Three Wise Monkeys

Well, we did it - yesterday.  In a day...

Thanks largely to Jon for his knowledge. experience, enthusiasm, generosity, drive and skill (that's his arse in the 1st pic for scale), Vanessa for her support and help,  Jed for not getting in the way and Geoff for the loan of his excellent drill.

I just did the dangerous bits...

Now I feel knackered having thought it would take at least 2 or 3 days -now just have to save up for a suitable cover...

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More blogs from the week soon...

Shelter

We came back from our camping holiday on the Plot to run a course for Mike & Dylan yesterday...

and we're going back there today to build this...

from these.  (With a little help from Jon Warwicker)

Off to Mentmore on Thursday but more soon...

Dub Side of the Moon

Maybe I'm a bit late picking up on this as it was originally released by the Easy Star All-Stars in 2003.
A reggae version of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon which I was never that keen on (sorry to offend you old hippies out there!) and to my mind much better than the original.
Check it out on Spotify or iTunes...

A Week in the Life

In a bit of a whirl lately.

This time last week we'd just come back from Yorkshire.  The guy on the pitch next to us at the Driffield Show had this 'ossgine...and has a farm at Kirkheaton where my grandfather lived.

We had a great time walking on the beach and paddling at Fraisethorpe...

A Spikey Sandy Sea Dog

 Arranged to have the medieval stool picked up in the car park of Driffield Rugby Club...

Walter delighted with his birthday present.

 Mark Rickwood came on Monday and made the parts for a frame stool which we'll put together in a month or so.  He's moving to The Golden Valley in Herefordshire so will be among some illustrious company in a beautiful part of the country.

Tuesday we went up to Norfolk to demonstrate at the Sandringham Flower Show.  These rather interesting structures were in one of the show gardens...

...could easily turn those on the pole lathe?

Camilla gave me a nice little wave as she and Charles drove round the show in a carriage.

On Saturday we're off to The Linslade Canal Festival - a great little event with some good demonstrators that I always look forward to.

Kuksa

Nick Alf did a days spoon carving with me last year.  He seems to have been bitten by the Green Woodworking bug and booked for the whole weekend.  Yesterday he did an Introduction to the Pole Lathe and made some Beech lemon sqeezers.  Today he made a massive kuksa from this chunk of Silver Birch...

Medieval Stool

This week I'm going to be busy making up stock for all the upcoming shows...
Those were brave words weren’t they? but as we know - ‘Life’s what happens to you when you’re busy making other plans’.
In fact I’ve ended up spending nearly the whole week on this little baby...

I made the parts at the end of May (see 30th May blog) and stuck them next to a dehumidifier we had running to dry out a very wet wall (a technique that works really well and one that I’ll look into in future for speed-drying components).
I thought I’d be able to knock it together in a couple of days as I've made quite a few 4-legged frame stools but hadn't really forseen the problems/difficulties arising from having one less leg!  Plus the type of carpentry involved eg. chiselling out the slots in the top rail for the seat slats and planing down the slats themselves, made me start thinking of planer thicknessers and routers!  In fact the whole thing reminded me of why I decided not to become a chairmaker.
However I also thought about the original Medieval makers of such stools, how I was working the material in a similar way and with similar tools to them, I also realised that there was really no rush (apart from the deadline to deliver it next Wednesday in Yorkshire at the Driffield Show) and began to enjoy the experience - quite cathartic.
Thanks to Vanessa for her advice, encouragement, support and help.  (Actually she kept me going when I could have kicked it down the garden and chopped it up with an axe!)

A weeks course intake

I've had 20 people here on courses so far this year.  That's more than three times the amount of any previous year and they're not all down to the Monty Don Effect either.
Sometimes people buy a Green Woodwork gift voucher to give a friend as a present - usually it works out OK but occasionally I can tell they don't really want to be here.
Dave and Damon were given them by their partners and obviously DID want to be here.  Dave just to have a go and Damon to make some new chisel handles for his Dad's old chisels.

Craig & Jenny booked themselves a day here yesterday after seeing us at Althorp.

No course bookings this week so I'm going to be busy making up stock for all the upcoming shows.