Know your goals!
The more I ask, the more interest I get locally for spoon carving skills and classes. There are so many creative ways to tie in the story and skills of green wood carving (especially spoons) with everyone’s curiosity to try new things. You just have to take your story to where the people are, and fully understand what goal you want to bring to life with your craft.
You may keep it closely guarded, near your heart and within your own community where you create and share when you want to. This post isn’t meant to pull you into the extroverted world of endlessly discussing your obsessive passions with the world. This is where I have found myself though. I want more people locally just as obsessed as me.
Do demos. Find places with space to host a workshop or places with similar goals as you. I’ve been recording ideas and doing a bit of outreach locally.
IDEAS
Your local library would love this! Ask to demo or display work with a sign promoting you.
Farmers Markets would love a demo and display table to sell work.
Bike shops who deal with gravel and trail riding - the riders are always encountering fallen trees and clearing trails
Meet some scouts in a park for a demo or come to their meeting. Many kids already have their carving badge!
Find a local wood working club. They may have made a spoon before but not using your methods.
Gardening and permaculture organizations or non-profits may have the space and love the sustainability aspect of green wood work.
Park systems through city or county have all been interested in this, because they also have programming but limited resources to find you. Go to them!
After school or school-age extracurricular organizations are definitely looking for activities people can teach to promote handwork.
Scouts! They have carving badges and very motivated kids.
Waldorf and some Montessori schools have handcraft classes and teachers! Offer up a demo or conversation with their classes.
Don’t forget - spoon carving and bowl turning are STEAM activities involving technology. It fits well into science exhibits or events.
Boutique stores and maker space locations love the process as much as the product. Hold a 2 hour demo and bring along a lot of finished work to sell.
Local natural grocery, kitchen, or cooking stores! If you make spoons and bowls, they may love to feature you.
Local museums for art, craft, design, or history will love your story and be willing to fit you in to their themes or related exhibits.
Fjällräven - If you live in a location that is close to a store, become a guide and tie in creativity nature!
Other hardware, outdoor or apparel stores may love this too: Filson, REI, Arc’Teryx, North Face, Patagonia, Ace Hardware.
Or, just show up in public and carve stuff with a sign!
What are your goals as a craftsperson? Teaching, demonstrating, or creating and selling? Do you want a local audience or a diverse and distributed online audience?
The point is - let people know you exist and this craft of green work exists. You will be surprised what opportunities arise for you.
In the last 6 months, I have contacted most of the places above and sent many emails. I’ve done some public demos too and s local library display. Very quickly, I found myself conducting several classes with many planned, and also opportunities to teach a few classes per month for the rest of the year. (But that’s a bit too much for me now)
Stay motivated. Be creative. And most importantly- understand your short and long term goals.
