magazine

Well, you know it was bound to happen sooner or later, folks: I've gone and started a magazine. WHAT!
Yup, my Spoonesaurus partner in crime Matt White and myself will be launching Spoonesaurus Magazine with a free half-issue we will be handing out at Greenwoodfest 2018 in June, with a goal of the first real issue being ready for September! The magazine will be for our fellow spooncarvers, and will focus mainly on spoons while also dabbling in all things related to greenwoodworking and sloyd.

I decided to do this based on the overwhelming response I've had in the last few months to every time I've offered some useful trick on the Spoonesaurus Instagram feed, and to the level of engagement I've had in the last week to the live Instagram Stories I've been doing with me carving and answering questions. There is a hunger from people for resources, and I am, at my core, a writer.

So I thought I'd create a magazine where I could write all this stuff down for you and gather the thoughts and experiences of others as well.

Sound good? Tell your friends, spread the word on any social media you do. For this to work, I will need your help to reach far more people than I have following me. This is really going to be a team effort.

In the same vein, I welcome your input on what you want to know the most. What would you want out of such a publication? Here's what I envision for content:

1) a deep dive into some aspect of spoon carving in each issue. Maybe it's spoon design, wood choice and processing, sharpening, hollowing, finishing, different axe techniques, knife techniques, auxiliary tools, there are lots of ways to go narrow and deep. Each issue will do so in the way that is most useful to you.

2) an interview with an established carver who makes at least part of their living carving, focusing on what they have done that worked or didn't work to turn their passion into a business. We will also be exploding their toolbox in a separate tool section and looking at what they use and why.

3) a project for each issue that is not spooncarving but some other accessible project explained by someone else (not me) in such a way that you can try it at home. Ever wanted to learn to weave birch bark, or ash or oak splints, or make a shrink pot or fan bird? We will dive into one such in each issue. I welcome any requests for this section, and if you have a skill you'd like to share, be in touch.

That's it! I want to keep it simple, fairly short, informative and useful to you. I also want to keep it as affordable as I can, so while the writing will be good, the content useful and the photos beautiful, there will be few bells and whistles. I really hope we can build this thing, together, into something that will help generations of future spooncarvers.

To be clear, this will be a paid subscription thing because printing something real costs real money (let alone my time to produce it). But I am mindful that the content needs to be truly useful for the value to be there. So it will be.

More announcements will happen as things develop, but for now, welcome aboard!