Carving and Canning

In addition to hand-dyed garments, I brought another handmade gift out for my mother: labels for her canned strawberry jams. My mother has been canning for a few years now and recently retired, so she has more time to can and try new recipes. In preparation for my visit, I purchased 2" circle labels and used my hand-carved stamps to print a strawberry on each circle.

Here are the newly labeled jars of strawberry jam complete with their canning date.

Besides the printed labels, I packded a small carving/printing kit so I could carve and print some new blocks during my visit. Here is a small tomato with both sections carved out of one piece of soft carving block which was a great technical challenge for my carving/cutting skills. These will be used for her jars of canned tomato sauce which we have enjoyed using with pasta and pizza. 

My mother has begun canning various soups in preparation for the fall and winter weather. So I designed a simple bowl block with two wisps of steam to add the canning date. A small spoon was later carved from a small scrap.

During my visit, my mother and I canned a batch of Better than Bush's Home Canned Baked Beans. It was a fascinating process to try. I was relieved that none of the cans exploded during the canning process, so a total of 15 pint-sized jars were canned. Two of the cans didn't completely pop seal, so they were the first to be consumed. Mmm...they were pretty tasty, especially garnished with a few crispy fried onions! So in the upcoming weeks, I hope to carve a new bean-themed block to adorn her jars of baked beans (and other bean recipes to follow) with additional design requests for her canned chicken and pork, along with the possibility of assorted berries for her Mixed Berry Jams.