Approximately seven months ago, I had begun making dozens of teaspoon sized scoops and spoons from the cocobolo scraps leftover from more serious projects. A small local shop had, to my surprise, welcomed a bundle of them to sit atop their glass display. I was quite pleased, albeit mostly pifflings and a few samples of my more serious work, to have these otherwise neglected pieces on public display and in the hands of those who’d appreciate them. They were on the honor system, where one could be taken for free, or any conceivable amount be paid for.
For a brief time, I was inspired by this, and for a short while, focused primarily on these tiny teaspoons and other small items. Alas, public interest was sparse, so I withdrew and resumed focus on more substantial things.
Over the last week, my dusty ethereal footnote to not abandon these small pieces wriggled into my daily consciousness. Nothing epic, nor arguably worth writing about has resulted since, but I’ll go ahead and argue anyway, because my work is multiplying in solitude with none but me to witness — and the very purpose of my work is be used or appreciated by others. Thank doG for the interwebs…
I’m not entirely sure what these scoops/spoons would be used for, but in order of left to right is:
1) a self standing scoop/spoon,
2) a scoop (coffee scoop in my opinion),
3) a silly spoon, or a wooden object to be irritated by.
All three are cocobolo wood. Let’s have a closer look at each, beginning with the standing spoon:
This is possibly a silly design, but I have actually experienced situations where I had an abundance of vertical. but shortage of horizontal space. Behold, something to at least consider the situation, though perhaps not ingeniously so. As usual, it works well without offending the eyes, but I’m not sure of the mind, which in my case is content but mildly curious about something superior. I’d need to stand on something at least 7 inches tall, for that is its approximate height.
Moving on to the scoop — and I think it can rightly be named so without controversy — we have the handsome object seen below:
I haven’t measured any of these yet, but estimate the scoop at around 5-6 inches. It’s a nice scoop, for whatever one might scoop. It has an unambiguous sturdiness to it and is well balanced. I’m quite satisfied with it and think it will make a nice gift.
Scoops, spoons and objects considered, we have below, the latter, which I am not proud of. Viewed as a spoon, it may have a pleasant appearance, but endeavor to use it and poor ergonomics will be apparent.
It’s one of the many pieces I’ve made impelled by impulse and thick headedness. I get an idea, and without undergoing further evaluation, it becomes a tangible object, in this case, a flawed one.
Any object that is used frequently, should be ergonomic. Aesthetics are secondary with anything that has a dedicated purpose involving physical activity. The bend defies ergonomics, and the obnoxious flare at the end exacerbates it. This is certainly not to say one would incur injury from handling it, but it may inspire some to injure the item. I’m hard on myself, no less than upon a good beer, but while it truly isn’t anything to litigate against, there’s opportunity for improvement in the design. I think I will list it for sale at $300. Bill Gates has recently announced his intentions to absolve himself of his surfeit wealth, and since he presumably won’t be eating much in austerity, this spoon would suit him well, and $300 is a hell of a bargain for a billionaire.