Now the monsoon is settling in for a few days, trying not to get cabin fever,

I've finished a few things and have got round to taking some pics... bit of a mish mash of the last three weeks. Bored of working with sticky enamel paint and having a liking for vintage ads, I painted a couple in acrylic , what a joy.. no waiting for each layer to dry!

Loving the flowers summer brings, in particular a mexican hat plant which looks like a sculpted piece of jewellery, the turqoise 'beads' surrounding the leaf are the seeds.

Painting on slate for a change

Painted a watering can for mum (Mrs. Tiggywinkle.. not Tiggywrinkle!) and fiddled about with other things... a demijon Ben originally cut a entrance for a candle which I popped a plant in for the 'summer'.... I love these.

Found a piece of Ivy that lent itself to being wrapped round a candle, and almost finished Ben's sign!

I'm currently trying to make a frame from a rescued piece of Georgian ( I think) mahogany furniture, the top piece is stunningly carved, with a leafy and shell like design. The plan is to be able to do several paintings to fit in it, probably advertising signs, one depicting something of that period, one comic..a circus perhaps or cures for dreadful ailments and something else I know that is wedged deep somewhere in the somewhat fading imagination!

As I write Ben has just come in with a beautiful bowl he just 'knocked up' on his new lathe, and a gorgeous ash bowl, AND several little chopping boards..(very sweet) for the Buzzard Fayre down in Cornwall. ( No doubt he will proudly show his latest wares soon!)He seems to be having fun on the lathe, bought from Harry, one of those priceless craftsmen, full of knowledge and handy tips, his wife decorates beautiful lace bobbbins (which Harry makes) with the most intricate detail I have ever seen, a masterful couple indeed!

Anyway, enough of blethering on, our weird chicken Korma has had her first brood of chicks...she really is a strange fowl.

A double sided sign for Loggi... his fav quotation being on the backside!!!

Can't believe it's already another 2 months since I last did a blog entry but, Sarah and I have had a busy couple o' months - Sarah's been painting like mad and has done some beautiful signs, among other things. One of which is for me! I'm sure she'll post piccies soon but for now here's some other bits to keep you interested...

We went to a country fair a month or so ago, Tom & Ben were putting up a small section of timber frame for demo and had been gave a stall but didn't need it so they let us use it - we only had a few hours notice to get things ready and didn't exactly have much to take, but we threw a load of stuff together.

(Ben Gillespie checking the frame)

Funnily enough our stall was right next to our friends Doug Fitch & Paul Cook who were sharing a stall - Doug makes beautiful medieval pottery and Cookie (who has his workshop in one of the barns sharing our courtyard) is an amazing carver and makes some beautiful chairs. (We are supposed to be sharing links with Doug but, all in good time!)

(Paul displaying his carved Holly cross)

As I wasn't supposed to be doing much while my thumb healed I was pretty limited as to what I could do, but did manage to make some more Elm shelfs and had just finished a little Elm stool ( I say finished; lucky nobody tried to pick it up as the glue was still drying while we were on the stall!)

(The top of this stool is much squarer than I would normally choose but is an extremely stunning piece of elm)

I decided I would like to try my hand at turning wood so borrowed Cookie's lathe and gave it a go; really enjoyed it and knocked a few bits out quite quickly. It was really nice to make things which only took an hour each rather than a couple of days! Was getting quite into it before the drive bit on Paul's lathe broke (oops; sorry Paul - still waiting to get it fixed!)

The pictures below show some candlesticks, a couple of lamp bases and ( the thing which I'm most proud of;) an apple wood mallet.....

(The four on the left are Apple wood, 3 on the right are Ash)

(Left; Apple lamp base, right; Apple candlestick, middle; Oak lamp base - I've just started a dark Oak base to stop it being so top-heavy)

(Light weight Apple wood carvers' mallet)

I enjoyed it so much in fact that we decided to look for a lathe on Ebay....

And here it is, an absolute bargain for 100 squid!

With my thumb on the mend I managed to go back to the reclaimed \ Burr Oak coffee table - as soon as I placed the top on I decided it didn't look right and have started to look for an alternative piece, which I may have found in the form of a 4 inch thick slab of Elm that Jim has "kicking about" - unfortunately it is, (I'd estimate) the best part of 4 metres long and up to about 2 foot wide so moving it may be a problem....

(This 2 inch thick slab is almost dwarfed by the frame)

The frame itself is just in the last stages of sanding so while I took a break to ponder the question of the top I decided to do a small Oak lamp table, this was supposed to be a quick and easy little project but, me being me, I changed things along the way and decided to fit a draw to it. This is the fourth draw I've made now and whilst dovetail joints are quite simple when working with straight wood - they are extremely complicated when dealing with old, reclaimed and very warped wood.

(Oak lamp table with dove-tailed draw, very nice Burr Oak top)

Consequentially I took a break halfway through - to save both my sanity and my fingers, and made a large frame for a chalk drawing Sarah did for me last year. Although I haven't made any of these since x-mas, I had done quite a few and have really learnt the knack for making them quickly. This is the largest one I've made and enjoyed making one again so much that I carried on and made a couple more. The next was for a really sweet picture Sarah bought from a really nice couple in Cornwall, they offer holidays in Romany Gyspy wagons and drew the picture to advertise their holidays (Sorry, I cut the web address off to fit it in the frame but will see about posting a link to their site).

The next frame was for a mirror, I only had square mirrors but wanted to make a long frame so decided to make it a double frame. It took a while to get the angles right so it didn't give a 'funfair' reflection but I'm very happy with the result.

The next week will probably mostly be spent waxing and polishing but I'm very keen to try my new lathe so it shouldn't be long till I have some more stuff to show!

Recently got back from Cornwall after the last stint on a mammoth of a peg wagon.... 

and here she is.

Ben is currently working on some more shelves.. one handedly, of which I'm sure

he'll elaborate on later!

I thought I should probably elaborate on Sarahs'  comments in the last blog: Whilst working on the previously mentioned coffee table (pics below), I was cleaning up some large tenon joints that fit the cross brace to the sides, the chisel slipped, went into my thumb, and severed the tendon, ligament and (I later found out) slicing the knuckle cap. The doctors did a wonderful job stitching it all back together and it only hurt like hell the first 2 weeks! but it means I'm out of action for the next 2 months or so. Well.......

  ..........thats the doctors orders anyway.....

1st thing I did (after lying in bed feeling sorry for myself) was to go and sharpen all my chisels. I recently bought some cheap, but very good chisels from Ebay. As I now have a few double sizes I decided to regrind some into stone chisels - the main difference between wood and stone chisels is the bevel/angle at the cutting end, wood chisels have a bevel on only 1 side with a flat back to produce a sharp cutting edge whereas stone chisels are bevelled on both sides to produce a stronger chipping edge. This wouldn't work as well if I was using a hard stone like marble but on softer stone like Alabaster or even limestone they work quite well.

    So; here's a pic of the table in it's early stages being laid out for height and width........

Close up of the beautiful burr top, not very clear pic but you can get an idea of the grain pattern waiting to be revealed.

I had to strip all the bark from the underneath as there was evidence of large beetle larvae (perfectly normal for the Sapwood in Oak)....... Doing so left this large hole in the middle of the top - maybe 8x5 cm. I feel it just adds to the interest of the wood though........

And here is the large beasties that were hiding in the bark and chewing away at the softwood. I'm pretty sure that these are the dreaded Death Watch Beetle larvae. Possibly a woodsmans most hated enemy.....

The ones in this picture we found in just a very small piece of bark and as we went on we picked a great deal more from the debris and dust. It's no wonder these things can spread so rapidly if not treated properly.

We took great pleasure in feeding them to the chickens!

Sarah's reconstruction of the accident.........

The most important chisel I made was this "bull-nosed" chisel (rounded end) for working the inside of a bowl or dish without leaving deep grooves. I'd estimate that this could save me up to an hour of sanding time when smoothing off the inside.

And here's a couple of pics of the reclaimed oak stool I mentioned last time.....

These little wedges that hold thee sides on are the tiniest little wedges I've made. So cute!

Well it seems a ridiculous time to be making things from lovely cosy wool, but 

felt making is a process which I have to do outside, otherwise the kitchen would no doubt be awash with soapy water!......and who needs an excuse to get out into the much needed sunshine.

my creativity has been zapped of late, so it was good to make something  fun,colourful and useful...and an idea for the winter...perish the thought!

So, I have a hat and teacosy...dual purpose, ..... works well, if you don't mind looking slightly bonkers.

The rug  (last pic) is made on a peg loom and as far as I'm concerned the simplest form of

rug making... you can do it with your eyes shut....if enough people are interested, 

  I'll explain how to do it at a later date...with my eyes open!    

           

       So, the felt.  carded wool, dyed carded wool,soap, hot water and rolling mat (part of an old roller blind)..........

                                                       

                                                                                        From this...............

                                                                                               

                                                                                          To this...

   

  

                                                             

                                                             To this...

                                

                                                                                      To this.....

   

 

                                                                                             To this!

                                               .

                                            

                                            Peg Loom Rug. Took 5 hours and a good friend with some sheared sheep!

                                                                   

        

                  

            Meanwhile in the woodshed, Ben came to blows whilst chiseling ... the beautiful patina'd

table is now on hold... which is more than can be said for his thumb.....2 months in plaster, but

there's no stopping him and 4 days out of hospital, he's  back in the woodshed sharpening all his chisels and  cunningly grinding down some old ones into some marvellous new implements of destruction.... to, apparently be used one handedly... methinks some good clamps are in order..and more chocolate.

 I can't believe it's  been 2 months since our last blog! I've desperately been trying to find the time to post more stuff but between my laptop going on the blink and Sarah's car rattling apart it's been kinda hard to get on here. I've still managed to find the time to play - in fact if I'm honest, I've spent more time playing than I have doing everything else put together but it kinda feels like I could have got more done.

   I have managed to get better pics (below) of the Alabaster dish as promised (many thanks to dear Hils) and I was able to get much better pics of some jewellery and some other Alabaster bits. I won't put all the pics on here but you can now go onto our Flickr page and view them - along with many of Sarahs' fabulous painting and signwriting work. You can get onto our Flickr page by just clicking on the link on the right or scroll down to the very bottom of the page and click on the slideshow. It's all a bit random at the moment, we haven't quite got round to organizing them yet (soon, soon.....)  Ideally I'd like to get on here at least once a week but whether I do or not remains to be seen.....

   Anyway, enough prattling on and down to the actual crafty stuff;

I've just got a small shelf and draw unit finished for Jim, again made from Elm that we rescued,  this was an absolute joy to make and I am very happy with the look of them. I feel very pleased  to have made them for Jim and honoured that he liked them as much as he did. They were  made to say thank you for the wood he's gave us and for generally being such a top chap.

   I've got an Oak stool sat in the corner drying out at the moment, I finished it a couple of days ago but it's had to have lots of oil and spirit into it due to the amount of woodworm, it's made from a lovely reclaimed Oak plank we found on the farm.  It needed about half inch of rotten wood stripping from the edge before I could start, it was supposed to be a quick project whilst I waited for my new saw to arrive, but actually ended up taking quite a while due to the age and condition of the wood. Next time, I might just use nails!

I've just started on a large coffee table using a hefty chunk of the most gorgeous Burr Oak, the legs/ frame are reclaimed Oak posts (I think from farm gates) and when polished and oiled should have a stunning patina that you just couldn't get with new wood, piccies should come soon.

Jim's shelves, made from antique Elm with these beautiful Applewood Burr handles. As with all my other makings no glue, nails or screws have been used - which presented quite a challenge when constructing these draws! 

   

These splendid dovetails so impressed me. Ben had never attempted them before and I raised an inner eyebrow when he mentioned it but, in true Ben fashion, he mastered the most finickity joints perfectly (I know because my Dad's a master carpenter and boatbuilder!) {Sarah}
These little wedges (above) are the critical fixings which hold the whole shelves together. the tension provided by them spread through the wood and in turn hold all the other joints together.The finished Alabaster dish / candle holder. The picture below gives an indication of how the stone gives off a warm glow when it has a light near it. This was the first stone work I did with a chisel.

Yee Ha.... we made it to the beach  at last, for Bens' birthday.  Full of all sorts of treasure, fossil gems... and, found by Ben, a wheelbarrow which was mighty handy as he had spotted an

amazing piece of Alabaster, and tagged it a coffee table before you could say..." thank goodness for the wheelbarrow!"  It sure did beat lugging pieces up the beach in  rucksacks which we had previously lugged.
The beach is well known for marine fossils, and , once you start looking, huge turtle fossils are

everywhere, dinosaur footprints cover the fossilized mudflats, and all the while alabaster laden cliffs tower, massive chunks breaking away .... lucky for us!!   So good to sit by the sea in the sun.Goodbye beach, till our next outing...we'll try not to leave it so long. x