And another update

Posted on 24. April 2016 by fuzzy

Almost there. All the shelves are done. The panels are complete, 7 of them with power extensions screwed onto the back. The front brace is complete, and only needs a final coat of paint. The lights are complete, with braces to fit them onto the panels. The corner enforcers are finished, but I need two aluminium pieces to hold the corners at a right angle. And some of the panels need a little bit of work to make the lots fit properly. I reckon another 2-3 hours, and it should be all over.

I have also taken delivery of 750 paper bags in 3 different sizes, 500 sheets of silk wrapping paper, various items of stationery, 5 big plastic boxes with lids, and 9 shallow plastic boxes, also with lids. Plus 100m of bubble wrap. And 3 woven baskets, for the dibbers, scoops and what not.

Now I really need to get on with the business cards, flyers and banners. I have most of the artwork ready, but need to negotiate with the printers. And I need to do some more work on one picture for one of the banners.

It is quite amazing what goes into the preparation of a trade show. If you’ve never done it, you have no idea. A thousand little bits and pieces, and a hundred little jobs, and the deadline is not moving.

Today I also packed most of my work in the boxes mentioned above, ready for the first show. One box contains all the artistic work, and that will be needed next weekend, when I am in Curborough at the Festival of Artists. I have no idea what to expect, but I am told it had a good audience last year, and the club has been invited to show some work. Well, let’s see what happens. Watch this space…

Posted in Events, General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Stall progress

Posted on 6. April 2016 by fuzzy

Just a brief update on proceedings regarding my trade stall. We’ve now got all 14 panels completed and painted, and most of the 51 shelves are done as well. What’s left is the corner pieces, a collapsible brace across the top and a frame for the horizontal banner that goes on top. Plus: all the panels need some holes so they can be bolted together. All in all, we’ve broken the back of it, but there still some work.

Right now, though, I have to get into the workshop and get on with my commission for 28 clubs (yes, the order has almost doubled in size, which is good news).

Ta for now

Posted in Events, General | Tagged | Leave a comment

One man’s rubbish…

Posted on 26. March 2016 by fuzzy

is another man’s gold. Or so the saying goes.

Recently I was offered to go through somebody’s firelog pile, and I picked up a whole lot of leylandii, in varying stages of drying, and in all sorts of different shapes. Leylandii is a fast growing conifer, and it is a natural hybrid between the Monterey cypress and the Nootka or Alaska cypress. It is abundant here in the UK, due to its popularity as hedge plant and its fast growth (which requires regular trimming or even felling). The wood is almost pointless as firewood, as it burns very rapidly.

The wood is quite soft, very fibrous, and on most trees there are lots of little knots everywhere, which makes for very nice, swirly grain patterns. However, as the wood is also almost white, these are not easy to see, unless you do something with it.

tall-vase-1

As you can see on this picture, other than the remainders of the bark, there’s actually very little of visual interest.

Since the wood is so fibrous, it requires very sharp tools, and turning at high speed, and even then it will tear out badly. In consequence, lots of sanding is required.

Once you have gone through all that pain, however, there is magic to be had, with the judicious use of stains or dyes. Just look at the next few pieces, and I think you’ll agree with me.

 

 

 

 

red-leylandii-vase-2So here we go: first something in various shades of red and orange. The shape is not incidental either, I wanted to depict a stylised flame. You be the judge of that. But already this piece is showing the grain very nicely enhanced, and this is classic spindle turning (where more often than not, the grain does not do magic stuff).

 

 

 

 

 

 

But look at this! Side grain and end grain mixed, plenty of different colours blended into each other (and again, lots of sanding between the colours, and some shiny acrylic lacquer on top. It doesn’t get much better than this!green-hf-leylandii-2

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As I said, what other people would burn without a second thought, can be turned into magic with bit of work and a bit of colour.

Posted in Turning | Tagged | Leave a comment

Blast from the past

Posted on 23. March 2016 by fuzzy

2 weeks ago an old friend of mine visited for a few days. How fast time goes!

When I arrived in Johannesburg (SA) in early January 1996, Viv Crone was supposed to be my boss. Except he wasn’t there, because he was recovering from cancer treatment. This turned out to be quite a good thing in more than one way. On one hand I got a boss from whom I learned a lot (Carl Mostert) and on the other hand, Viv and I became good friends over the next few years, and now this friendship has been renewed.

He could only stay with us for two days and didn’t want to “put us out in any way”. So I decided to take him along to the things I would have done if he wasn’t around. On the first day we took a trip to Oswestry, to visit North Shropshire Timbers, and then on to Bala in North Wales, where we paid Les Symmonds a visit in his shop.

North Shropshire Timbers is one of these places that look a little like a bomb just hit them. There are complete trees lying around everywhere, and when we arrived, nobody was to be seen. Eventually we found the son (the place is run by father and son) and he was very helpful, and eventually I drove away with some very nice kiln dried English Oak, at a much lower price than had been quoted anywhere else. This is a big timber yard (for England), covering several football pitches of land, and they have all sorts, if you are willing to spend some time looking for it. Loads of oak, in substantial dimensions. There were entire stacks of beams, 8″x 8″ and about 8′ long or longer, and slabs 3-4″ thick, ideal for rustic solid tables.

Les Symmonds runs a very nice little shop in Bala, and since we were in the area, we took a drive across the Welsh mountains (with snow caps) to Bala. Les is a retired special needs teacher and became a full time wood turner about 3 years ago. His shop seems to be going well, and both Viv and I bout some small items to take home with us.

IMAG0064[1]On the second day, we spent most of our time in my workshop. Basically Viv had a full day of tuition, and some fun. For starters, we rounded off some oak blanks, and made a few dibbers. Simple enough to make, and gave him a bit of a feel for the tools.

Then we rough turned a piece of lime into a bowl. this gave him some exposure to pull cuts and green wood turning. After lunch. we picked a rough turned bowl and finished it. Here’s the man with his finished items:

Apologies for the quality. I could only use my mobile phone, and the light in the house was not good. Here are some close ups of the dibber and the bowl:

IMAG0065[1]

We used some dyes to give the dibber a carrot appearance. The bowl is from beech,, about 10″ diameter and 2.5″ high, with a wax finish on the inside, and some red stain and acrylic lacquer finish on the outside.

 

IMAG0066[1]

Viv seems to have enjoyed himself tremendously, and he’s now sent my a picture from his house back in SA, where the bowl takes pride of place on the coffee table.

Posted in General | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Recent work

Posted on 22. March 2016 by fuzzy

In preparation for my planned activities this summer (a number of events, see calendar for details) I have started making stock. Loads of bowls and platters, a few vases, and plenty of candle sticks. If you’re interested, pop over to the shop and have a look at the latest additions. Over the next few days I will be adding many more products, so watch out!

Posted in Turning | Tagged | Leave a comment