more scraps mean more spellicans

I have been busy with scraps.  Check it out.  I'm up to 152 completed spellicans, with about 30 more cut out waiting to be carved.  But I don't have a problem.  I can stop any time I want.

Christmas tree

 How lovely are thy branches, Christmas tree!  The problem is, our tree isn't big enough for all of our ornaments any more.  And, being the daddy and a really nice guy, I leave my ornaments off so the kids will have room for theirs.  So I made a little wooden tree to hang more ornaments on.  Here it is.  I made the branches out of inexpensive pine 1x2 and it all stacks on a 5/8 inch dowel.  One of the best parts - everything but the dowel was scrap from other projects.

Olive wood spoons

I got some very fresh olive wood from my cousin, so I made some spoons.  The two things I can tell you about olive wood:
It smells amazing when it is fresh and you carve it.  I can hardly describe it.  It's the smell of deep summer - like grass and overripe fruit and I don't know what else.  All I can say is, if you come across some fresh olive wood, cut it open and smell it.
It is really hard once it is dry.  I carved the spoons green but finished them after they dried.  I had to strop my Erik Frost Mora knife after carving it dry.  More correctly, Laughter stropped it for me. 
I love the shape of the longest one.  There was a natural curve in the grain so I took advantage of it.  Now I understand why so many people are in love with carving real green wood.