Traditional Russian toy

Traditional Russian toy

I have been selling and showing my work in Birdwood House gallery, a fantastic space right next to the market, in Totnes. I have been there for seven days. Shame I blew my van up on the setting up day, I spiked the ECU or in other words fried the computer that controls the engine. This is either going to be expensive or I may have to buy a new van.
Anthea who takes all the bookings for Birdwood, saw my fan birds and bought in this toy which was made for her by Austrian POWs in the second world war. I have seen many versions of this toy over the years but this is the first one I have seen with fan tails.



I have it in my workshop for repair as one of the chickens has lost most of its tail. I am really taken with this toy, especially as it was made by a young country man who was caught up in a war not of his making. It shows great skill, and is probably made with only a penknife. Anthea said that these young POWs were worked hard all day and only had time off in the evening. This is a fantastic example of folk art and I hope to make a copy soon.

The winner of the Christmas give away

The winner of the Christmas give away is number 2.
There were 7 of you who left a comment. I assigned you each a number, in the order you left your comment, and let the random number generator choose the winner.


So Mr Allery, if you like to drop me your address, I will send these cards of to you.

A big thank you to you all who read and comment on my blog. I will be having more of these give aways in the future, next time it will be something I have made out of green wood.

Christmas give away

Christmas give away

I now have the cards from the printers, so the draw will happen at the end of the week. For those of you who have not read my last blog entry, I am giving away a set of 19 greeting cards. For a chance to win these cards just leave a comment on this, or my last blog entry.



I am having a Christmas exhibition in Totnes, Devon next week as well, so do drop in and say Hi. Click on the poster to make it readable.

Christmas give away

New cards, and another print run.

I am having a reprint of some of my greeting cards, and another 4 new ones.

I will be randomly selecting a person who leaves a comment on this blog, and as a Christmas gift will be giving them a full set of of cards.

This will be done on the 13th of December. If you live in this country or Europe, you will get them before Christmas. Other parts of the world often can take longer.
I have had the proofs from the printer and should receive the cards within a couple of weeks. If you would like to buy a pack of all 19 cards you are welcome to purchase them at a special price of £15, which includes postage. I normally sell them for £1.50 each or £28.50 excluding postage.

Alder; Ashburton.

Hawthorn; Haytor, Dartmoor

Oak tree; Sussex.

Arum Lilies; Landhydrock, Cornwall.

Above are the 4 new cards, and below are the present set:

Stags-head oak; Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor

Apple; Godalming, Surrey

Oak; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Beech tree; Dartmoor.Alder buckthorn; Spitchwick, Dartmoor.

Walnut; Bovey Tracey, Dartmoor.

Tulip Tree; Saltram, Devon

Cairn; Rocky Valley, Cornwall.

Oak tree; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Wistmans Wood, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Dewerstone, Dartmoor.

Oak tree; Cisbury Hill Fort, Sussex.

Alder buckthorn; Spitchwick, Dartmoor.

I sell these cards wholesale; the minimum order is £25, postage is £6, flat rate. If your are interested in selling them please contact me for the wholesale price.

Wooden cups

Wooden cups, made by hand tools only, these cups are also known by some as kuksas. Each kuksa is made from one piece of wood, and most of the samples here are apple, with two of them made from Sika spruce.




The cup at 3 o`clock was the first one I made (it is also shown in the last image at the bottom of the page). It has gone very much darker with use and was made just under a year ago. I frequently for water, juice, and alcohol. I dried it out a bit to quickly and some splits appeared in the main body of the cup and these open and close depending on how hot it is. These splits do not go all the way through. These cups are not made from burr as is traditional, but from larger branch-wood. Burr wood is far more durable and apparently more waterproof. I soak these in hot beeswax to waterproof. As these are waxed they can not be used for hot drinks or wax melts; to use them untreated they do slowly leak, which was not a problem in the past with outdoor living or with stone and mud floors.



The top left cup is made from burr sitka spruce, and came from a log that was 14 inch dia and only 9 inches thick. This log was in a pile in the woods for about a year.




My first wooden cup, as new. They acquire a patina and darken very quickly.


The bench I now make the cups on: note the French clog-makers tool, that I have found to be very useful for hollowing out. I use an adze and then long bent and spoon bent gouges to hollow out the bowl finishing up with a small hook knife. I will be making long handled hook knives as these are so much easier and quicker to use.