chisels

Discovering chisels, I was at first hesitant to explore beyond a safe, controlled movement upon simple surfaces. But I slowly began acknowledging the blade's urge towards more depth. In the concave spaces of spoons I began to recognize a pattern of smoothness against stress, of grain flow and points where the chisel could move against the grain and still move smoothly, while at other points there remains a tension that all but disallows the chisel to pass over those specific areas. I feel like I'm in a boat in new waters, learning to navigate upon a surface whose personality changes with the course of the tides, the boat's bow urging itself through the pliant clefts of sea...

Mud

The mud's woven dampness within the last lingering snow deep in the forest, tracks from the logging machines leaving ribbons in their waste. Piles of branches scattered like Easter eggs, I dig in.

Crystal

"Someday you're goona see that crystal for just what it is - a rock."

Emerald

I was sanding in the sunshine. Wondering at the emerald's glow as its sheen broke free.

It's been a while

All spring, part of summer, the heat, the wind, the clouds, the flow... I found a twisted branch in Kustavi many years back. It's been hanging in the back of the barn all this time and just yesterday it caught my eye and had me think, yes, it's time.

Around the bend

So much snow this past winter that it built up on branches and caused a lot of them to break off. So I've been making my way through the forest, across strange swamps, over hills, across valleys, around each bend. There have been a few good pieces. But mostly it has been about the walking.

Wove, woven, weaved

Etymology 1 Old English wefan. Cognate with Dutch weven, German weben, Swedish väva. Etymology 2 Probably from Old Norse veifa ‘move around, wave’, related to Latin vibrare. So etymology 1 can be said to relate to what people do, and etymology 2 to what objects do. A person weaves, an ambulance weaves. There also seems to be a distinction between going over and under and going side to side, twisting turning... A branch, a knife blade, a hand. The weave of the branch as the act of the hand.