Chinese Inventions: Whittling Chopsticks

China is one of the oldest continuous civilizations in the world.
We took a look at inventions from ancient China https://www.thoughtco.com/ancient-chinese-inventions-and-discoveries-116935
We then challenged ourselves to create a pair of chopsticks by whittling wood.
Sound simple?

The kids love whittling and we often just use pocket knives. We finally opened our set of whittling knives and had the chance to experiment with various designs.

By trial and error, we learned a few bits about creating useful chopsticks; straight wood was best for picking up food, avoid wood with lots of knots or branches and choose a piece that is close to the actual size so you can focus more on carving than shaving away excess.

 Miss C's Chopsticks

At last, we had a chance to test our work and appreciate handmade items all the more!

There is absolutely chopstick etiquette in China:

~never stick chopsticks straight up in food or crossed over on bowl, as it symbolizes death

~never use to stab food, simply for pinching/grabbing food

~never place chopsticks on table, rather use your plate, bowl or chopstick rest