David Western > Quotes

“Horsehoes are a traditional symbol of good luck, but their use on lovespoons is recent, as if the use of the lucky four-leaf clover. A horseshoe should always feature seven nails to be considered lucky and should be oriented with the open side pointing up so that the good luck does not pour out.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Very occasionally, farm animals and carriages appear in the designs of Welsh spoons, but the only animal that seems to appear on continental European spoons is the bird (notably a chicken).”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Bretons were also proud of wearing ornately carved spoons from a waistcoat button while attending celebrations and feasts.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Fortunately, many amateur carvers continue the older traditions by producing unique handcarved lovespoons for their family or friends. In some respects, this mirrors the old days when individuals carving spoons were motivated by emotion than by a commercial interest. This is a positive thing, because it allows the craft to grow and profit from a variety of experiences and backgrounds, free of constraint of the commercial market.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Prosperity in those times would have probably meant enjoying enough to eat, having some warm clothes to wear, and being able to sleep in a dry shelter. The diamond shape, along with simple chip-carved patterns and some geometric designs, was probably initially included on the spoons because it could be easily executed with the simple tools available to the young carvers.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Although it is common in Wales to give a lovespoon as a present at eighteenth and twenty-first birthday, the spoons are often beter appreciated at later birthdays, when the recipient is more open to a symbolic and romantic gift.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“The beautiful art of Kolrosing is common to Norwegian and Swedish spoon carving. This elegant and delicate form of surface decoration is achieved by engraving a series of light lines onto the wood's surface to form striking floral or geometric patterns. The shallow cuts are filled with finely ground coal dust or coffee grounds to give the appearance of colored inlay.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Perhaps if we confine our definition to the original idea of a lovespoon, this is the case; however, any time a spoon is given with love or high esteem, be it at an engagement, wedding, anniversary, or simply as a gift, it is* a lovespoon.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Vines, trees or foliage appearing on the spoon indicate growth in the relationship. Many of today's carvers use flowers to indicate the passing of time (e.g five flowers to indicate five years of marriage) and the growth and strengthening of relationships.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Valentine's day and its Welsh counterpart St. Dynwen's Day are days of love and romance and an ideal time for the gift of a lovespoon. The spoon need not be overly ornate, but it does need to be romantic. This is the occasion when simply designed but meaningful spoons along the lines of the Swedish feeler spoon are appropriate.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Over the years, it has become a tradition and point of pride that a lovespoon always be carved in this way. The idea of gluing sections together is frowned upon and now tends to be viewed with contempt by most modern lovespoon carvers. With he advent of ever more affordable tools, carvers throughout Britain and Europe were able to make use of fine saws, gouges, files and planes to undertake increasingly more difficult carvings.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“My personal view is that lovespoons should tell a story about someone's life, either pictorially or symbolically. Often I will carve symbols of places people have met or visited and representations of things people treasure in their life. Combining these personal factors with more traditional symbolism creates a piece of art that can be treasured and become a family heirloom.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“It has been suggested that a lovespoon can be read much like a book; that the symbols and engravings tell a story that the young woman receiving it would easily understand.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Tradition is always changing, and the lovespoon is no different. Historically , it may have had a more limited set of symbols and been given in more restricted circumstances, but now it can be a much more encompassing offering.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Key and keyhole appear frequently, symbolizing security, or more romantically, the key to one's heart. Small engravings of houses were sometimes etched onto the handle of the spoon, perhaps indicating the suitor's promise to provide shelter and security. Occasionally, domestic tools such as the spade or pick appeared as an indication the suitor was willing to work for his beloved.”
― David Western

“The wheel; is an important symbol that occurs frequently in lovespoon designs. Whether as a ship's wheel, a wagon wheel, or just as an ornamented circle, the wheel shape may allude to the wheel of life, or to the notion of eternity.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Sailors have had a profound influence on the development of lovespoon symbolism and were responsible for many of the symbols still found today. They added the anchor, a symbol of settling and security, to the spoon lexicon, as well as the ship's wheel and pictures of sailing vessels. Sailors whiled away the tedium of long hours at sea by carving lengths of chain, balls in cages (sometimes within a double, or triple set of cages) and by engraving the spoons with pictures (in the manner of scrimshaw), which in one spectacular example are inlayed with colored sealing wax.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“In Wales, a double-bowled spoon is thought to symbolize, Yr ydym ni ein dau yn un or ''we two are as one'', the union of two souls joined as one.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“The use of simple chip-carving techniques, geometric patterns, and various romantic symbols are common to spoons carved throughout Europe. As with Welsh spoons, it seems to have been a trend among continental European lovespoon carvers, that no matter how complex the design, each individual spoon would be carved from a single piece of wood.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos

“Throughout Europe and the Eastern United States the comma symbol was commonly thought of as a ''raindrop'' and thus has a fertility or ''source of plenty'' aspect. The comma shape is also commonly seen in folk art as a wheel formation of four commas nearly touching at the center- a form featured frequently on Welsh spoons.”
― David Western, History of Lovespoons: The Art and Traditions of a Romantic Craft (Fox Chapel Publishing) Comprehensive Guide to History, Artifacts, Symbol Significance, Spoon Detail, and More with 250 Color Photos