Treefest

I have a lot of posts to write, especially about the inspirational Spoonfest that I was teaching at. I have been busy and have just got back from Treefest. Another wet show and another day drying tents out, and I did some more filming  with JP. We are pitching an idea to TV companies, it is a fickle business and more than likely it will not happen, fingers crossed it will. All very exciting. More info if and when.

My friend Jon Mac came with me to Treefest as Lucy is on standby to run down to Cornwall as her eldest is about to give birth. It was great spending 4 days with Jon, and then the organisers turned up with this.

How cool is that?

Large shrink pot

I have a load of shrink pots half finished in my workshop. This happens quite naturally as the making is split into 2 parts, working the wood when it is green and allowing it to dry, and once seasoned making the lid and finishing. It is always nice to make when the mood takes hold, so I finished this 10 inch diameter pot with its willow lid and elm handle. I do love handles and I make them for doors and cupboards, hint, hint, you can buy them off me. Handles to me are a bit like spoons: they have an infinite variation of form and are amazing 3 dimensional sculptural forms.

I could spend all day making handles. This one I wanted to be secured by "natural" means and so I drilled a couple of holes in the lid and made a long pin to pierce the handle tenons.

The inside of my shrink pots are caressed with pure beeswax and bathed in a relaxing heat to help it penetrate the wood. The outside and lid is drizzled in pure cold pressed linseed oil from the pastoral fields of rural sussex. I use beeswax as I do not know what people are going to use these pots for and beeswax is great for food and everything else, as well as sealing any gaps or holes.

 I have also finished my largest pot to date an 18 inch high ash one.

The willow elm and sycamore pot (the one in the front) has been sanded. As you all know I like a tooled finish, but sycamore has such a lovely smooth and pure creamy white white finish that even with a razor sharp spokeshave the grain was chipping out in parts. I know that I am a perfectionist and in this case it just seemed right to sand, and this contrasts very well with the tooled finish of the lid. I now find that a very sharp drawknife, bevel up is the best way to go. This seems to work better than a spokeshave.

On another note my good friend  and inspirational carver Jon Mac has introduced me to the Abranet sanding sheets, these are great for spoons and other 3 dimensional sanding. If you  need to go over to the dark side and sand then these sanding sheets come very highly recommended by me.

My favourite work of Jon's are his snow goose drinking vessels which I very much lust over.

Fan birds, blackbirds and traditional 4 piece birds

I have been developing and making some new birds. I have managed to make a decent blackbird and a way of quickly making the tail longer than the bottom  wing feathers. I love watching the blackbird and listening to them. The shape and colour of the male blackbird is beautiful, and the way it flies low to the ground and twitches its tail is typical of this species.

I have also been making 4 part birds, doves, similar to ones I  saw in the Pinto collection at the Birmingham Museum (sorry no photos, as I do not have permissions to publish the ones I took). These have 3 holes drilled into the tail and body, and separately made feathers are glued into these holes. I find this a hassle to do and so far prefer to keep the feathers attached to a small plug of wood which is then glued into the holes; but, aware that wood shrinks as it dries, I can not put these together straight away.

I had one of the best shows selling fan birds, at Exeter Craft Fair, and nearly sold out. This is heartening because I have had a year of bad shows, because of the rain and the economy and my van dying, etc. I met a Swiss woman there, who said that people hung birds in their houses to bring peace into the family home.
I have been talking to Sally Nye who with her husband David, has done some amazing research throughout Russia, Europe and the USA on fan birds.
A story from the comments section of an article they wrote:

"We had heard many times that the lumberjacks, or woodsmen, in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, would make these birds in the evening while gathered around a fire for warmth and companionship. Once completed the birds would be tossed into a box to be used as kindling by the cook come morning to get the wood stove started. Many of these men were of Finnish or Scandinavian descent. They are beautiful that mass production can't compare."(sic)


I would never dream of doing such a thing, but I have burnt many failed ones myself, and I have had a fair few failures, or ones that get broken. This attitude reminds me that there is great joy in doing, and that it is not always the outcome that is important, but the making. Anyway David and Sally's website is http://www.FanCarversWorld.com/index.html




On another note I just want to show how the feathers are rived, i.e. split, just like splitting firewood but more controlled. Often I have noticed how the wood split follows the grain; the photo below is not the most extreme example of this but look at the bottom 10 feathers and you will see the kink.

 This photo is taken in raking light and is typical of a split surface. I use a very sharp riving knife, but it goes to show that the cutting edge is only important when starting. I have also come across a guy on a bushcraft forum who uses a kitchen knife, especially because it it is thin in cross section.

Coracle fishing a family tradition

A video short on Raymond Rees and his son Malcolm on coracle fishing in Wales http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18819075
Thanks to Chris Grant for bringing this to my attention.

New shaving horse

Peter Galbert, chair maker, has come up with a new shave horse design, I have just made one and I am very impressed with it. One of my main problems with these tools is the time it takes to change the height of the head so that I can use smaller or larger billets of wood. In the past if I was shaving a largish bit of wood and then needed to do small spindles then my legs would be at full stretch. With the Smarthead horse, as Peter calls it, I just need to pull the head forward and click it into a new position on the internal ratchet. Moving it backwards to have a greater mouth opening is just as easy.

I have had to thin down and wax the internal components as they were a bit stiff. I do wonder how it will operate if kept outside or in wet conditions. I suppose if everything is made a bit looser and it should be okay, make it out of oak and it should last well outside.
The other great thing about this design is that it may be able to be retro fitted to your existing horse.

Peter has a whole series of videos and even full scale plans, all free, on his blog at http://chairnotes.blogspot.co.uk/2012/06/smarthead-shavehorse.html
The Smarthead horse is fun and satisfying to make and suits my style of working perfectly.

It will be going on tour with me at the shows I attend, Exeter Craft festival, Spoonfest, Treefest, APF, and the Bentley wood fair. so pop along and have a go on it.