Jeff Donne remembers what went through his mind when he first hatched a plan to become a spoon carving teacher.
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“The first workshop was to be at the Eden Whale Festival, five years ago,” he said, “and I remember thinking that I'm about to embark on a very lonely profession.
“Nobody in their right mind is going to want to do this. I was sure of it. Just because I had been enjoying the past 15 years turning logs into spoons using axes and knives, it didn't mean anyone else would want to do it.”
Mr Donne, now a full-time spoon carver and wood craft teacher based in Pambula, couldn't have been more wrong, and since running that first workshop, things have definitely grown.
“One of the reasons why I started down this path was to do my bit in keeping an old craft alive, and now we have had more than a thousand people pass through our roving Spoon School,” he said.
“I still find it hard to believe, but since that first workshop, which was attended by one eager person, the call for these workshops has spread throughout Australia.
“We're holding regular workshops in the big smoke and beyond, and we're roaming further now with classes in Tassie, Alice Springs, Queensland and lots of other regional places in NSW and Victoria.”
However, according to Mr Donne, the lure of the Spoon School road trip never outstrips the satisfaction of developing this craft in his local area.
“This year will be the third time we have run Spoon Jam, our annual spoon carving festival held right here in Pambula.
“It's a small festival growing little-by-little every year, and it now attracts teachers from interstate and overseas.
“We have five teachers lined up this year, including Alex Yerks from New York State, and New England's Peter Follansbee who is a legend among wood carvers worldwide.
“Last year we had pioneering craftsman Jögge Sundqvist join us all the way from Sweden which really put Pambula and Spoon Jam on the map for a lot of people interested in this old craft.
“This whole spoon carving thing may seem a little bit niche to some people, and believe me it is, but over the past five years of running workshops I've seen it place a smile on people's faces, I've been told countless times how a day spent in the slow lane has been just what was needed, and perhaps more rewarding than anything else, I've seen it actually change a handful of lives for the better.
“That's why I do what I do. That's why I'm a spoonsmith.”
Spoon Jam will be held this year on November 3-4, at the Noonameena Scout Camp in Pambula. For tickets and information go to www.spoonsmith.com.au.