..

Grace was thrilled to get the cut working so nicely!

And the final products! From left, the model spatula, Michael, Elara, Miranda and Grace.

We only had half a day, but we had an wonderful time and I’m very proud of my students’ work. Michael left some lovely words on facebook which I hope he won’t mind me sharing –

I think we all had a wonderful morning learning something new. JoJo is a great teacher, she explains and demonstrates patiently, interferes when necessary (well, just when i was about to sever the artery in my leg) and introduced us step-by-step into the different safe techniques of handling the tools.



Spoon carving is a wonderful activity, requiring focus and dexterity while being meditative at the same time. And slowly over time a chunk of wood turns into a cultural artefact. With the beautiful scenery of Edale in the background I can’t imagine having a better time.

Thank you very much to my lovely friends for being my guinea pigs, and extra thanks to Grace for the pictures.

Spoonfest fever is closing in. It’s becoming a whirlwind of chaotic excitement. A few days ago we kicked things off by going to collect some birch from a local woodland..

Earlier this year it had been thinned, and the thinnings left on the ground just WAITING for someone to come along and turn them into spoons! We are those people.

It wouldn’t do to let the masses at the wood without just checking to see that it’s okay (any excuse to play!), so I knocked out a few spoons. It’s beautiful, anyone coming to Spoonfest is in for real treat!

And a bit more ‘sampling’, just to check it was ALL okay…!

Remember this beautiful photo?

I was digging through my bag of old spoons and look what I found.

Rest in peace, little spoon. You were the first spoon I ever posted on the internet, and the catalyst for something great. You shall be missed.

My nearest city is Sheffield, the home of the steel industry and thus cutlery and knife making in the UK. As this year is the 100th birthday of stainless steel, Exciting Things are happening! One of those things is lead by Grace Horne, an exceptional knifemaker and very good friend of my Mum, and so I got in on it.

May Make A Folder is a project to encourage non-knife making craftspeople to have a go at making a folding knife in the month of May. We each received a pack of bits, and after a demonstration day were packed off to do our own thing..

I, of course, opted to make mine with a wooden ‘scale’.