Woodcut

A few days ago I saw an ad in the "Happens in Kalmar" brochure about a two hour course in woodcutting at the art museum. Of course I went there. 
We had a skilled guide to help us create our first practical item -a hook for hanging things. He had gathered a lot of birch-branch-stumps, suitable for making hooks of. We picked the stump that "spoke to us". It actually did. After a short while I found one that told me what it wanted to become, a hat-hanger. What you see is the result of two hours of work on it. It's almost ready but it needs to dry a bit and it can certainly be carved on a bit more, I've now bought a knife of my own so I can sit in front of the fire and finish it. 

The majority of the fourteen in the group were women. Interesting that I hadn't foreseen that at all, my stereotype view of this kind of activity had a healthy upgrade. When I got home to test it on my hat, it was clear that the piece of birch knew exactly what it wanted, and needed to be. I've never seen such a perfect hanger for a hat before.
The two extras show some of the participants in deep concentration and low key conversation and the other one are the hands and hook of the woman beside me.