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Kolrosing

Kolrosing is most often found on spoons.

For many centuries, Nordic and Nordic-American cultures have practiced the traditional wood carving decorative art called kolrosing.

Though kolrosing is categorized as a type of woodcarving, instead of shaping the wood by carving and altering its form, kolrosing is a way to decorate an already carved surface. Because of its delicate line and detailed designs, Kolrosing looks like a line drawing, taking on the appearance of a fine tipped pen drawn onto paper, or even like a black ink tattoo. Kolrosing designs are also comparable to pyrography ornamentations; but, even pyrography transforms the texture of the surface, while kolrosing does not. Instead of adding ink to the wood’s surface, practitioners create their designs by making small incisions into smoothly sanded wood and then highlight their marks by pressing dark pigment into the small crevasses.

Practitioners often kolrose small utilitarian objects such as spoons and bowls. Designs vary, but are often geometric, almost Celtic in style, are frequently inspired by nature, include initials, and sometimes reference rosemaling patterns. Other designs look like animals, flowers, and even scenery.

Chip-carving knives and specialty kolrosing knives are best for kolrosing. It is important to have a short blade with a flat spine in order to provide the greatest degree of control.

The Tradition:

Alongside important cultural artifacts such as the bunad, kubbestol (log chair), and rosemalled objects from trunks to bowls; kolrosing is definitive of an especially Norwegian style. Museums such as the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum in Decorah, Iowa and the Sunnfjord Museum in Sogn og Fjordane, Norway have many kolrosed spoons viewable in their digital collections. The Digitalt Museum collection includes more than 100 kolrosed objects dating back to the eighteenth century. Many objects in their kolrosing collection, like those in the Vesterheim's collection, are spoons with intricately carved handles and kolrosed bowls. That being said, any clean, flat wooden surface sufficed for kolrosing. Into the nineteenth century, people decorated everything from wooden belt buckles to canes with intricately carved designs as a way to personalize their belongings. It is evident by the kolrosing materials list, anyone with a sharp knife, a bit of coffee and oil can adorn and personalize their belongings, which also ties kolrosing to make-do ideologies in which craft and home decoration that developed according to available resources.

Kolrosing is a vernacular craft tradition that has been passed down from generation to generation, as opposed to a professionally trained skill. On the other hand, some practitioners have created websites and videos as a way to share their craft with the broader public. For instance, the YouTube channel Zed Outdoorsfeatures kolrosing carver Adam Hawker in its May, 2017 video. Other practitioners have created websites in order to share their designs and technique while selling specialty tools, such as Pinewood Forge's Del Stubbs, a Swedish-American from Minnesota. In the United States today, community workshops centered on sharing traditionally Scandinavian crafts often include kolrosing as a part of their woodworking programming, further establishing the craft as a part of the Nordic-American aesthetic vocabulary.

After tracing the design in pencil, incise the wood with the blade at a 90 degree angle. Hold the wood tight, turning it when necessary with the blade. Hold the blade like a pencil, gripping it tightly as well to prevent slipping and making unintentional marks.

Materials:

Here is a list of what you will need to practice kolrosing:

A wooden object - Norwegian-Americans often decorated spoons with kolrosing. The Wisconsin Decorative Arts Database has a digital collection of kolrosed spoons from the Vesterheim Norwegian-American Museum.

Knife - the blade should be short with a flat side to rest your forefinger for control. A blade used for chip-carving would work well.

Pigment - charcoal or very finely ground coffee.

Finishing oil - beeswax, walnut, vegetable, or flaxseed oil.

Sandpaper

The Technique:

The following step-by-step provides a summary of kolrosing technique and does not represent the breadth or mastery of stylistic and technical preferences.

Once the entire design is incised, press coffee grounds of charcoal into the incisions. The grounds of charcoal will settle into the small incision space, coloring and revealing the delicate line decorations.

1. Choose a smooth wooden object, preferably light in tone such as birch. (sand the surface if necessary).
2. Trace the intended design onto the wood with a pencil.
3. Grip the knife firmly like a pencil, resting your thumb or finger on the spine of the knife for added control.
4. Trace over each pencil line, gripping the blade tightly and securely so that it doesn’t slip, turning the wood with the turns of the design. Keep the blade at a 90 degree angle to the wood surface, making a shallow incision.
5. Sprinkle the incised wood with finely ground coffee or charcoal, next pressing it into the grooves with your fingers.
6. Once all the incisions appear to be pigmented, brush off the excess with paper towel.
7. Rub the spine of the blade or the handle across the surface of the wood, flattening any protruding incisions, essentially closing the cuts back upon themselves and the grounds.
8. Finally, pour a table spoon at a time of oil onto the wood and polished it with a cloth until it wipes clean.