Spoon carving class with Jane Mickelborough of Brittany France

I spent two and a half days learing how to carve a Brittany style Party Spoon. These spoons were used mostly on special ocassions, most likely when there was a marriage in town as early as 1850’s. Multiple couples would get married at once, so thousands of folks would arrive together for the ocassion, as wedding parties back then lasted three days. Many of the spoons were also foldable, as well as very ornate to celebrate in the party.
Currently this particular kind of spoon now only has about three known makers in France. There are no records on who the original carvers of these spoons were, but based on the many photos Jane shared with us, it is obvious that many of the spoons had a particular style to them, and that one person probably made many spoons at a time. As far as she knows, there were no guilds in France to keep the trade a secret. So it’s kind of a mystry why and how this tradition faded away. FEAR NOT... Jane has not only figured out how to carve these spoons, and how to inlay the wax all on her own by trial and error, but she also figured out how to make a folding spoon. On her own. With no instruction. Not only are Janes spoons amazing, so is her brain.