Cherry plum burr turning and carving

This is an object of no real function whatsoever... just an interesting piece of wood with great raspberry ripple colours.

I turned it off-centre on the bowl lathe hoping to see some interesting patterns in the burr, but that was relatively plain all the way through. I then carved the bowl some more with a spoon gouge so it has a more bulbous inner.

The lip or rim of this piece was possibly the most interesting result of this project and I like the way it falls away from the top, although if I'd thought about it a bit more before taking it off the lathe I would have tidied that up a lot more.  I hand carved the back of the rim to make it less weighty.

And these were the helpful suggestions as to what it is:

An otters head sticking out of the water.

A hat.

An animal skull.

Darth Vaders mask.

Something for flower arranging.

Objet d'art.

A berberis spoon and room for improvement

A little berberis spoon, had a bit of a crack in the bowl, but I thought I'd persevere because it's such a great coloured wood.

Although some of you may think this would go with the 'natures ugly bowl series', as the twist in the handle makes it a bit impractical to use. If my spoons start this badly, I tell myself, then surely the scope for improvement is immense...and it can only get better... (keep repeating until it does (get better that is))...

Herefordshire Country Fair Aug 1st 2010

I had a busy day demonstrating the pole lathe at the Herefordshire Country Fair, this year held at Hampton Court. I was up so early to go and set up, only to find some chicken coups piled in my allotted spot.

Anyway, further down the field, and still around the horse jumping ring I set up the pole lathes and shave horses. After a slow start, the crowds flocked in  until I was thoroughly worn out by 5pm.

9 day July 2010 and steambending a continuous back

Some photos from the first 9 day chairmaking course of 2010. I wasn't around on the last day to see the finished projects, but all week they were working hard.

Molly taking a break from whittling her legs whilst Sheila Winters sat for hours whittling her tenons on the hazel fork for the back of her chair.










STEAM BENDING A CONTINUOUS HOOP

In the next few photos is the sequence of steam bending a continuous hoop for the back of Gordons fabulous windsor.

Here you can see the ash being pulled around the top of the former... with a bit of muscle.
Gudrun then knocks in pegs and wedges to hold this in place around the former.



The ash is then bent downwards over the front of the former, pegged in place again, then clamped to the former.

This is Gordon, with (in my opinion) the most beautiful chair I've seen in the making yet.

Look at the way the tenons go right through the stretchers. Gordon says for commissions he asks his clients  how long they want these, sometimes they end up just as buttons.

And finally a poor quality photo of Gordons unfinished design. (If you have the final photos course members - please send them over, I'd love to see them!) I called this 'The chatting up chair', because it's invitingly wide for two people, but you end up rather close.

So finally, a picture of Gordon's finished chair...