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Chris Watkins
Roller Coaster and Phoenix: the Rise, Fall and Rebirth of the Welsh Love Spoon Custom
The Welsh custom of giving a love spoon has existed since at least the 1600’s. Mostly bought and given for special occasions nowadays, this has not always been the case. During this seminar we will trace the journey of the custom from its roots in the domestic soup spoon, through its rise in popularity to its near death at the end of the 1800’s. We will then examine the rebirth of the custom in the 20th century and look at what significance the love spoon holds in the present day.
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Born and raised near Castell-Nedd, South Wales, Chris Watkins carved his first love spoon at age eleven as part of a school woodwork class. After marrying his Ohio-born wife, Chris immigrated to Cincinnati, Ohio, in 2000 where he eventually found employment as a customer support technician for a software development company. In 2002, Chris and his wife moved their one-year-old twins to northeast Ohio to be nearer family, and Chris took on the role of primary caregiver to their children.
Soon Chris reintroduced himself to love spoons, carving several for his wife. Realizing that not only he, but also other people in the area, had an interest in this old rural custom he set up a company, along with his recently retired father, specializing in hand carved Welsh love spoons.
Chris and his father still consider themselves beginners in the field of woodcarving but, through specializing in Welsh love spoons for the past three and a half years, they produce quality, creative, and original work. They are self-taught carvers, using books and experience to learn and improve, although speaking to others involved with carving and selling love spoons has been beneficial to both.
Visit their website: http://www.waterfall-lovespoons.com.
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Melanie Pratt
Ohio Tombstones – Their Messages and Preservation: Epitaphs, Languages, Art and Architecture
This seminar will present an overview of tombstone art and how to “read” not only the words but the artwork of the stones. We will discuss the languages on the stones in Ohio – English, Welsh, and others – and give a quick look into the preservation of these old stones which involves what to do and not to do when you are trying to make out the epitaph on a moss-covered grave marker.
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Melanie Pratt is intrigued by old cemeteries and has done research on many of the older cemeteries in Ohio as well as writing a paper on tombstone sayings that is housed in the Folklore Library at the Ohio State University. Her fascination with cemeteries came out of one of two folklore courses she took at OSU. She first looked at only the epitaphs on the stones, then realized that the entire tombstone, grave marker, or stele can say volumes about the individual buried beneath it. She has served as “grunt” labor on a cemetery restoration of Congress Green Cemetery in North Bend, Ohio, near Cincinnati.
Born and reared in Columbus, Melanie discovered her Welsh, Irish, Scots, English, and German roots while tracing her family’s genealogy. Reflecting her roots, she is a member of both the Welsh Country Dancers of Central Ohio (founded by WSCO) and the Heather ‘n’ Thistle Royal Scottish Country Dance Society.
Melanie holds a degree from OSU in Comprehensive English Education and retired from the Ohio Historical Society in June of 2003. An avid storyteller, she is a founding member of the Ohio Order for the Preservation of Storytelling (OOPS!) and the Storytellers of Central Ohio, teaches storytelling techniques to others, and has combined her folk dancing and storytelling upon occasion. In her spare (!) time she does cross-stitch, volunteers at Cedar Bog, a nature preserve near Urbana, Ohio, and is the editor of two newsletters.
***St. David’s Day Schedule***
Registration: 9:30 am - 12:25 pm
Seminars: 10 - 10:55 am and 11 - 11:55 am
Annual Meeting Noon
Luncheon and Entertainment 12:30 pm