I had the privilege of visiting the 'Connections through Wood' exhibition at the Centre Space Gallery in Bristol where eight local woodworkers displayed their work. The gallery is tucked away down a quiet alley so it was great to be able to absorb the work and demos on this quiet stormy morning. It was inspiring to see this abundance of local creators and designers sharing their passion for wood!
As part of a teacher of the Waldorf Learning Foundation PG Dip, I was teaching the third cohort of learners on this course. The sessions included Bushcraft (ancient tech Firelighting) and Green Woodwork (carving a utensil from cherry). In the Spring part 2 will follow with: Re-wilding & Tree Identification; and Traditional Blacksmithing. As always it is great fun to do these weekends!
Working in the woods and processing timber always brings some lovely surprises. Here I came across some rippled ash which occurs when the tree grows under tension. A fallen beech exposed a dragon fly (or winged fairy) when I cross-cut a limb!
I was asked to carve some nibble sticks for a recent Royal visit to my place of work! A fun little project...
I was lucky enough to get hold of some apple, plum and cherry wood in recent days, so here are some carvings with the various fruit trees. I was particularly pleased with the plum colours...
We are in the halfway through this year's coppicing at work - it is a favourite time of year for me, especially when there is frost about! The Wild Garlic started shooting up and the woodlands are gradually transforming. I managed to spot a vintage looking jar of some type, which was left in the woods from years gone by. The Scarlet Elf Cup is amazing to look at and it is always a joy to spot the red female hazel flower...
I made this Carving Log a little while back out of an Ash log and some left over Oak planks I was given years ago. It had a slight wobble so I decided to make a 'stretcher' to connect the three legs.
As I am in the middle of this year's coppicing season at work, I managed to harvest a Hazel fork which had the correct angles to touch the three legs. I made a mortice joint and a adapted half-joint and then made some Elm pegs to join it all together...
After the first couple of Swedish Butterknives, I refined my design a little with this next carving. Quite pleased with how the handle transitions into the blade now...
I had a number of unfinished carvings... So I finally managed to spend a little time tidying and finishing various items and made a couple new things too. Feels good to have a tidy up - not least of all to create space for new things!
Feeling inspired by Swedish father and son woodcarvers Wille and Jögge Sundqvist, I revisited the humble Swedish Butterknife. I used some cherry I harvested during recent felling work I completed at work. I also wanted to test out my new Svante Djärv Carving Knife (16x70mm)...
