working on the bench

Today I am working on the Crystal Bridges walnut bench, adding the structure underneath. A photo is above. I have also played around with spoons, practicing to carve one from the cherry tree that was my daughter's climbing tree when she was young. It will be nice to save something from it.

Providence Business News has an article about the Met School, the first of the Big Picture Schools founded and co-directed by my friend Eliot Washor.
the article says:

"If there was a simple formula for success that The Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center could share with other high schools, it would be the practice of taking a holistic approach to the physical, mental and intellectual welfare of each student.

That is no easy task for an inner-city school, with campuses in South Providence and Newport, whose student population in general is strained by poverty and other potentially crippling societal ills.

But then again, The Met is no ordinary high school."

The Full text of the article can be read here. The Big Picture Schools are now global with some having started in Australia.

For those interested in spoon carving knives, the photo below shows the proper use for making the first cut. Beginners tend to try to cut too much, too deep, but a few shallow strokes makes short work of cutting the bowl shape for the working end of a spoon.