Over the past few months I have been thinking of ways to complement a family room or kitchen. When I think of the rooms that are most frequented in, I immediately think of the kitchen first then family room, these are the two most used placed in anyone’s home. They are the hub of activity for home cooked meals, to the take out meal, it is here that most people congregate for day to day conversation. I know in my own home this tends to be the case.

For the purpose of displaying a Welsh Lovespoon in one of these rooms, I thought that the best solution would be to design something that would have a dual purpose and be substantial enough to be noticed without looking grotesque. When you think of the nature of these two rooms and the amount of traffic that they have, an invaluable item is the wall clock. Most wall clocks as we know them are just what they are, a wall clock, usually round in nature with very little appeal but if I could intergrate a Lovespoon design with a four inch battery operated clock face incorporated, then the appearance may be more integral to the room.

I decided on a sculptured piece 24 inches in length and 7 inches at the widest point carved from poplar leaving the option open for painting, staining or just plain wax finishing. I initially started to sketch out the idea wanting to keep it as simple as possible while the idea was still formulating in my head. This approach stems back to my days as a patternmaker when you use to get blue prints with sections and lines going everywhere. The saying was cut the material while you work out the job in your head. That training still applies today.

The design that I wanted needed to include a few of the major elements that you would associate with a Welsh Lovespoon such as hearts, vines and Celtic knot work. A Celtic Cross would be the dominant feature for housing the clock mechanism. With the thickness of the timber being 3/4″ this allowed enough room for the mechanism to seat inside without breaking through.

As you can see from the images, the Celtic Cross with the additional knot work compliments the simple clock face. If I emboss the knot work around the clock face it should give a nice element of detail without over complicating the design, drawing your eye to the intended time piece. The heart that is suspended within the heart knot work, beneath the clock face, gives the inpression of a pendulum adding another element of detail. All in all the basis of the design is complete ready for transferring to the wood of choice. The final detail that I did include is the flame on top of the Celtic Cross which will enable the Lovespoon to be hung in position.

An interesting fact is the delicate knot work around the clock face, I’m wondering how that is going to stack up with the more robust design of the vine leading to the spoon end. I’m thinking it should make for an interesting carving, does anyone have any thoughts on this?