Ben's Apple Wood Earring Holder for me! I love this....really beautiful and so handy! The photo dosn't do it justice as is the case of so many wooden delights....they are wonderful to feel smell and touch...wonder when technology will do that for us! Never I hope!

Walnut Pen Holder for Dad! Ben kindly took ages in selecting a piece of Walnut for me to make a pen-holder for Dad....after an advisory lesson on how to hold the chisel correctly..I very tentatively finished it..and was chuffed!

A what seems like a busy few weeks..and some much loved sunshine.

My latest Signwritten work was for a friend, who is of to a show to display her

wonderful functional, contemporary pottery. Painting her boards, Sign and price pieces has been fun, she uses pastel glazes, (colours which I would normally not use) so I attempted to match it all up, and, like anything different you have a go at, it was a refreshing change. We had a laugh in the sun making up tiny wooden price stands with some wood from the local timber scrap pile which I painted to match the signs.

Ben has been beavering away in his beloved shed, making a lovely set of Sycamore Shelves, Walnut Pen Holders , more beautiful Bowls and, a new one, some very sweet (s'cuse the pun!) Honey Drizzlers. He has upped his tools since we last blogged, and I'm sure they will get a mention later!

As it's the time of year for the garden to go bonkers, it has, and I have let it...but am loving the flowers summer is bringing!

Its been another busy couple of weeks. Been making some quite varied items, everything from Mushrooms ;

(Hawthorn; above, Holly; below)
Oak stools, reclaimed 130 yr old oak with bone oak legs; Yew mirror frame;
& lots of bowls,

Elm bowls;
Walnut;
3 very small apple bowls;


Hawthorn;


The ones above are fresh off the lathe, the ones below are being soaked to try and prevent them from cracking;

And finally this Yew bowl. Incidentally, the only non-local piece of wood I've used, Sarah got this for me from Wales.

Finished at last, the little Buttercup wagon was all ready to go home. It was a wet day, and didn't inspire me to take a lot of photos, but she did look cheery in her resting place.

The steps all done, and here is a pic of the door before it's painting (the old horse Ben described as 'Snoopy in a gimp mask!! Hilarious!)

The old red wagon is done...just having the canvas waterproofed..parts of it have been fun, but I won't be sorry to see it go. It's a dramatic colour change (chosen by the owners) and I quite like the cheerfulness of it, not so austere as some, and so not traditional! Here's some bits n' bobs, whole wagon will appear later (she's a bit camera shy after all that cosmetic surgery!)

Catching up with jobs, I managed to finish a wagon door I was asked to do yonks ago, fruit and flowers, again, a nice change from traditional wagon scrolling.

Treadling Blankets!

Thinking of what to keep my signs safe from scratches when we go to craft fairs,

I made a couple of blanket bags, again, the oak leaves popped up again....I did miles on my treadle that day!

Treadling Leather

In the evenings I've been addicted to my old treadle sewing machine, as I bought some leather needles, that work!! I was given some lovely leather from a couple of amazing leather women (not literally) and thought I'd get creative with it. Not being a confident stitcher, I went for an easy option of money belts- good at festivals, parties, anywhere where you want to have hands free, dance, and still have your

valuables safe! I enjoyed making and creating every one differently, an oak leaf theme seem to creep in and run through them all, making hawthorn wooden buttons and different fastenings.

Death of a Yew bowl...

Started on a Yew bowl, the log had quite a lot of split & shake but I thought I had managed to cut a clean half, the outside was going well and I was happy with the shape and finish however, a large split started showing up.

It didn't appear to go too deep so I decided if I left it quite thick, it would be Ok...
Almost to the right depth, the crack had now opened up quite a lot...
With only a couple of last passes with the chisel needed to even it up, I tried to tidy the rim...
Which probably wasn't the best idea! In hindsight I probably should of just sanded the rim afterwards.
But then; hindsight is a wonderful thing!

The seasons are changing and the dryer climate means I'm in a race against time to use the green wood before it becomes not so green. Seasoned wood is much harder to turn and the nature of many of my blanks (taken from small logs which will split a lot once dry) means that much of it will be completely unusable if it gets too dry.

So, on with the bowls;

Small Ash bowl, the cleft rim shows interesting signs of Spalting;

Larger Ash bowl, lots of Burr and bark inclusions - taken from the crotch of a tree;

Another small Ash bowl, with more Spalting. Opposite piece of the log from the first bowl;

Another Ash bowl with a dead knot that stayed in place! Usually they come flying out, or curl and tear when they catch the chisel.

No longer round in any shape or form!

Deeper Ash bowl with natural edge rim, more seasoned than the others;

Bowls made from a beautiful piece of Elm;

The Elm was totally dead, overlooking the old tennis court.

Very large Ash bowl, now the largest I've turned at 15";

Holly bowl. If you want to see this from start to finish you'll find an extra page on the right; or click on; Burr to bowl.

I also turned some candlesticks, the first I've turned since my very first days turning!

Left to right: Hawthorn, Hawthorn, Holly, Ash, Hawthorn & Apple.

And finally, I made a couple of chisels. The metal is special metal working steel - very, very hard. The handles are turned from Ash. The 1st is a scraping tool.

The 2nd is a special parting tool, for making very thin cuts all the way through a piece of wood.